{"id":363,"date":"2026-05-04T20:00:43","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T20:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/?page_id=363"},"modified":"2026-05-04T20:00:43","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T20:00:43","slug":"cybersecurity-case-study-romance-fraud-scams","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/cybersecurity-case-study-romance-fraud-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Cybersecurity Case Study: Romance Fraud Scams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Cybersecurity Case Study is a capstone-style analysis designed to bridge the gap between technical security and human behavior. For this assignment, I conducted an in-depth investigation into Romance Fraud Scams. This specific form of cybercrime was selected because it represents one of the most successful exploitations of the &#8220;human element&#8221; in the digital age. Unlike traditional hacking that targets software vulnerabilities, romance fraud targets the psychological and social vulnerabilities of the human user.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The goal of this research was to move beyond the financial statistics of fraud and instead analyze the behavioral mechanisms that allow these scams to persist. This required a multi-disciplinary approach, pulling from psychology, sociology, and anthropology to understand how digital relationships are weaponized by bad actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Connection to the Social Sciences<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>This case study serves as a direct application of the core principles taught in <strong>CYSE 201S<\/strong>, specifically focusing on how human interaction dictates security outcomes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Psychology of Trust:<\/strong> The study analyzes how scammers use <strong>emotional manipulation<\/strong> techniques such as love bombing and manufactured urgency to override a victim&#8217;s logical decision-making processes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sociological Vulnerability:<\/strong> I examined how social isolation and modern digital dating norms create a &#8220;perfect storm&#8221; for fraud, particularly among populations seeking companionship.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Anthropological Shift:<\/strong> The research explores how our cultural transition to digital-first relationships has fundamentally changed how we establish trust, often leaving users without the traditional social cues needed to detect deception.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Institutional Barriers:<\/strong> Finally, the case study addresses the <strong>societal stigma<\/strong> and embarrassment that act as barriers to reporting, which ultimately hinders the collection of empirical data and the prosecution of these crimes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!selectors.core.file.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39823\/2026\/05\/annotated-Case20-20and20Sciences.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of annotated-Case20-20and20Sciences.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-cb8a3e03-4ee9-4cc9-94ed-0eb5dac2f67d\" href=\"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39823\/2026\/05\/annotated-Case20-20and20Sciences.pdf\">annotated-Case20-20and20Sciences<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/39823\/2026\/05\/annotated-Case20-20and20Sciences.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-cb8a3e03-4ee9-4cc9-94ed-0eb5dac2f67d\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Cybersecurity Case Study is a capstone-style analysis designed to bridge the gap between technical security and human behavior. For this assignment, I conducted an in-depth investigation into Romance Fraud Scams. This specific form of cybercrime was selected because it represents one of the most successful exploitations of the &#8220;human element&#8221; in the digital age&#8230;. <\/p>\n<div class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/cybersecurity-case-study-romance-fraud-scams\/\">Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":31514,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/363"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31514"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=363"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":365,"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/363\/revisions\/365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.wp.odu.edu\/taddi004\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}