Drawing on social approval as a linguistic strategy: a discourse semantic analysis of judgement evaluation in suspected online romance scammer dating profiles

Online romance fraud is a crime carried out largely using language, as the victim and scammer typically do not meet in person in their entire interaction. As a language-enabled crime, a linguistic analysis of scam communication can shed light on how language is used to attract victims and influence...

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Main Authors: Lee, Kam-Fong, Chan, Mei Yuit, Mohamad Ali, Afida
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Sciendo 2024
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/107410/1/107410.pdf
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author Lee, Kam-Fong
Chan, Mei Yuit
Mohamad Ali, Afida
author_facet Lee, Kam-Fong
Chan, Mei Yuit
Mohamad Ali, Afida
author_sort Lee, Kam-Fong
collection UPM
description Online romance fraud is a crime carried out largely using language, as the victim and scammer typically do not meet in person in their entire interaction. As a language-enabled crime, a linguistic analysis of scam communication can shed light on how language is used to attract victims and influence their thoughts and actions. This study examined the first stage in the online scam strategy, that is, the putting up of a dating profile (user biography) on online dating service websites. The analysis employs the judgement evaluation framework of appraisal theory to examine the extent to which scammer profiles differ from a set of general user profiles in terms of their use of social approval as a linguistic strategy to attract a more compliant victim type. Findings from the study can help in raising public awareness about how linguistic resources are employed in luring potential victims in scammer dating profiles.
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spelling upm.eprints-1074102024-11-14T03:57:22Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/107410/ Drawing on social approval as a linguistic strategy: a discourse semantic analysis of judgement evaluation in suspected online romance scammer dating profiles Lee, Kam-Fong Chan, Mei Yuit Mohamad Ali, Afida Online romance fraud is a crime carried out largely using language, as the victim and scammer typically do not meet in person in their entire interaction. As a language-enabled crime, a linguistic analysis of scam communication can shed light on how language is used to attract victims and influence their thoughts and actions. This study examined the first stage in the online scam strategy, that is, the putting up of a dating profile (user biography) on online dating service websites. The analysis employs the judgement evaluation framework of appraisal theory to examine the extent to which scammer profiles differ from a set of general user profiles in terms of their use of social approval as a linguistic strategy to attract a more compliant victim type. Findings from the study can help in raising public awareness about how linguistic resources are employed in luring potential victims in scammer dating profiles. Sciendo 2024-01 Article PeerReviewed text en cc_by_nc_nd_4 http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/107410/1/107410.pdf Lee, Kam-Fong and Chan, Mei Yuit and Mohamad Ali, Afida (2024) Drawing on social approval as a linguistic strategy: a discourse semantic analysis of judgement evaluation in suspected online romance scammer dating profiles. Psychology of Language and Communication, 28 (1). pp. 169-208. ISSN 1234-2238; eISSN: 1234-2238 https://sciendo.com/article/10.58734/plc-2024-0008 10.58734/plc-2024-0008
spellingShingle Lee, Kam-Fong
Chan, Mei Yuit
Mohamad Ali, Afida
Drawing on social approval as a linguistic strategy: a discourse semantic analysis of judgement evaluation in suspected online romance scammer dating profiles
title Drawing on social approval as a linguistic strategy: a discourse semantic analysis of judgement evaluation in suspected online romance scammer dating profiles
title_full Drawing on social approval as a linguistic strategy: a discourse semantic analysis of judgement evaluation in suspected online romance scammer dating profiles
title_fullStr Drawing on social approval as a linguistic strategy: a discourse semantic analysis of judgement evaluation in suspected online romance scammer dating profiles
title_full_unstemmed Drawing on social approval as a linguistic strategy: a discourse semantic analysis of judgement evaluation in suspected online romance scammer dating profiles
title_short Drawing on social approval as a linguistic strategy: a discourse semantic analysis of judgement evaluation in suspected online romance scammer dating profiles
title_sort drawing on social approval as a linguistic strategy a discourse semantic analysis of judgement evaluation in suspected online romance scammer dating profiles
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/107410/1/107410.pdf
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