Your Next Great Love Story Could Be a Crime Scene | Kylee Dennis | TEDxWollongong

Kylee Dennis, a former NSW police officer, begins by sharing how her mother became a victim of a romance scam after 25 years of being single, falling for a fake profile using stolen photos of a real California real estate agent. This experience prompted Dennis to go undercover, creating two fake dating profiles to investigate how these scams operate. She discovered that scammers use sophisticated language matching techniques and psychological grooming methods that made even her check her phone obsessively for responses. Dennis found that romance scamming involves organized networks with detailed manuals for different types of scams, fake document templates, and what she calls 'scammers universities' where they trade tools and stolen photos. She identifies this systematic manipulation as coercive control - the same psychological abuse pattern found in domestic violence, but conducted through screens and messages instead of physical presence. The financial impact is staggering: over $1 trillion lost globally in 2024, with Australia losing over $2 billion despite having only 27 million people, and $156.8 million specifically to romance scams. Dennis argues that society's response of shame and criticism toward victims actually helps scammers by ensuring victims don't report crimes or speak out. She contends that vulnerability and seeking love after loss represents courage, not weakness, and that scammers specifically exploit this courage. Dennis concludes by advocating for a three-step approach: pause (nothing is truly urgent except medical emergencies), check (verify authenticity of digital communications), and ask (get a second opinion). She emphasizes that scammers fear community response more than technology, and calls for changing how society treats scam victims to break the cycle of silence that enables these crimes.