A Diagnosis of Internet Fraud Trend: A Macro Level Approach to Predict Future Internet Fraud Phenomenon

• In Event: Cyber Criminology and Criminal Justice Policy: Internet Fraud, Cyber-attacks, and Online Drugs

Abstract

This study is designed to facilitate an important role in the advanced information era to minimize Internet fraud victimization. Particularly, this study is dedicated to the assessment of Internet fraud complaint data, and offers trends of Internet fraud that can help law enforcement agencies and the public have a better understanding of emerging threats, new trends of Internet fraud, and future Internet schemes. A pooled, cross-sectional time-series reflecting state-level data is employed to examine how macro-level factors contribute to the Internet fraud phenomenon.
The findings indicate that the social structural factors of unemployment rate and violent crime rates substantially influence the likelihood of Internet fraud victimization. The findings also show that the size of law enforcement has little influence on the likelihood of Internet fraud victimization. Finally, the change of Bitcoin currency rates has a strong correlation with Internet fraud monetary loss. Policy implications and limitations of the study are addressed.

Authors

• Kyung-shick Choi, Boston University

• Hyeyoung Lim, University of Alabama at Birmingham

• Sinchul Back, Florida International University