Educating students on the behavioral and psychological aspects of romance scam victimization via a social engineering competition

Oct 15, 2026

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The paper examines how a 2023 Romance Scam and Social Engineering Competition (RSSEC) educates students about the behavioral and psychological dimensions of romance scam victimization. It addresses how victims experience social engineering across scam stages and how students can adopt a fraud-fighting role grounded in respect, empathy, and tactical empathy. Findings describe student understanding of psychological persuasion tactics used to con victims and assess teamwork effectiveness within the competition’s AI-supported design, structure, and logistics.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryTechnology

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Competition aims and scope

Design, logistics, and AI use

Findings on student understanding and teamwork

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice | Volume 2025 Number 1 | Article 3 | | --- | --- | | 2-24-2025
Educating students on the behavioral and psychological aspects of romance scam victimization via a social engineering competition
Rachel Bleiman
[rachel.bleiman@temple.edu](rachel.bleiman@temple.edu)
Hwanhee Park
[hwanhee.park@temple.edu](hwanhee.park@temple.edu)
Aunshul Rege
Temple University, [rege@temple.edu](rege@temple.edu)
Follow this and additional works at: [https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jcerp](https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jcerp)
Part of the Information Security Commons, Management Information Systems Commons, and the Technology and Innovation Commons | | Recommended Citation Bleiman, Rachel; Park, Hwanhee; and Rege, Aunshul (2025) "Educating students on the behavioral and psychological aspects of romance scam victimization via a social engineering competition," Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice: Vol. 2025: No. 1, Article 3. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.62915/2472-2707.1204](https://doi.org/10.62915/2472-2707.1204) Available at: [https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jcerp/vol2025/iss1/3](https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jcerp/vol2025/iss1/3) This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Active Journals at DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice by an authorized editor of DigitalCommons@Kennesaw State University. For more information, please contact [digitalcommons@kennesaw.edu](digitalcommons@kennesaw.edu). Educating students on the behavioral and psychological aspects of romance scam victimization via a social engineering competition Abstract The online dating industry generated 2.98 billion USD in 2023 and is estimated to reach 3.6 billion USD by 2025. Not surprisingly, online dating platforms are rife with romance scams that cause financial damages, with estimated losses of 1.3 billion USD in 2022 alone. Additionally, victims suffer emotional and psychological harms. This paper shares findings from a 2023 Romance Scam and Social Engineering Competition (RSSEC) that introduced students to the behavioral and psychological aspects of romance scams. Specifically, the competition aimed to expose students to (i) understanding how victims experience social engineering (SE) -the psychological manipulation of human behavior, in each of the romance scam stages and (ii) taking on the role of fraud fighters as they engaged with the victims while treating them with respect and empathy, as well as the scammers who were using SE in their cons (tricks) . The paper details the competition design (including the use of artificial intelligence), structure, and logistics. It shares findings about students’ understanding of the use of psychological persuasion to con victims across the romance scam process, as well as their ability to work together as effective fraud fighters. The RSSEC gave students the opportunity to treat scam victims with dignity by employing tactical empathy, an important skill for them to understand the behavioral and psychological aspects of cybercrime victimization. Keywords romance scams, cybercrime victimization, victim behavior and psychology, social engineering, cybersecurity competitions, experiential learning Cover Page Footnote This work was supported by the National Science Foundation Award \# 2032292. The authors thank representatives from Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), the National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE), and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) who served on the competition’s advisory board and also engaged with students during the competition. This article is available in Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice: [https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/jcerp

FAQs

What is the main educational goal of the RSSEC described in the paper?

The competition is designed to expose students to how victims experience social engineering across romance scam stages and to help them act as fraud fighters with respect and empathy.

What does the paper say about the role of behavioral and psychological factors in romance scams?

It emphasizes that victims suffer emotional and psychological harms and that social engineering relies on psychological manipulation of human behavior to advance each scam stage.

How does the paper describe the competition’s implementation and logistics?

It details the competition’s design, structure, and logistics, including the use of artificial intelligence, and evaluates students’ ability to work together effectively as fraud fighters.

Oct 15, 2026

Upload by Aria