Individual and Routine-Activity Risk Factors for Cybervictimization: A Comparative Analysis of Interpersonal and Financial Cybercrimes

PurposeThis paper aims to examine demographic differences between individuals who do not take measures to protect themselves from identity theft victimization and those who do. A majority of the research on identity theft has focused on predictors of victimization, reporting behaviors of the victims and their health and mental outcomes. However, little remains known about the individuals who choose to take any identity-theft measures despite concerns over this fast-growing breed of crime.Design/methodology/approachGuided by Felson and Cohen’s routine activities theoretical framework (1979), this study uses the 2014 Identity Theft Supplement of the National Crime Victimization Survey to identify the demographic characteristics that influence the use of self-protection measures among individuals in the general population.FindingsThis study finds that these individuals are much more likely to be white, older, female and highly educated. The decision to undertake protection against identity theft is also influenced by the following factors: prior experience of misuse, possession of a bank account in the prior 12 months, current possession of at least one credit card and awareness that one is entitled to a free copy of one’s credit report.Originality/valueThis study addresses the gap in scholarship on identity theft prevention by applying the concept of guardianship in Cohen and Felson’s routine activity theory (1979) to the usage of self-protection measures in a general population. Future findings will identify the areas which agencies and researchers can focus on to inform policies that foster individuals’ own initiatives to take self-protection measures against potential identity theft.

Fear of crime is a hot topic in the criminological field, yet differentiation between fears associated with various types of cybercrimes remains underexplored. This study ( N = 726) conducted in the Portuguese context via an online survey investigates the distinct determinants of fear for two main categories of cybercrime: interpersonal (cyberbullying and cyberstalking) and property-related (online consumer fraud, identity theft, and malware discovery). The findings reveal that while offline fears strongly predict both types of cybercrime fears, the specific variables influencing them differ significantly. Property cybercrime fear is primarily driven by economic insecurity, while interpersonal cybercrime fear is less influenced by socioeconomic factors and more by the fear of offline interpersonal crimes. Additionally, the study highlights that traditional factors from Routine Activity Theory, such as capable guardianship and target suitability, play a minimal role in explaining the variance in cybercrime fears. These insights not only contribute to our understanding of the multifaceted nature of cybercrime fears but also underscore the need for tailored preventative strategies that address the unique drivers of each type of fear.

Cybercrimes are increasing at an alarming rate and cause detrimental effects to the victims. Routine Activity Theory (RAT) is commonly used to understand the factors influencing cybercrime victimization. However, there have been inconsistent findings on the applicability of RAT theory. This study performs a Systematic Literature Review analysis to consolidate and provide a coherent analysis of the related studies employing RAT theory for cybercrime victimization. The articles were also differentiated based on the cybercrimes topologies being investigated; (a) cybercrime dependent (hacking and malware) and (b) cybercrime enabled (phishing, fraud and identity theft). The findings suggest that a refined specification and operationalization of RAT’S construct tailoring to the types of cybercrimes can arguably yield more accurate application and interpretation of RAT Theory in cybercrimes. Consequently, this will address the inaccurate measurement issues of some of the RATS’s constructs, leading to inconclusive effects on cybercrime victimization. In addition, there is a need for more longitudinal studies to disentangle the effect of RAT’s construct during pre and post cybercrimes. Security advocates can apply the findings of this research to formulate relevant cybercrime awareness programs. The findings also shed some insights into which groups should be targeted for different cybercrime educational and awareness programs. This study can increase the awareness among citizens in terms of their online activities, their attributes and the types of protection from becoming cybercrime victims.

