Abstract:
‘Online romance fraud’ (ORF) is a new form of interpersonal crime made possible through the rise of the internet and social media. Although ORF can result in major financial loss and psychological harms to victims, little is known about how victims cope in the aftermath this crime. This exploratory research focuses on the victim experience of ORF, critically examining support avenues available to these victims. Utilizing data collected from semi-structured interviews with ten Western women victimized by ORF, victim experiences with kin and non-kin forms of support were investigated. Identified non-kin support avenues included online support groups, one-on-one support from other victims, police support, and counselling services. Previous ORF research and literature on the social roles of kin highlights their significance in victim support, and subsequently influenced a particular focus on kin as a support avenue. Interestingly, within my data kin support proved overall less valuable to participants than non-kin avenues – particularly online support groups, which generally proved to be participants’ favoured support avenue. This preference is rooted in victims’ perceptions that despite the good intentions of their kin, many do not understand ORF victimisation or how to provide victim support. In contrast, the shared experience of fellow victims promoted a greater understanding of how to provide ORF victim support. The thesis ends with suggestion for the future of ORF support, and identification of opportunities for future research following this thesis’ findings.