Digital Fraud: What Students Know about it (Experience in Conducting a Focus Group Interview)

The article, based on statistical data and sociological research from a focus group interview conducted among students, updates the problem of cyber fraud. The dynamics of stolen funds of Russians over five years, the level of awareness of students about cyber fraud, the types and forms of fraud schemes that informants have encountered are shown. The most common forms of fraud are deception associated with the transfer of money for a purchase/service on the Internet with or without priority links, phishing sites and hacking of a page (account), with the subsequent demand for money for its return. This may be due to the fact that young people are active users of social media (social networks, instant messengers, games, marketplaces, etc.) and most often use online shopping. Next come less popular forms of cyber fraud, such as “raising” funds for SVO participants, the “anti-cafe” scheme, and telephone calls under the “relative in need” scheme. A number of signs to identify a fraudster (assertiveness, aggressiveness in response to the desire to check information, commanding tone, top secrecy during a call, etc.) have been identified. The reasons and factors (internal and external) contributing to the deception of a potential victim have been established (low awareness, lack of experience in dealing with digital fraud schemes, personal qualities (excessive gullibility, pliability, fear of public condemnation, greed), the use of external factors (SVO), social technologies engineering by attackers). In the context of simulated situations of cyber fraud, algorithms for the safe behavior of potential victims were identified, and students proposed measures to prevent digital fraud.