A Direct Insight into Victims of Cybercrime

Abstract

With increasing popularity and 1.9 billion cumulative registered accounts, virtual worlds are seeing an increase in a cybercrime named Virtual Property Theft. Currently, there is no data available on victim's perception of reasons for this theft. In this study, the authors aim to identify these reasons, and fill the need for a deeper understanding of VPT. This study used a survey including questions on virtual property ownership, theft, recovery and security. This survey is the first to report the views of victims of theft and remarkably showed although users are aware of offenders and have adequate security knowledge, 23% still become victims. This highlights that cyber criminals have found loopholes in existing security systems. Finally, given the continual growth of virtual worlds, it is essential to develop new policies and effective regulations. In this paper we will discuss the most critical survey results relating to security and provide statistical analysis.