Online dating scams in Hong Kong : an analysis of the victimization process of female users

Abstract

Online dating applications had become popular among users of both genders in Hong Kong over the past few years. In particular, female users registered with different types of online dating applications to look for romantic relationships. Unfortunately, their genuine desires for love could sometimes be met with deceptive techniques from opportunists who inflicted emotional and financial losses upon the female victims. In Hong Kong, online romance scams had become one of the most frequently reported fraud and deception crimes in recent years, incurring financial losses of up to hundreds of millions of dollars from female victims. Yet, despite the notoriety of this type of crime, there was a dearth of systematic academic studies on the phenomena of online romance scams, and the processes of victimization remained under-examined in the local context. To this end, our study examined the victimization experiences and processes of female users by interviewing seven female victims of online romance scams. Furthermore, three theoretical frameworks—namely, gender performativity theory, routine activity theory, and rational choice theory—were adopted to make sense of our interview findings. This study intended to draw public attention toward this emerging crime and called for implementation of cybercrime policies and other preventive measures to improve the overall management and operation of online dating applications so that the protection of female users might be enhanced in the long run.