Dr. Arora was interviewed by the BBC for the program The Why Factor about Romance Frauds. "Why do people fall for online romance frauds? With false online profiles, doctored photographs, and convincing background stories, online fraudsters target people who are looking for love and online relationships. Once they have hooked their victims, they set about stealing money from them. But what convinces people that their new relationship is so realistic that they become willing to hand over large amounts of money to someone who they may never meet?"
Romance Fraud
In the BBC podcast the stories of two victims of romance fraud are heard. Next to Dr. Arora's input, the episode also presents the expertise of cyber-psychology expert Monica Whitty, people hacker Jennifer Radcliffe, and police in the United Kingdom and the United States.
With her background of research into the use of mobile phones among young people in low-income societies in developing countries, Dr. Arora was invited to share her research on internet romance scams in low income communities in India, where young males are being scammed by fake profiles of attractive women as they get on Facebook through their mobile phones. In contexts such as these, where dating is forbidden to the extent that even talking to a girl can impact her reputation, Facebook promises romance for these teens as well as new ways to being deceived and even exploited.
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For the full podcast download, please go here. The part where Dr. Arora is sharing her knowledge starts at 14:30.