The personal_relationship frame in love fraud

Abstract

This research analyzed the love fraud event within the context of the Personal_Relation and the Intentional_ Deception frame in FrameNet. Of the concepts that characterize this event, the focus was on Relationship, namely, its stages, participants, and dimensions. The data consisted of extended conversations between 83 scammers and the author, which were recorded from January 2021 to June 2024. When the corpus was analyzed on the SketchEngine platform, the collocates of relationship with the highest LogDice scores were identified and structured. The results show that fraudsters use scripts to construct a romantic relationship with victims, which begins with friendship, progresses to ‘soulmateship’ and engagement, and finally ends in an online ‘marriage’. This is accomplished through the strategic use and repetition of terms that belong to the Personal_Relation frame in FrameNet. The objective is to extract as much money as possible from the victim.