Lazarus, Suleman2026-06-022026-06-022026Lazarus, S., 2026. A reflexive performance of caution in a cryptocurrency fraud encounter. International Review of Sociology, pp.1-35.10.1080/03906701.2026.2651809https://hdl.handle.net/10566/22985I became both lens and landscape when I encountered a fraudster. I draw from a real-time encounter with a cryptocurrency fraudster. Using Goffman’s dramaturgical theory, I conceptualise the crypto fraudster as a performing subject who crafts trust through staged authenticity, emotional modulation, and aesthetic precision. I argue that scams are not merely deceptive acts, but performative events co-produced through platform affordances and affective labour. Methodologically, I offer a participant-situated lens, emphasising emotional reflexivity and positionality as sources of criminological insight. I reframe it as a symbolic performance embedded in the sociotechnical architectures, and call for a more situated, experiential, and attuned understanding of life online.enAuto-ethnographyDramaturgical theoryPlatform performanceReflexive methodologiesSelf-dramatisationArticle