Abstract

Online fraud is the most prevalent acquisitive crime in Europe. This study applies routine activities theory to a subset of online fraud, online identity theft, by exploring country-level mechanisms, in addition to individual determinants via a multi-level analysis of Eurobarometer survey data. This paper adds to the theory of cybercrime and policy debates by: (1) showing that country physical guardianship (e.g. cyber security strategy) moderates the effects of individual physical guardianship; (2) introducing a typology of online capable guardianship: passive physical, active personal and avoidance personal guardianship; (3) showing that online identity theft is associated with personal and physical guardianship; and (4) identifying public Internet access and online auction selling as highly risky routine activities. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of studying country-level effects on online identity theft victimization.

Highlights

  • In January of 2014, the German cybercrime watchdog the Federal Office for Information Security discovered the theft of 16 million email addresses and passwords (ENISA 2014)

  • In an attempt to explain why those who do not use email were expected to have a victimization rate 1.56 times greater than those who do,13 logistic regression analysis was conducted to identify the unique characteristics of this sub-group in the sample.14. The analysis revealed this group were significantly less likely to adopt passive physical guardianship and active personal guardianship, were more likely to use the Internet in public places, and to use the Internet infrequently with low confidence, all factors that expose them to greater risk

  • The analysis revealed that non-users were more likely to be aware of cybercrime and to adopt passive avoidance guardianship, which is reflected in their lack of routine activities in these areas

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Summary

Introduction

In January of 2014, the German cybercrime watchdog the Federal Office for Information Security discovered the theft of 16 million email addresses and passwords (ENISA 2014). Three major global cyberhacks, including the largest ever recorded, resulted in the theft of over two billion credit card and customer records from large US retailers (Banjo 2014; Finkle and Hosenball 2014; Perlroth and Gelles 2014). These recent mass criminal events and the burgeoning ‘darknet’ evidence that networks of hijacked computers and malware represent the most significant threats in relation to contemporary identity theft (Ablon et al 2014). The Eurostat 2010 ICT survey shows that online fraud has become the most prevalent acquisitive crime in Europe, above car theft and burglary (Anderson et al 2012)

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