Cybercrime is a growing problem, with increasing numbers of people reporting they have been a victim. However, the literature has tended to focus on the characteristics of the perpetrator and has often neglected to examine how the individual differences of victims may have an impact. This paper investigates how the Dark Triad – Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy – may increase the chances of being a victim of online crime. To do this, the Cyber Routine Activities Theory was applied, which suggests victimization is a result of two things: 1) a user’s routine online activity which may bring them into contact with nefarious others and/or makes them an attractive target, and 2) the lack of a “capable guardian” who can defend against such nefarious others. Using an online survey (N = 328), we measured Internet users’ Dark Triad traits, along with their engagement in various online activities and the preventative measures used against potential criminals. Findings demonstrated that narcissism and psychopathy increased the likelihood of victimization, but Machiavellianism did not. These relationships were moderated by gender. However, contrary to other work using the Cyber-RAT, preventative measures (e.g. knowledge of computers, presence of anti-virus programs) did not seem to impact on the likelihood of victimization. The challenges of using these findings to reduce cybercrime and future work are then discussed.

ABSTRACTThe aim of this paper is to stimulate theoretical thought about financial elder abuse within families, by exploring the potential of ‘routine activities theory’ for raising our understanding of, and response to, its occurrences. Research into financial elder abuse, defined as the illegal or improper use of a person's finances or property by another person, has tended to emphasise the abusive event and the associated risk factors. ‘Routine activities theory’, in contrast, directs attention more to developing prevention strategies that focus on everyday activities and hence seek to reduce the opportunities for illegal activity. The authors' research programme on the broad topic of money management and older people in Australia has conceptualised financial elder abuse as one possible outcome of the family management of older people's assets. This paper reports an application of routine activities theory to in-depth data of the asset-management practices and experiences of 81 family members who were assisting 86 older people. The paper concludes that the theory contributes to our understanding of how and why financial abuse occurs in families. It makes clear the distorting influence of a sense of entitlement and the preventive importance of both capable guardians, to oversee family-asset management and be alert to mismanagement, and the need for improved financial awareness, skills and probity in the community in connection with this common task of assisting older people to manage their financial assets.

Routine activities theory attempts to explain victimization by examining how one's behavior, or routine activities, increases or decreases their likelihood of victimization. It has been postulated that religious individuals are less likely to associate with motivated offenders, less likely to reduce their target suitability, and more likely to enhance their guardianship, in turn reducing victimization. How, if at all, this theoretical framework can predict protection from a specific form of victimization, such as intimate partner violence (IPV), remains unexplored. Using the American subsample of the International Dating Violence Study (n = 4,162), this article attempts to determine whether religious involvement can serve as a factor that reduces IPV victimization indirectly through the three elements of routine activities theory: motivated offenders, target suitability, and capable guardianship. To test this research question, a series of logistic regression models are conducted. Results of these models indicate that religiosity does have a negative and significant impact on victims of IPV, net of variables derived from routine activities theory. This study is among the first to suggest that perhaps this theoretical framework may not be applicable to all forms of victimization. The major practical implication of this finding is that IPV victimization could be reduced using faith-based strategies. For example, religious counseling or preventive and intervention programs that increase prosocial bonds between partners are viable options in helping to reduce IPV victimization among couples. Nevertheless, it is imperative to determine other non-religious programs or methods to protect from IPV for individuals who are not religious.

The paper compares victim group characteristics: we test routine activities theory to compare the differences in online fraud vulnerabilities of victims aged 18-54 and victims of 55 and above. A representative sample of US citizens 18 and above was collected in October 2020. Victims under 55 encompassed 35.3% (n = 915), victims 55 and above 12.9% (n = 334) of the total sample (n = 2,589). We utilized non-parametric statistical methods for testing whether older and younger victims' characteristics can be derived from the same independent variables. Computer time, computer familiarity, and technical guardians determine online victimization in older individuals, similarly to younger age groups. However, older victims differ in characteristics from younger victims. Seniors were less likely to apply technical guardians such as camera cover, identity theft monitoring, and credit card freeze, even after experiencing online scams. Being a single parent was a protective factor for older individuals, but having a full-time job made older individuals more prone to experience online fraud victimization compared to being retired. In addition, older victims were less likely to report scams than younger ones. Although this research found significant differences between older and younger fraud victims' characteristics, target suitability and capable guardianship must be further investigated and conceptualized when applying routine activities theory for online fraud against older people.

