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“Catfishing, an online dating fraud considered to be a Cybercrime.”

“What can be done to prevent it?”

Hook, line and sinker, but not your typical fishing experience. Online dating, linked to social communication, and with today’s society, the use of these updated technological advancements are being used to hide behind. This educational and informational article discusses the dangers of online dating and more specifically catfishing. Now, what does fishing have to do with online dating? The hook is when users are creating profiles to which have false identities. The line, is when these users use false profiles to draw in victims by being dishonest about their lifestyle, perking the interests of their victims. Sinker, the users have successfully drawn in a victim and will emotionally and financially damage them. So, what is Catfishing? According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, catfishing is defined as luring someone into a relationship by means of a fictional online persona (dictionary.com).

Although we may often think of catfishing as just dating and using social networking sites such as facebook in order to target people, Magdy found that by examining multiple “adult content sites”, these sites too were incorporating many aspects of social networking into their sites as a way to have more personal interaction amongst people, which if this is not acted upon could lead to even more catfishing done on a new level. These interaction, as stated by Magdy, can include sharing personal photos, personal information, likes and dislikes, ability to send messages and post comments which raises potential for a user to be catfished because the interaction is solely done online and from a website that many users do not like to discuss.

Magdy found that by researching and reviewing content on these adult websites that 38% of the profiles were not honest about their age, that one fourth of the individuals were lying about their gender, and that women were more likely to put on a fake persona than men were. The role of technology and social media in our society are intertwined within our society, which makes the ability to steal someones information much easier. Bettencourt reported in her study, that due to our use of technology and social media as a whole, that would cause our risk of victimization whether that be online, with dating, or in the real world to be drastically increased.

According to the “The Online Romance Scam: A serious Cybercrime” journal by Whitty and Buchanan, that in this crime, criminals pretend to initiate a relationship through online

dating sites then defraud their victims of large sums of money (Whitty & Buchanan, 181).

Whitty and Buchanan’s study found that despite its newness, an estimated 230,000 British citizens may have fallen victim to this crime (Whitty & Buchanan, 181). In 2011 the UK National Fraud Authority estimated that fraud costs in the United Kingdom equate to over £38 billion a

year (Whitty & Buchanan, 181). This is a dramatic increase from 2006 when the UK Office of Fair Trading predicted that UK consumers lose approximately £3.5 billion (4,889,220,000.00 US Dollar) to scams each year, with the average amount lost per scam being £850 (1,187.38 US Dollar) (Whitty & Buchanan, 181).

In the same report compiled in 2006 it was found that 48% of the UK adult population (23.5 million people) were likely to be targeted by a scam and that 8% of the adult population admitted to having been a victim of a scam at some point (Whitty & Buchanan, 181). Based on their findings they estimated that 6.5% of the UK adult population will fall victim to scams every year.

Victims receive a ‘‘double hit’’ from this crime: The loss of money as well as the loss of a relationship.

Between 1/4/10 and 1/4/11, Action Fraud identified 592 victims of this crime in the United Kingdom (Whitty & Buchanan, 181). Of these victims 203 individuals lost over £5,000 (6,970.90 US Dollar) (Whitty & Buchanan, 181). According to the UK Serious Organized Crime Agency (SOCA) financial losses can range from £50–£800,000 (69.66 US Dollar - 1,114,456.00 US Dollar). Action Fraud believes that the number of victims is rising (Whitty & Buchanan, 181).

Dutton and Helsper report that 23 % of Internet users in the United Kingdom had met someone online who they did not know before.

Dutton, Helsper, Whitty, Buckwalter, and Lee found that 6 % of married UK couples who use the Internet had met their partner online (Whitty & Buchanan, 181).

This study has two objectives: The first is to learn the prevalence rate of online romance scams in Great Britain. Currently, SOCA and Action Fraud can only estimate numbers based on victims’ reports and tracing back to victims from known fraudsters (Whitty & Buchanan, 181).

The second objective is to learn how widely the crime is known and to ascertain how individuals are learning about it.

Scams are far less likely to be successful if individuals have heard about them prior to being targeted (Whitty & Buchanan, 181). SOCA and Action Fraud have been targeting the following media to inform the public: Television,newspapers, Magazines, online dating sites and the Internet

Today, in North America there are approximately 1,400 dating sites being used. There has been a problem with catfishing and people making up fake profiles. Those people that create fake profiles are considered cyber criminals. Cyber criminals are offenders who are driven by a range of motivations, such as thrill, revenge, and profit, commit and/or facilitate cybercrimes, work alone, in simple partnerships, or in more formalized seeing’s, and have varying levels of technical expertise. One type of scam that cyber criminals make are romance scams. What romance scams are, they are an emotionally devastating type of fraud. As scammers make their victims believe they have strong feelings for them, the romance component of the scam acts as a bait to lure victims, before committing other types of fraud such as identity theft and financial fraud.

There are three categories that go into talking about identity. Personal identity is described as internalized view of identity that relates to a person’s sense of self. Social identity is viewed by externalized view that concerns the way that a person is viewed by others. Lastly legal identity is the manner in which the accumulation of information distinguished one person from all others. There are a few steps that go into a scammers profile. First the scammer is patient in grooming their victims. They spend time selecting and stealing photos that would make their operations successful, establishing victims’ trust, and sweet-talking them into the scam. There is approximately a six to eight-month process that demonstrates scammers planning and attack. Next unlike cyber crimes such as hacking into servers, installing malware, online scamming requires basic computer skills and an internet connection. Scammers follow a routine and they stick to that routine daily. Scammers work six-hour shifts and engaged in extensive division of labor, with each unit responsible for a specific task. Scammers outline their attack, and plan different scenarios that may occur during real-time conversations, and when to introduce tragic circumstances. No one really knows who they are talking to over the internet. People will only know if they call and see their faces.