In addition there may be a high level of shame. As an example, on Netflix recently there was a documentary 'The Tinder Swindler' about a man who scammed a number of women and promised long-term relationships whilst lying and cheating these women out of thousands.
The strange thing about the case, is that these women in turn, become criticised for what was a very ingenious (though disgusting) plan to cheat them. Instead these women got judged despite being victims. I noticed on social media a sense of superiority from people who expressed opinions like 'I would never fall for that' etc.
In this way many judge the victim to be responsible for what happened to them. This trend has happened many times before in sexual assault where the victim gets blamed and the perpetrator escapes to a large extent - the social backlash.
So to increase reporting - it becomes necessary to remember who the criminal is and who the victim is. This would reduce the shame of both sexual assault and being scammed.
Reducing the level of shame is absolutely vital to help victims come forth.
An in-depth article I found, “Why Do Victims Not Report?: The Influence of Police and Criminal Justice Cynicism on the Dark Figure of Crime”-https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2209&context=gc_etds states that “the dominant theory is that reporting is thought to be a rational decision based on cost-benefit analysis, which is a micro-level theory.” Simply put, victims calculate the effort it will take to report and the associated risks associated and compare that to the benefits they will potentially gain from reporting.
Of course, there are a lot of other variables involved, and this dissertation offers some great insights.
Some crimes, like sexual assault and domestic violence, go severely underreported because police officers can revictimize, doubt, or blame victims. Many communities distrust police and are hesitant to call them, as they can do more harm than good in many situations
The previous answers raise really good points.
In addition there may be a high level of shame. As an example, on Netflix recently there was a documentary 'The Tinder Swindler' about a man who scammed a number of women and promised long-term relationships whilst lying and cheating these women out of thousands.
The strange thing about the case, is that these women in turn, become criticised for what was a very ingenious (though disgusting) plan to cheat them. Instead these women got judged despite being victims. I noticed on social media a sense of superiority from people who expressed opinions like 'I would never fall for that' etc.
In this way many judge the victim to be responsible for what happened to them. This trend has happened many times before in sexual assault where the victim gets blamed and the perpetrator escapes to a large extent - the social backlash.
So to increase reporting - it becomes necessary to remember who the criminal is and who the victim is. This would reduce the shame of both sexual assault and being scammed.
Reducing the level of shame is absolutely vital to help victims come forth.
An in-depth article I found, “Why Do Victims Not Report?: The Influence of Police and Criminal Justice Cynicism on the Dark Figure of Crime”-https://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2209&context=gc_etds states that “the dominant theory is that reporting is thought to be a rational decision based on cost-benefit analysis, which is a micro-level theory.” Simply put, victims calculate the effort it will take to report and the associated risks associated and compare that to the benefits they will potentially gain from reporting.
Of course, there are a lot of other variables involved, and this dissertation offers some great insights.
Some crimes, like sexual assault and domestic violence, go severely underreported because police officers can revictimize, doubt, or blame victims. Many communities distrust police and are hesitant to call them, as they can do more harm than good in many situations