Love, technology and manipulation in fraud and scams

The Research group for Rhetoric, Democracy, and Public Culture has invited two esteemed experts to talk about the rhetoric of scam and fraud.

Elisabet Carter is a criminologist and forensic linguist who examines the interactional, ethical and social drivers manipulated by criminals, revealing the intricate balancing act between power and persuasion, credibility and vulnerability in fraud and financial abuse. She has participated in many radio and television shows talking about scams. Most recently in the BBC series Scam Secrets.

Aaron Hess is Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Curricular Innovation, and an expert in digital rhetoric and ethos. He is a former Fulbright scholar at the University of Bergen, and a participant in the project: The Rhetoric of Fraud and Scam.

Programme

12.15-13.00: Elisabeth Carter (Kingston University): Romance fraud behind the scenes: the language of manipulation.

In this talk, Dr Elisabeth Carter explores romance fraud in action using real interactions between criminals and victims, dissecting the language to reveal the manipulation behind the mask. Elisabeth draws on critical discourse analysis and conversation analytic principles to explore how fraud criminals establish and maintain the illusion of rapport, legitimacy and credibility. She will expose the balance fraudsters tread between appearing credible and attempting to coerce and defraud without causing alarm, and the direct threats delivered once the romance has ended; exploiting previously obtained intimate communications to engage in sextortion and continue the financial destruction of the victim.

13.15-14.00: Aaron Hess (Arizona State University): The Technological Anatomy of a WhatsApp Investment Scam: Trust, Affordances, and Ethos.

Although they have been around for ages, contemporary investment scams involve creative uses of technology, the establishment of relational trust, and the manufacturing of a compelling digital landscape. In this presentation, I provide a rhetorical and technological analysis of a WhatsApp scam that ran from April 2025 until August 2025. During that time, scammers maintained a digital landscape with fraudulent websites, fake reviews, and the circulation of "believability posts" that attempted to add legitimacy to their scam. Through textual, participatory, and interactive data collection methods, I engaged the scammers and their manufacturing of fraudulent digital content. In my interactions, I analyzed the various ways that relational argument was bolstered by digital artifacts. Ethos, as a central element of my analysis, is claimed and constituted through various, overlapping means, including the use of AI-generated voiced lectures, the recording of a supposed meetup, and the constant flow of financial "data." My analysis engages in rhetorical sleuthing in order to locate weak points in their construction of character and claims of legitimacy.