A recent study by Monica Whitty, examined several psychological characteristics which she suggested might be important in predicting whether someone may be likely to fall victim to being scammed.These were: In addition to the psychological characteristics described above, Whitty also looked at whether age, gender educational level and knowledge of cybersecurity, would predict an individual’s likelihood of being scammed.Scammers operate by constructing false profiles on dating sites, cultivating relationships with potential victims, before attempting to extract money from them.

Similarly, there was no difference of likelihood of being scammed between people with an internal or external locus of control.There are many benefits to online dating which include access to a large number of possible dates, on some sites a potential matching system which might align people with compatible dates, and the possibility of communicating with these dates before meeting them in person (Finkel, Eastwick, Karney, Reis, & Sprecher, 2012).However, there are also risks attached to online dating, not least the possibility of being scammed.As the scam progresses the nature of the emergency becomes more desperate and more and more money is requested from the victim.Stories exist of victims parting with their life savings and even remortgaging their houses to obtain funds to send to the scammer. The scenario described above sounds so incredible that doubtless we would say that we would never fall for such a ploy. Therefore the question is whether psychology can help in predicting the types of people most likely to fall victim to dating scams.