Fraud prevention stakeholders’ use of social media in reducing fraud

• In Event: Virtual reality, smartphones and social media: The potential of novel methods for the study of crime

Abstract

Social media is increasingly used by the police for public engagement and to aid in investigations. Previous research in this area has examined the utility of social media data to predict crime trends including those that take place on social media platforms (e.g. hate crime and cyber bulling). Research concerning ‘what works’ in terms of social media crime prevention campaigns, or that examines insights from user interactions with police-posted content is limited. Here, we focus on posts by 224 UK fraud prevention stakeholders (including law enforcement, government, industry and voluntary sector) and their interactions with users. We analyse a large X dataset (148,984 posts) that includes original stakeholder posts and those from users who respond to them. Using qualitative analyses and natural language processing, we explore what types of fraud prevention content stakeholders post, the types of fraud most commonly discussed, and user posts.

The analysis of semi-structured interviews conducted with stakeholders involved in social media outreach (n=17) provides insight into their day-to-day tasks, and social media outreach strategies intended to reduce fraud.

Preliminary findings show that the most commonly discussed types of fraud are online frauds such as phishing. Across the different stakeholders posts we find a concerning variety of reporting mechanisms. This likely confuses the public in terms of where to report fraud, creates a fragmented picture of the scale of problem and the forms it takes, and leads to under-reporting in official police statistics. In terms of user posts, while the level of detail provided varies, the descriptions provide valuable insight for uncovering contemporary methods used by offenders. Our findings contribute to a relatively small literature on the use of social media by stakeholders to prevent fraud and cybercrime, and what types of messaging might work best to reduce crime and incentivise reporting.

Author

• Manja Nikolovska, Dawes Centre for future crime at UCL