Victim in electronic commercial fraud

Abstract

The article presents a criminological victimological and psychological analysis of the interaction between a fraudster and a victim in electronic commercial fraud. It is noted that the scientific plane of research of modern fraud needs constant empirical updating and theoretical understanding in the field of criminology and victimology, in particular, in the study of fraud in the field of e-commerce and trade.The basis of scientific criminological analysis was a complex combination of philosophical (in particular, dialectical), general scientific (synthesis, analysis, induction, deduction and generalization) and special scientific methods.For the purpose of this work, in particular, the features of electronic commercial fraud are substantiated, namely: 1) contact between the fraudster and the victim is established remotely; 2) the fraudster is deprived of an audiovisual portrait of the victim; 3) the target audience of the fraudster, given the use of digital technology, has expanded significantly.The author’s statements and conclusions are based on a study that statistically substantiates that the likelihood of becoming a victim of fraud in e-commerce and trade is significantly increased in greedy and overconfident citizens. 
 Usually, victims are characterized by a lack or underdeveloped critical thinking and are unaware of modern methods of fraud. There is a separate category of gamblers and self-confident citizens who are characterized by risk, believe in luck, have a good education, lead an active lifestyle, learn new activities, however, are also characterized by a high degree of victimhood against e-commerce fraud.The conclusions outline the specific group victim traits of victims in electronic commercial fraud, methods and techniques used by fraudsters to build interaction with the victim during the crime.