Operationalizing Online Fraudsters' Characteristics and Tactics: A Quantitative Analysis of Fraudsters' Decision-Making Processes across Online Platforms

• In Event: Cybercrime, Cybersecurity, and Education

Abstract

Online fraud losses have increased over the last five years. Despite the growing prevalence of losses, there has been little analysis of fraudsters' decision-making processes during the development of an online fraud event against non-offenders, let alone other offenders. Therefore, the current study examines the contextual and situational influences of online fraudsters' decision-making processes among non-offenders and offenders.
The current study utilizes two datasets. One dataset originates from an online experiment conducted on employment databases where the researcher corresponded with fraudsters. The second dataset originates from observational data the researcher self-collected within online carding forums.
The preliminary findings suggest online fraudsters strategically interact with their targets regardless of the target status. Specifically, online fraudsters communicate less frequently in direct messages to targets irrespective if the target is another fraudster (i.e., offender) or normative victim (i.e., non-fraudster victim). The current study highlights the need for more empirical research into online fraudsters' decision-making processes considering emergent technological advances affording fraudsters everchanging methods to avoid detection.

Author

• Tessa Cole, Georgia State University