The Routine Activity Theory proposes that the presence of a suitable target and a motivated offender in the absence of capable guardianship predict criminal behaviors. Prior research has utilized the theory to explain varied cyber victimization in different western and eastern cultures. The purpose of this study is to test the effects of adolescents’ online behaviors on cyber victimization and cyberbullying experiences from the Routine Activities Theory framework. Therefore, through this study, the paper expands upon this research to examine the cyber activities of Turkish adolescents on both cyber victimization and cyberbullying experiences. The participants were 1046 high school students between the ages of 14–18. According to the findings, Turkish adolescents’ cyberbullying and victimization experiences could be predicted from their cyber activities after controlling for gender. The results revealed the role of target suitability, exposure to a motivated offender and capable guardianship on both cyber victimization and cyberbullying in a more comprehensive model based on the Routine Activities Theory. Altogether, the findings provide evidence-based strategies for cyberbullying and victimization prevention at schools.

Historically, criminological theories have aimed to explain criminal propensity, providing explanations for why some individuals are more likely than others to commit an offense. Conversely, less attention has been paid to the other element of a crime event: opportunity. This trend was radically altered from the 1970s onward, in large part due to Lawrence Cohen and Marcus Felson’s creation of a “routine activity approach” to understanding crime trends. The scholars proposed that, beyond the necessity of a motivated offender, crimes occur when suitable targets are present and capable guardians are absent. The contribution of routine activity theory increased interest in the role of criminal opportunity substantially, with various streams of research coalescing into a school of criminological thought known as “environmental criminology,” sometimes referred to as “crime science.” Routine activity theory is central to these approaches and is focused on crime reduction through the prevention and control of chances to commit crime. Routine activity theory was initially proposed as a sociological perspective, as Cohen and Felson explored aggregate associations between social trends (such as sociodemographic changes in household activity and urbanization) and the risk of victimization. Their analyses suggested that as changes occurred in the routine activities of Americans post-World War II, crime rates increased. From this original conceptualization, routine activity theory has evolved into the “crime triangle,” which provides a way of analyzing crime problems. The triangle depicts that crime events occur when motivated offenders and attractive targets converge in space and time in the absence of guardianship. Research has further specified that three crime control actions paired with these elements—handling for offenders, guarding for targets, and managing for places—can reduce crime events. There are now hundreds of studies that examine the relationship between routine activities and crime, with many of these empirical investigations organized around the crime triangle. Theoretical advancements have outlined the role of targets and guardians, the levels of responsibility of crime controllers, the attractiveness of targets, the characteristics of (in)effective guardianship, and the social processes related to the presence or absence of handlers, guardians, and managers. Considering the combined contributions of this canon of literature, the evidence is clear in demonstrating the utility of routine activity theory for understanding and preventing crime.

This thesis examines the link between routine activity theory and identity theft victimization using college students. Using data collected from 308 undergraduate students attending a southeastern university, this study seeks to present the likelihood that college students will become a victim to identity theft in the future. In doing so, the study also seeks to present the college student's perception that they could become a victim of identity theft in the future. Overall, this study has the main objective of determining if a link exists between college student's routine activities and the risk of them becoming victims of identity theft. The results specifically showed that how college students guard their credit card information (i.e., receipts) directly affects their likelihood of identity theft victimization. Additionally, support was found for two elements of routine activity theory, suggesting routine activity theory is important to the study of the identity theft victimization. Policy implications for these findings are discussed.

Routine activities theory (RAT) is traditionally drawn upon to highlight the role of offender motivation, target suitability, and effective guardianship in explaining victimization patterns. While an extensive literature base supports RAT, prior studies have neglected to examine the impact of offender motivation, target suitability, and guardianship on diverse outcomes of violent crimes. The current study extends prior research grounded in RAT by exploring the role of indicators of the central elements highlighted by the theory in understanding the likelihood that an offender will be arrested. As such, this study adds to the growing body of literature on RAT by exploring its relevance to a more diverse set of outcomes. To do this, we draw on the wealth of data on offender, victim, and incident characteristics available in the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Results from the analysis offer a moderate to strong level of support for extending RAT to understanding variation in the likelihood that an offender will be arrested. The insights gained from a RAT framework were further discussed in relation to our findings.

