Hungry for love. Online romance fraud tactics and why they are so efficient. – Tanya Vacarda

Abstract:
Over recent years, romance fraud crime has become more sophisticated and organised, with heavy use of psychology to gain trust and complete control over victims. While some signs, like love bombing, can be obvious, the arsenal of fraudster manipulation tools proves to be very effective in defrauding victims and breaking lives. Only last year, UK romance scam reports soared by 30%, amounting to £92m in damage, with men making up the majority of victims.

When I came across a new scammer on a dating app, I could not resist testing “his” manipulation tactics and my understanding of human psychology. “He” didn’t disappoint. Over a week-long “romance,” my cryptocurrency fraudster used a range of methods, including FBI negotiation tactics, that he changed based on my reactions, showing superb observation and a good, if not conscious, understanding of human behaviour and emotional and cognitive bias effects.

The good news is that scammers can be scammed too, using the same methods. In this session, I’ll break down real-life scammer tactics and early signs of manipulation with examples of how to explore and reveal someone’s hidden motives. Hold on to your wallets!

Speaker Bio:
Tanya Vacarda; Allstate NI, Sr. Consultant
Tanya Vacarda is an Innovate UK award winner and a certified Agile specialist with over 13 years of complex project delivery expertise, including I&AM, vulnerability, threat, and change management initiatives. She uses a range of human-centred expertise, such as customer profiling, CX, and ethical, innovative, and user-centred design principles, to design and deliver service- and product-based projects.

Tanya’s educational background is in linguistics and socio-political studies, with a focus on comparative analysis and trend (social narrative) identification. Her current interest is in blockchain cybersecurity and social engineering attacks. Tanya explores the effects of cognitive biases on decision-making and behaviour in the workplace and cybersecurity.

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