Falling in Love Online

Meeting and Falling in Love Online—be Careful!

Overview of Meeting and Falling in Love Online—be Careful! in relation to cyber crime: [1]Unfortunately, many people who engage socially online are deceived by the person or persons with whom they interact. Many people lie about their true name, their educational or income status, what they do for a living, the type of property they own, family background, and so forth. Some people initially do this in order to protect their true identities for fear of being victimized, then later become more honest as trusting relationships are built. However, this method is controversial— how can a trusting relationship be built around a false identity? What is more, one wonders about the integrity and honesty of a person who would deceive others just to meet them. Still, in this age of cybercrime, not posting certain kinds of personal information, including your real name, may be reasonable as a crime prevention strategy because, as indicated about this topic, people can readily search the Net for personal details about someone using online search engines.

Resources

Notes and References

1. By Samuel C. McQuade III and Neel Sampat

See Also

• Types of Cybercrime
• Cybercriminal

Further Reading

Ellison, N., Heino, R., & Gibbs, J. (2006). Managing impressions online: Self-presentation processes in the online dating environment. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(2), 415441; Gaudin, S. (2008). Nigerian gets 18 months for cyber attack on NASA employee. Retrieved May 10, 2008, from https:// (internet link) computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId =9081838&intsrc=news_ts_head; Hitsch, G.J., Hortacsu, A., & Ariely, D. (2005). What makes you click: An empirical analysis of online dating. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press; McQuade, S. (2006) Understanding and managing cybercrime. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon; Murphy, J. (2006). Online dating success story. WKYC NBC News. Retrieved May 10, 2008, from (internet link) wkyc.com/news/news_links/links _article.aspx?storyid=52413; Vass, B., & Mckenzie-Minifie, M. (2008). Man met teen sex targets online. Retrieved on May 10, 2008, from (internet link) nzherald.co.nz/topic/ story.cfm?c_id=137&objectid=10509001.