Assignment #2: Analysis of an Online Crime
Eileen Zhao
“Man Duped $500K In Online Romance Scam”
September 30, 2013
CBS News
“Tony,” a middle-aged gay man from
Vancouver, whose identity has been disguised, was duped out of half a million
dollars after meeting a man on a dating site. After communicating via the dating site and
then on Yahoo Messenger for six weeks, Tony’s partner told him that he was
going to Asia for business. Shortly thereafter, he claimed that officials there
had frozen his assets and were demanding bribes, asking Tony for several loans
which totaled closed to half a million dollars, of which included his
retirement savings. Upon suspicion, Tony hired a private investigator who
traced the scammers to two men linked to a company in London which uses fake
identities to prey on those looking for love.
One of these men have since been arrested and could soon face charges in
the near future.
In this situation, I believe that
the cause of the criminal’s disinhibition was most likely caused by
dissociative anonymity. Under the guise of a fake identity, it allowed the
criminal to hide his true identity and it also disconnected him from his
actions online versus those he carried out in person. According to Suler, “when
people have the opportunity to separate their actions online from their
in-person lifestyle and identity…whatever they say or do can’t be directly
linked to the rest of their lives.” The criminal knowingly worked at a company
where his main purpose was to dupe victims and while he earned money from his
position, he also used this money to fund this own personal life knowing that
there is a distinction between his real life and his virtual life while in
communication to potential victims.
This case would not best be an
example of asynchronicity because “Tony” and his supposed partner,used Yahoo
Messenger which is most commonly used for instant messaging so there would be
no disconnection in time under this assumption. This situation would also not
be an example of dissociative imagination because the criminal at hand worked
for a company that focused on scamming people looking for love and so he knew
that his actions on the internet were real with a result of scamming
money. Minimization of status and
solipsister introjection would also not be best demonstrated in this example
because the guise of a fake identity is centered on being anonymous and holding
a virtual life, separate from your real one.
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