The study by Andrea Pozza and her team from University of Siena and Scotte University Hospital has notified, “Online romance scams are a modern form of fraud that have spread in Western societies along with the development of social media. Through a fictitious Internet profile, the scammer develops a romantic relationship with the victim for 6-8 months, building a deep emotional bond with the aim of extorting economic resources in a manipulative dynamic.” The research revealed that there are two notable features that might lead to underestimation of the number of cases: As per the research by Pozza, “Sixty-three percent of social media users and 3% of the general population report having been a victim at least once. Women, middle-aged people, and individuals with higher tendencies to anxiety, romantic idealization of affective relations, impulsiveness and susceptibility to relational addiction are at higher risk of being victims of the scam. Understanding the psychological characteristics of victims and scammers will allow at-risk personality profiles to be identified and prevention strategies to be developed.” Over the last decade, nearly about 1400 dating sites/chats have been created in North America alone, the researcher added. Solely in the UK, 23 percent of Internet users have met someone online with whom they had a romantic relationship for a certain period and that even 6 percent of married couples met through the web. As per a recent report by Research and Markets, the global online dating market has witnessed continuous growth in the past few years and is expected to augment even further during the forecast period (2020-2024). The market is expected to be driven by various growth-enhancing factors such as rising internet penetration, increasing smartphone penetration, rising single adults population, changing perception of online dating, etc. For the latest gadget and tech news, and gadget reviews, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. For newest tech & gadget videos subscribe to our YouTube Channel. You can also stay up to date using the Gadget Bridge Android App.
