KÄRLEKENS PRIS - En crime script-analys av romansbedragares tillvägagångssätt och organisering
Abstract
Aims and objectives:
The aim of this study is to contribute to a deeper understanding of the course of action in
romance fraud. Furthermore, the purpose of this research is to study whether, and if so, in what
way, the crime is organized. The aim is to answer this in a Swedish context. Following research
questions are used to guide this study:
- How are romance frauds committed?
- In what types of constellations are romance frauds carried out?
Methods and data:
A qualitative case study approach was used to analyze nine different cases of romance fraud.
The data contains court judgments and preliminary investigation reports from the last 10 years.
To analyze the material, we used Crime Script analysis as an analytic strategy.
Results:
The main result in this study is that romance fraud follows a structure in terms of courses of
action. By identifying nine vital steps we conclude that the crime act has a planning phase,
interaction- and implementation phase and lastly an exit phase. This study concludes that
romance fraud consists of a manipulating period (which most often lasts approximately one
month) in which the perpetrator builds trust with the victim. This sequence is decisive for
whether the victim will send money or not. The course of action is repeated several times with
different victims and can be seen as something the perpetrator reasoned works and is rational
in that sense, alternatively something the offender does out of routine.
This study has identified that romance fraud can be committed through three different
types of constellations (alone, through networks or formal organizations). The offenders that
operate alone commit the crime both online and through physical meetings in Sweden. The
perpetrators who are a part of a formal organization all have a connection to Nigeria and these
frauds are only carried out online with no physical meetings. In these cases, we have been able
to distinguish different types of network structures among the defendants which shows that
formal organizations and networks can coexist.
Degree
Student essay
Date
2022-06-21Author
Wising, Ida
Wassberg, Sofia
Keywords
romance fraud, crime script analysis, course of action, organization, rational choice
Language
swe