Neutralizations, Altercasting, and Online Romance Fraud Victimizations

ABSTRACT

In the present study we draw from data collected from 87 online romance fraudsters to explore whether and how offenders may suggest neutralizations to victims as a means to facilitate their crimes. Through thematic analysis of a series of e-mails exchanged with each fraudster we find that they encourage victims to neutralize their misgivings about sending them money in four overlapping ways. First, fraudsters appeal to vicarious necessity or implore victims to consider the fraudsters’ needs. Second, they also appeal to an intimate relationship or suggest victims view their relationship as intimate in nature. Third, they deny susceptibility or subtly persuade victims to see themselves as holding more power in the interaction. Finally, fraudsters appeal to religious identity or encourage victims to consider their own religious identities. Our study contributes to understanding of neutralizations by explicating how neutralizations can be used by offenders as tools to assist their offending. It also adds to knowledge of the relationship between neutralizations and altercasting. In addition, we expand prior work illustrating the grooming process of online romance fraud and other crimes. We discuss implications for victim-blaming as it occurs among online romance fraud victims.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ The fraudsters’ names are pseudonyms assigned by the researchers.

² The fraudsters’ e-mails are presented as written and have thus not been grammatically corrected.

³ Ellipses represent words or phrases that have been removed for the sake of clarity.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Timothy Dickinson

Timothy Dickinson is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Alabama. His work focuses on exploring how various elements influence the decisions, actions, and identities of persons involved in criminal activity.

Fangzhou Wang

Fangzhou Wang is an assistant professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Texas-Arlington. Her main research interests involve online fraud, romance scams, and human factors in cybercrime and criminological theory.