Understanding Internet Fraud: Denial of Risk Theory Perspective

Abstract

Internet fraud has become a global problem attracting the attention of researchers, practitioners and policy makers. Existing empirical theoretical studies on internet crimes have mostly used neutralization and deterrence theories. Despite the insights from these theories, we are still observing an increase in the number of internet crimes. We argue that Denial of Risk theory may provide new insights on internet crimes such as internet fraud. We examined how each of the three dimensions of Denial of Risk theory (scapegoating, self-confidence and comparing of risk) serve as antecedent of the intention to commit internet fraud. Using responses from 350 individuals from internet fraud hotspots, we showed that scapegoating, self-confidence and comparing of risk are positively related to intention to commit internet fraud. The study offers theoretical and practical contributions to research in the spectrum of internet fraud and the theoretical application of denial of risk in cybercrime research.