Does age matter? Examining seniors’ experiences of romance fraud

Abstract Using the premise of a genuine relationship, romance fraud offenders deceive victims for monetary gain. Research on romance fraud has grown, but limited work explores the demographic correlates of victimisation. An assumption exists that older persons are more susceptible to fraud, though this dynamic is not consistently evident in the literature. This article analyses 2686 romance fraud complaints to Scamwatch, an online Australian fraud reporting portal, to identify correlates between being 65 years and older and their risk of victimisation. The findings illustrate that seniors were not more likely to suffer monetary losses to romance fraud and were less likely to lose personal information compared to victims in other demographic groups. This study affirms the challenge of using demographics to predict romance fraud victimisation and emphasises the need for additional research in this area.