Dr Elisabeth Carter

Dr Elisabeth Carter is a consultant, author, criminologist, and forensic linguist. She is the UK's leading scholar of romance fraud, as well as an authority on all types of fraud; her research and expertise focuses on the language of manipulation and sits at the intersection of crime, language and the law.

She was awarded the British Society of Criminology’s book prize and has an impressive body of peer-reviewed fraud research and authorship of public-facing guidance nationally and internationally in academia and practice. Elisabeth is the Outstanding Tacking Economic Crime Professional as awarded by the Tackling Economic Crime Awards (TECAs), the gold standard across the public, private and third sector in recognising excellence in tackling economic crime.

Her work examines how interactional, ethical, and social drivers are manipulated by fraudsters, and reveals the intricate balancing act between power and persuasion, credibility, and vulnerability. She provides insights that have real impact in policing and criminal justice strategy and practice, as well as highly effective cross-industry, cross-sector knowledge exchange to better protect individuals from harm from criminal communications, provide better aftercare for victims, dispel negative narratives around victims of fraud, and support victims in reporting criminal acts.

Elisabeth holds a Doctorate in Criminology, a Master’s degree in Criminology, a Master’s degree in Criminological Research and a BA (Hons) in Psycholinguistics, and is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

She uses her research to support law enforcement campaigns, provide national guidance and guide and direct police operations, deliver practical strategies across law enforcement, the financial sector, charity sector, online dating sector and local government to disrupt the power of fraudulent communication, and to safeguard people from harm.

Elisabeth also engages regularly with the media, appearing on For Love or Money, Word of Mouth, Dirty Rotten Scammers and Moneybox. She is an Associate Professor of Criminology at the University of Kingston.