Almost half of the crime now committed in the UK is now fraud, most of it taking place online. But only 1% of police resources are devoted to catching the fraudsters.

In the last New Money Review podcast I looked into how to bridge this alarming gap, exploring the mindset of the cybercriminal with my guest Sarah Armstrong-Smith.

In this episode I dig into a small, but disturbing and rapidly growing part of the multi-trillion electronic crime business—romance fraud.

My guest is Dr Elisabeth Carter, a criminologist and forensic linguist who works at the intersection of language and the law.

She’s recently published a book in which she shows how criminal gangs exploit language to lure and then cheat their victims.

Romance fraudsters exploit psychological weak points as well, making it look as if they are on the victims’ side. As a result, when the fraud is exposed, the victim suffers both monetary and psychological harm. Even worse, the rest of us then often blame the victims, says Carter.

Listen in for the next 30 minutes to learn more—and how best to protect yourself.

We cover:

• Why a romance fraud often seems normal at the beginning
• How fraudsters harness the context
• Why a fraudster invites protective responses from the victim
• Secrecy, isolation and urgency—trademarks of the crime
• Why romance fraud is a long con
• Why fraudsters give gifts
• Coercive control--the psychological harms of romance fraud
• How a romance fraud may escalate to physical threats
• Negligence or abuse—should banks compensate fraud victims?