Investigating what promotes and deters Scottish cybercrime reporting

Cybercrime is under-reported in Scotland, with the reasons for this being poorly understood. To investigate underreporting, we commenced with a search of the related research and then carried out a review of actual cases. Next, to uncover Scottish-specific factors, we qualitatively interviewed 10 Sc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of Economic Criminology Vol. 6; p. 100103
Main Authors Sikra, Juraj, Renaud, Karen V., Thomas, Daniel R.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Elsevier Ltd 01.12.2024
Elsevier
Subjects
Cybercrime
MINDSPACE
Reporting
Responsibilization
Scotland
Victims
Scotland
Responsibilization
Cybercrime
Reporting
Victims
MINDSPACE
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Summary:Cybercrime is under-reported in Scotland, with the reasons for this being poorly understood. To investigate underreporting, we commenced with a search of the related research and then carried out a review of actual cases. Next, to uncover Scottish-specific factors, we qualitatively interviewed 10 Scottish cybercrime victims. It emerged that victims blamed themselves for falling prey to cybercrime and were reluctant to report the incident. This is arguably a direct consequence of the UK government’s cybersecurity responsibilization strategy. Informed by our findings, we articulated a national strategy for promoting cybercrime reporting using the MINDSPACE behavioral influence model. Subsequently, we verified this model with a survey of 380 Scottish respondents, a representative sample of the general population in terms of age and gender. We report on and discuss our findings. Finally, we recommend two interventions to inform a national strategy for improving cybercrime reporting in Scotland.
ISSN:2949-7914
2949-7914
DOI:10.1016/j.jeconc.2024.100103