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Beyond Dollars: Unveiling the Deeper Layers of Online Romance Scams Introducing “Body Scam”

Published: 11 May 2024 Publication History

Abstract

As online romance surges, so does the popularity of online romance scam. While existing research predominantly emphasizes financial scams, our study introduces “body scam” which is not for financial gain, but just for sexual abuse. We conducted interviews with 20 victims of online dating fraud with sexual scam experience in Iran, delving into their story in a context where dating is legally, socially, and normatively complex. Through inductive coding, our findings reveal a notable shift in victimization risks, particularly for women, with a growing emphasis on predatory sexual intent rather than purely financial motivation. This study not only sheds light on the evolving landscape of online dating risks but also underscores the significance of understanding the nuances of sexual intentions in the Iranian context.

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cover image ACM Conferences
CHI EA '24: Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
May 2024
4761 pages
ISBN:9798400703317
DOI:10.1145/3613905
Permission to make digital or hard copies of part or all of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for third-party components of this work must be honored. For all other uses, contact the Owner/Author.

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Publication History

Published: 11 May 2024

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Author Tags

  1. Body Scam
  2. Iran
  3. Online Dating Fraud
  4. Online Romance Scam
  5. Sextortion
  6. Sexual Intention

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  • Work in progress
  • Research
  • Refereed limited

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  • This project is supported by funds of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funded by the European Union (NextGenerationEU).

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CHI '24

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Overall Acceptance Rate 6,164 of 23,696 submissions, 26%

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ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
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