Abstract
Online romance fraud (ORF) is a growing concern with such serious negative consequences as financial loss or suicide to the victim. Majority of empirical studies on online romance fraud using attachment, deception, protection motivation and relation theories focus on the victim. While neutralization offers insights into how individuals justify their deviant behaviors, the results have not been consistent in different contexts. In the ORF context, offenders may not only rely on justifying techniques but also rationalize their actions by denying risk both to the victim and the offender. Thus, drawing from the neutralization and denial of risk theories, we develop a research model to explain how online romance offenders justify and rationalize their intended criminal activities. To confirm our theoretical model, we collected 320 responses from individuals at Internet Cafés alleged to be online romance fraud hotspots. Our results highlight the boundary conditions of neutralization techniques in the context of online romance fraud. The study shows that denial of risk, a rationalization mechanism, moderates the relationship between denial of victim, a justification technique, and intention to commit romance fraud. This insight advances the frontiers of neutralization theory. We offer both theoretical and managerial implications of the findings.
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Appendix 1
Appendix 1
Denial of Risk (source) 1-Strongly Agree, 2-Agree, 3-Neither Agree nor Disagree, 4- Disagree, 5 - Strongly Disagree. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
Dor1 | Defrauding “clients” is not as bad as ‘blood money’. | |||||
Dor2 | Defrauding “clients” is not as bad as ‘Sakawa’. | |||||
Dor3 | Defrauding “clients” is not as bad as corruption. | |||||
Dor4 | I know how to get “clients” believe in me than the average person. | |||||
Dor5 | It is not dangerous to maintain relationship with “clients” after defrauding them. | |||||
Dor6 | I have confidence in determining “clients” who are less willing to be defrauded. | |||||
Denial of Victim 1-Strongly Agree, 2-Agree, 3-Neither Agree nor Disagree, 4- Disagree, 5 - Strongly Disagree. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
Neutdov1 | It is not wrong to defraud “clients” because they live abroad | |||||
Neutdov2 | It is not wrong to defraud “clients” because they are wealthy. | |||||
Neutdov3 | It is not wrong to defraud “clients” because they live in the richest countries in the world. | |||||
Neutdov4 | ||||||
Intention to Commit Internet Romance Fraud 1-Strongly Agree, 2-Agree, 3-Neither Agree nor Disagree, 4- Disagree, 5 - Strongly Disagree. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
Frd1 | What is the chance that you will defraud “clients”? | |||||
Frd2 | I am certain that I will defraud “clients” | |||||
Frd3 | I am likely to defraud “clients” | |||||
Denial of Injury 1-Strongly Agree, 2-Agree, 3-Neither Agree nor Disagree, 4- Disagree, 5 - Strongly Disagree. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
Neutdoi1 | It is ok to defraud “clients” if no one gets hurt. | |||||
Neutdoi2 | It is ok to defraud “clients” if no harm is done. | |||||
Neutdoi3 | It is ok to defraud “clients” if no damage is done. | |||||
Denial of Responsibility 1-Strongly Agree, 2-Agree, 3-Neither Agree nor Disagree, 4- Disagree, 5 - Strongly Disagree. | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
Neutdor1 | It is ok to defraud “clients”, if you are not aware of any law related to your action. | |||||
Neutdor2 | It is ok to defraud a “client” if you are not sure what the law is. | |||||
Neutdor3 | It is ok to defraud “clients” if you do not understand the implication of your action. | |||||
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Offei, M., Andoh-Baidoo, F.K., Ayaburi, E.W. et al. How Do Individuals Justify and Rationalize their Criminal Behaviors in Online Romance Fraud?. Inf Syst Front 24, 475–491 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-020-10051-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-020-10051-2