This article investigates phishing victims, especially the increased or decreased risk of victimization, using data from a cybercrime victim survey in the Netherlands (n=10,316). Routine activity theory provides the theoretical perspective. According to routine activity theory, several factors influence the risk of victimization. A multivariate analysis was conducted to assess which factors actually lead to increased risk of victimization. The model included background and financial data of victims, their Internet activities, and the degree to which they were "digitally accessible" to an offender. The analysis showed that personal background and financial characteristics play no role in phishing victimization. Among eight Internet activities, only "targeted browsing" led to increased risk. As for accessibility, using popular operating systems and web browsers does not lead to greater risk, while having up-to-date antivirus software as a technically capable guardian has no effect. The analysis showed no one, clearly defined group has an increased chance of becoming a victim. Target hardening may help, but opportunities for prevention campaigns aimed at a specific target group or dangerous online activities are limited. Therefore, situational crime prevention will have to come from a different angle. Banks could play the role of capable guardian.

Routine Activities Theory (RAT) is a mainstay of victimological theory. This analysis builds upon prior scholarship to critique RATs utility as a causal theory of victimization. This critique focuses on two primary concerns. First, the theory, as originally articulated, is vague regarding the kinds of social changes important in shaping routine activities, the routine activities that matter for producing crime and victimization, and the processes or mechanisms through which social changes produce variations in routine activities. Second, the theory includes both necessary and subjective criteria for establishing suitable targets and capable guardians, both of which introduce complications for the theory. The necessary elements are potentially tautological as they merely describe targets or guardianship while the perceptual render the theory indistinguishable from rational choice or deterrence theory. Despite these issues, theory provides an extraordinarily useful descriptive framework for understanding the dimensions of crime and victimization. As such, this analysis encourages scholars to avoid treating RAT as a standalone explanatory theory and, instead, revert to its original framing as an “approach.” This analysis then provides one example of how RAT, as an approach, can be useful for guiding victimological research and theorizing going forward.

This research paper delves into the effectiveness and accessibility of India's National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal in combating financial cybercrimes. Through a multi-faceted approach encompassing statistical analysis, citizen surveys, and case studies, the study aims to identify strengths, weaknesses, and areas for improvement. Quantitative data derived from official crime reports and a comprehensive citizen survey provide insights into public awareness, usage patterns, and perceptions of the portal. Key findings reveal the portal's current impact on reporting financial cybercrimes and shed light on factors influencing its efficacy. Additionally, qualitative insights from interviews with law enforcement and cybersecurity experts, along with selected case studies, offer a nuanced understanding of real-world scenarios. The analysis culminates in actionable recommendations aimed at bolstering the portal's effectiveness and accessibility in addressing financial cybercrimes, thereby fortifying India's cybersecurity infrastructure. Key Words: cybercrime reporting, National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, financial cybercrimes, effectiveness, accessibility, India, cybersecurity infrastructure, digital transactions, online frauds, identity thefts, law enforcement, citizen surveys, case studies, public awareness, technology, qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis, recommendations.

Routine activity theory suggests that crime occurs when a motivated offender meets a suitable target and no capable guardian is present. In identity theft that occurs online, potential victims can sometimes act as their own guardians. Self-protection strategies, such as identity theft monitoring software, can be implemented by potential victims to act as guardians against identity theft. Little is known about the situations when a suitable target becomes their own guardian. This article seeks to understand this situation by looking at self-protection behaviors after the Equifax breach of 2017. Using data from a North Carolina Poll Survey, we examine self-protection measures implemented following this potential victimization. When do individuals enact their own self-guardian behaviors? We find that measures of computer use do not predict whether an individual will enact self-protection measures following the Equifax breach. Rather, we find that negative emotions around identity theft lead individuals to enact self-protection measures.