Related papers: A Survey of Scam Exposure, Victimization, Types, V…
Online harassment is a global problem. This article examines perceptions of harm and preferences for remedies associated with online harassment with nearly 4000 participants in 14 countries around the world. The countries in this work…
Misconceptions about digital security and privacy topics in the general public frequently lead to insecure behavior. However, little is known about the prevalence and extent of such misconceptions in a global context. In this work, we…
Phone scams remain a difficult problem to tackle due to the combination of protocol limitations, legal enforcement challenges and advances in technology enabling attackers to hide their identities and reduce costs. Scammers use social…
Cybercriminals abuse Online Social Networks (OSNs) to lure victims into a variety of spam. Among different spam types, a less explored area is OSN abuse that leverages the telephony channel to defraud users. Phone numbers are advertized via…
Despite the importance of developing generative AI models that can effectively resist scams, current literature lacks a structured framework for evaluating their vulnerability to such threats. In this work, we address this gap by…
Romance scams (RS) inflict financial and emotional damage by defrauding victims under the guise of meaningful relationships. This research study examines RS trends in the U.S. through a quantitative analysis of web searches, news articles,…
Online deception and financial scams represent a pervasive threat in the digital age, yet a quantitative analysis and understanding of their propagation is lacking. This study introduces a novel model based on the framework of…
We study a set of high-profile scams that were well engineered and have hit people hard in China in recent years. We propose a simple but novel theoretical framework to examine psychological, situational and social fabric factors that have…
Mobile network operators implement firewalls to stop illicit messages, but scammers find ways to evade detection. Previous work has looked into SMS texts that are blocked by these firewalls. However, there is little insight into SMS texts…
This paper compares the risk factors for becoming a victim of two types of phishing: high-tech phishing (using malicious software) and low-tech phishing (using e-mails and telephone calls). These risk factors are linked to possibilities for…
Conversational scams, such as romance and investment scams, are emerging as a major form of online fraud. Unlike one-shot scam lures such as fake lottery or unpaid toll messages, they unfold through multi-turn conversations in which…
Phishing attacks pose a significant cybersecurity threat globally. This study investigates phishing susceptibility within the Pakistani population, examining the influence of demographic factors, technological aptitude and usage, previous…
For centuries, national economies created wealth by engaging in international trade and production. The resulting international supply networks not only increase wealth for countries, but also create systemic risk: economic shocks,…
Mobile messaging scams--fraudulent messages delivered over SMS and other mobile applications--have become a persistent and evolving security threat, yet the attributes underlying these campaigns remain unclear. This study seeks to address…
As adoption of mobile phones has skyrocketed, so have scams involving them. The text method is called SMiShing, (aka SMShing, or smishing) in which a fraudster sends a phishing link via Short Message Service (SMS) text to a phone. However,…
Understanding how social situations unfold in people's daily lives is relevant to designing mobile systems that can support users in their personal goals, well-being, and activities. As an alternative to questionnaires, some studies have…
Slums, informal settlements, and deprived areas are urban regions characterized by poverty. According to the United Nations, over one billion people reside in these areas, and this number is projected to increase. Additionally, these…
The short message service (SMS) was introduced a generation ago to the mobile phone users. They make up the world's oldest large-scale network, with billions of users and therefore attracts a lot of fraud. Due to the convergence of mobile…
Over the years, online scams have grown dramatically, with nearly 50% of global consumers encountering scam attempts each week. These scams cause not only significant financial losses to individuals and businesses, but also lasting…
In this short article, I leverage the National Crime Victimization Survey from 1992 to 2022 to examine how income, education, employment, and key demographic factors shape the type of crime victims experience (violent vs property). Using…