Dating hot spot to fraud hot spot: Targeting the social characteristics of romance fraud victims in England and Wales

• Published date: 01 November 2023
• Author: Richard Sinclair,Matthew Bland,Bradley Savage
• Date: 01 November 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12629

DOI: ./- .

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

CYBERCRIME AND CYBERSECURITY

Dating hot spot to fraud hot spot: Targeting

the social characteristics of romance fraud

victims in England and Wales

Richard Sinclair1Matthew Bland2Bradley Savage1

City of London Police, Guildhall Yard

East, London, UK

InstituteofCriminology,Universityof

Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

Correspondence

Richard Sinclair, City of London Police,

London, UK.

Email:

richard.sinclair@cityoflondon.police.uk

Abstract

Research Summary: We found that romance fraud

was rising year-on-year across every region in England

and Wales, increasing % during the  years between

October  and October . Fifty percent of all the

romance fraud victims in the period resided in % of

the places where romance fraud had occurred. A total

of  locations (outward postcode areas) were identi-

fied as the “power few” in the first year of the data set.

Of these  locations,  of them recurred in both of

the following years, becoming chronic “hot spot” loca-

tions containing more than one in six of all reported

romance fraud victims. The demography of victims in

repeat locations differed considerably, but hot spots

were more frequently predominantly populated by less

affluent populations.

Policy Implications: We conclude that the current

national one-size-fits-all fraud prevention approach may

not be the most efficient or effective way to reach those

victims who most require crime prevention advice. The

National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, based in the City

of London Police, could adopt a tailored approach to

providing preventative information to local police forces

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits

use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or

adaptations are made.

©  The Authors. Criminology & Public Policypublished by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Society of Criminology.

Criminology & Public Policy. ;:–. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/capp 591

592 SINCLAIR  .

based on the year-to-year patterns in crime and the asso-

ciated intelligence provided by sociodemographic data

sources such as Acorn.

KEYWORDS

Acorn, cybercrime, evidence-based policing, fraud prevention,

fraud victims, romance fraud, sociodemographic analysis

Romance fraud has penetrated broader public consciousness in recent years following a num-

ber of high-profile cases and media coverage such as Netflix’s “Tinder Swindler” documentary

and MTV’s “Catfish” reality show. Romance fraud occurs where “a person is defrauded by an

offender(s) through what the victim perceives to be a genuine relationship” (Cross et al., ,

p. ). In many respects, it is like any other type of online or offline fraud in that the offence

involves dishonesty and manipulation of the victim and victim vulnerability is often a keyingredi-

ent in the commission of the crime. But unlike most other forms of fraud, the victims of romance

fraud suffer a double victimization, the financial loss and the emotional loss of a perceived roman-

tic relationship. Romance fraud is different to other frauds in that it involves intimacy, one of

the “most important features of an individual’s life, and it goes to the heart of their autonomy”

(Gillespie, , p. ). Victims of online romance fraud are targeted in their own homes, where

they are supposed to feel safe, using online platforms they trust to protect them. However, with

the popularity of online dating, romance fraud has become one of the fastest growing high-harm

fraud types (Buil-Gil & Zeng, ). Colloquially referred to as “online dating scams” or “cat-

fishing,” fraudsters will often groom victims during a long period, enhancing the emotional pain

when the victims finally realize they have been scammed. As we will describe, like other online

frauds, reports of romance fraud cases havebeen rising, but scholarly research, particularly focus-

ing on potential intervention strategies, has not (yet) kept pace with this growth. This paper

seeks to contribute to that growth through the explorationof demographic trends among romance

fraud victims. It will demonstrate that this crime type is pervasive across demographics and will

explore the theoretical and practical implications of this new finding in the context of geographic

concentrations commonly known as “hot spots.”

In England and Wales,the City of London Police is the lead policing agency for fraud and cyber-

crime. They are funded to host both Action Fraud, which is the national centralized reporting

center for all fraud and cybercrime reports, and the National Fraud Intelligence Bureau (NFIB),

which analyzes, reviews, and disseminates fraud reports to police forces and law enforcement

partners. Crime reports from the public and businesses are received through a telephone call to

the Action Fraud national call center or through the Action Fraud online self-reporting service,

where reports are recorded on a single information technology (IT) platform called the Strategic

Analysis and Intelligence Platform (SAIP). Forthe financial year /, Action Fraud received

, reports of fraud directly from victims, which equated to £. billion of financial loss to

victims (National Fraud Intelligence Bureau, ).

The NFIB publishes analytical products and reports for its fraud priorities, one of which is

romance fraud, as part of its role as the national policing lead for fraud and cybercrime. Each year,

the NFIB’smain products provided to police and law enforcement partners are the national annual

assessments for both fraud and cybercrime, which provide the previous year’s overview of fraud

and cybercrime in England and Wales. These reports are designed for police forces, government