Involuntary criminals: a pathopsychological syndrome of increased emotional stress with affective and personal involvement in victims of telephone fraud

<jats:p>&lt;p style="text-align: justify;"&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Context and relevance.&lt;/strong&gt; Remote crimes have become the most frequently-committed criminal activity in Russia. There is a new category of criminals who have committed illegal acts under the influence of fraudsters. To determine the feasibility of prosecution of remote crime victims, various complex psychological forensic evaluations take place. &lt;strong&gt;Objective. &lt;/strong&gt;Criteria development for clinical psychology-based forensic assessment of psychological and mental state of defendants &amp;mdash; victims of phone fraud. &lt;strong&gt;Methodology. &lt;/strong&gt;The principles of forensic expertology are used in the research. &lt;strong&gt;Results. &lt;/strong&gt;The research results in the phone fraud victims being diagnosed with pathological syndrome of affect-stricken increased emotional stress. The hierarchic diagnostics of informative personality traits and emotional state is described. The diagnostics statistically proves to distinguish the victims from those forensic participants who have maintained their ability for arbitrary regulation of activity. The subject of forensic evaluation of the phone fraud victims is defined as the ability to be conscious of posing social danger with their actions (harm). &lt;strong&gt;Conclusion. &lt;/strong&gt;The study allows identifying psychological mechanisms of the affect-stricken behavior that have been used by telephone fakers to commit a crime.&lt;/p&gt;</jats:p>