TY - JOUR
T1 - Online frauds
T2 - learning from victims why they fall for these scams
AU - Button, Mark
AU - McNaughton Nicholls, Carol
AU - Kerr, Jane
AU - Owen, Rachael
PY - 2014/12/1
Y1 - 2014/12/1
N2 - Online frauds have become a major problem in many countries with millions of victims from a wide diversity of scams committed in full or part online. This paper explores the extent and nature of this problem. Using data from depth interviews with 15 online fraud victims, 6 focus groups with a further 48 online fraud victims and interviews with 9 professional stakeholders involved in combating this problem. The paper explores why victims fall for online scams. It identifies a range of reasons including: the diversity of frauds, small amounts of money sought, authority and legitimacy displayed by scammers, visceral appeals, embarrassing frauds, pressure and coercion, grooming, fraud at a distance and multiple techniques.
AB - Online frauds have become a major problem in many countries with millions of victims from a wide diversity of scams committed in full or part online. This paper explores the extent and nature of this problem. Using data from depth interviews with 15 online fraud victims, 6 focus groups with a further 48 online fraud victims and interviews with 9 professional stakeholders involved in combating this problem. The paper explores why victims fall for online scams. It identifies a range of reasons including: the diversity of frauds, small amounts of money sought, authority and legitimacy displayed by scammers, visceral appeals, embarrassing frauds, pressure and coercion, grooming, fraud at a distance and multiple techniques.
UR - http://anj.sagepub.com/content/early/2014/03/28/0004865814521224.abstract
U2 - 10.1177/0004865814521224
DO - 10.1177/0004865814521224
M3 - Article
SN - 0004-8658
VL - 47
SP - 391
EP - 408
JO - The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology
JF - The Australian and New Zealand Journal of Criminology
IS - 3
ER -