RESEARCH + TRANSCRIPT

PART A:

Welcome, to tonight’s ACCC news. My name is Sameya Singh and I’ve been invited to talk to
YOU about Romance and Baiting scams.

[Dating and romance scams:

Romance scams are scams under which scammers use online platforms like social media,
emails or dating websites to victimise gullible people or someone who’s attention is easy to
attract. Scammers express strong emotions, gain trust of victims and then ask them for
money by stating some sort of trouble they are in.]- show on green screen

Australians reported to the ACCC a record-breaking $37 million dollars lost last year for
these scams. [Total losses are expected to be much higher and scammers are now using
dating apps to lure victims into investment scams.]

Features of these scams:

Typology of victims:
It is believed that victims of romance scams are usually:
- Cooperative
- careless
- easily attracted
- generous,

Romance scam typology:

Researchers Lee and Soberon-Ferrer have founded that older, poorer, less educated and
single people are more vulnerable to romance scams in particular.

Characteristics:

Let’s talk about some characteristics of cyber security:

People who have less knowledge about cyber security are more prone to romance baiting
scams.
Victims of these scams are also founded to easily trust in others.

Locus of control:
Locus of control refers to the level of control of an individual over his environment. There
are two types of locus of control. [One internal and the other is external.] Individual’s with
internal locus of control tend to believe that everything occuring in the environment is a
reaction to some other action. Whereas people with external locus of control believe that
everything is mere luck. Therefore, individuals with an eternal locus of control are more
prone to scams.
PART B: [STORY: Joe was contacted by “Tom” on Facebook who claimed to be in the US
military in Afghanistan. Tom persuaded him to send iTunes cards. He said to Joe “if you send
me iTunes cards I will come see you and marry you”.

Soon after, Tom was delayed for a 'special mission'. Excuse after excuse why he could not
return to Joe, eventually he was in a country by the name of Togo in Africa and out of the
military but still could not come home.

Joe had diamonds he wanted to send back to Tom (for some reason), which was given to
him by saving a man's life. He got an email saying, the diamonds were smuggled and Tom
was placed in jail and pleaded for $8,000 US dollars to get out. He then said the church
would put up half the money if Joe could send $4,500. Joe was still struggling with the fact
this was a scam and wanted to send him more money.]

Financial effects happen when victims soon realise that their savings have been
severely/totally depleted. Joe may have borrowed from friends, trust funds, their
superannuation or inheritances. He may have taken out personal loans, and hit the limit on
their credit card, accumulating compound interest. There is a risk of him having no capacity
to repay the debts apart from selling his home and/or declaring bankruptcy.

Mental effects on a victim of scams include anxiety and shame.

Anxiety: Victims, describe feeling panicky with a heightened sense of personal instability.
Joe, may have a fear that personal matters shared with Tom, could be used for further
blackmail against him. He might also suffer/have symptoms of PTSD as this a likely disorder
experienced by scam victims.

Shame: Shame affects victims on a personal level. He can experience intense shame and is
likely very aware of the saying associated with being scammed. “How could he/I be so
stupid?” The natural reaction of this is isolation. Therefore, Tom feeling further
disconnected and alone, suffering the initial trauma from the scam.

PART C:

The effects caused to Joe are both on a financial and mental level. Therefore, both the
effects need to be redressed.

How do we redress financial effect?

Report to the ACCC, in this case, their aim is to help victims affected by scams. In our story,
Joe needs to report every detail of the scammer to the ACCC. If the ACCC is successful in
finding the scammer, Joe might or might not get his money back but the scammer will
definitely be restricted from performing any further scams.
An alternate is to contact your financial institution. Banks can help to stop a transaction if it
hasn’t been processed. Also, if the victim has provided some credit and personal details of
any sort, the financial institution can close the bank account to prevent any further losses.

How about mental redress?

Contact a counselling or support service. For example; Lifeline Saving Lives, beyondblue, etc.
This will help the victim to heal from the situation and will avoid any strange and harmful
decisions.