Start Date

14-10-2022 10:45 AM

End Date

14-10-2022 12:00 PM

Location

Discovery Hall 213

Presenter Information

Karl Borden Professor of Finance at UNK

Submission Type

Abstract

Track

Accounting and Finance

Abstract

It should not be a surprise that the increasing ubiquity of online dating and the use of social media generally for romantic liaisons has in turn provided fertile ground for a substantive increase in romantic con games and scams. The Internet Crime Complaint Center of the FBI in 2018 reported that online dating and romance scams was one of the top Internet scams reported with over 18,000 complaints reporting losses of over $362 million. (Whitty, 2015; pp444).

In 2020, this author received a fairly standard “broadcast” email that he immediately recognized as the opening play of a “Honey Pot” scam. In order to test Whitty’s standard model of how the scam proceeds, he (the author) played along with the game to obtain the exact sequence of lures that the scammer would deploy.

This presentation will detail the entire series of e-mails and photos and the author’s responses, review them step-by-step referencing Whitty’s standard paradigm, and present data on the types of personalities and circumstances that lead victims to fall prey to such scams. The presentation will solicit suggestions and feedback from the audience to improve the use of the case materials as a classroom discussion exercise.

[NOTE: This presentation will include narrative material and photographs of an explicit nature].

Share

COinS
 
Oct 14th, 10:45 AM Oct 14th, 12:00 PM

A "Russian Romance Scam" Discussion Case Study

Discovery Hall 213

It should not be a surprise that the increasing ubiquity of online dating and the use of social media generally for romantic liaisons has in turn provided fertile ground for a substantive increase in romantic con games and scams. The Internet Crime Complaint Center of the FBI in 2018 reported that online dating and romance scams was one of the top Internet scams reported with over 18,000 complaints reporting losses of over $362 million. (Whitty, 2015; pp444).

In 2020, this author received a fairly standard “broadcast” email that he immediately recognized as the opening play of a “Honey Pot” scam. In order to test Whitty’s standard model of how the scam proceeds, he (the author) played along with the game to obtain the exact sequence of lures that the scammer would deploy.

This presentation will detail the entire series of e-mails and photos and the author’s responses, review them step-by-step referencing Whitty’s standard paradigm, and present data on the types of personalities and circumstances that lead victims to fall prey to such scams. The presentation will solicit suggestions and feedback from the audience to improve the use of the case materials as a classroom discussion exercise.

[NOTE: This presentation will include narrative material and photographs of an explicit nature].

 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.