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The purpose of this study is to test a comprehensive routine activity framework on three types of online victimization. Prior research has utilized routine activity theory to explain varied online forms of victimization, but most have focused on its person-based forms. The present study, therefore, expands upon this research to examine the effects of online exposure, online target suitability and online guardianship upon phishing, hacking and malware infection victimization.

Secondary data from the 23rd Cycle of the Canadian GSS were used to address the study’s research questions using binary logistic regression analyses.

Particular online behaviors were consistently and positively related to all three types of online victimization, including booking/making reservations, social networking and having one’s information posted online. Other online routines exhibited unique effects on online victimization risk.

In support of the theory, the results suggest that online exposure and target suitability increase risks for phishing, hacking and malware victimization. Online guardianship was also positively related to victimization, a finding that runs counter to theoretical expectations.

This study aims to use opportunity as a theoretical lens to investigate how the spatio-temporal and social dimensions of the consumption environment create perceived opportunities for consumers to misbehave.

Drawing on routine activity theory and social impact theory, the authors use two experiments to demonstrate that spatio-temporal and social dimensions can explain consumer theft in retail settings.

Study 1 reveals mixed empirical support for the basic dimensions of routine activity theory, which posits that the opportunity to thieve is optimised when a motivated offender, suitable target and the absence of a capable formal guardian transpire in time and space. Extending the notion of guardianship, Study 2 tests social impact theory and shows that informal guardianship impacts the likelihood of theft under optimal routine activity conditions.

The study findings highlight important implications for academicians and retail managers: rather than focusing on the uncontrollable characteristics of thieving offenders, more controllable spatio-temporal and social factors of the retail environment can be actively monitored and manipulated to reduce perceived opportunities for consumer misbehaviour.

This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework to predict susceptibility to cyber-fraud victimhood.

A survey was constructed to examine whether personality, socio-demographic characteristics and online routine activities predicted one-off and repeat victimhood of cyber-fraud. Overall, 11,780 participants completed a survey (one-off victims, N = 728; repeat victims = 329).

The final saturated model revealed that psychological and socio-demographic characteristics and online routine activities should be considered when predicting victimhood. Consistent with the hypotheses, victims of cyber-frauds were more likely to be older, score high on impulsivity measures of urgency and sensation seeking, score high on addictive measures and engage in more frequent routine activities that place them at great risk of becoming scammed. There was little distinction between one-off and repeat victims of cyber-frauds.

This work uniquely combines psychological, socio-demographic and online behaviours to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework to predict susceptibility to cyber-frauds. Importantly, the work here challenges the current utility of government websites to protect users from becoming scammed and provides insights into methods that might be used to protect users from becoming scammed.

The purpose of this study is to develop the theorisation of cybercrime in the context of the pandemic, and to sketch out a vision of how law enforcement might respond to a transformed landscape of online crime and offending.

This conceptual paper draws on empirical evidence from a range of sources (including official statistics) and the existing research literature, and revisits routine activities theory to illuminate the way that cybercrime patterns are being transformed by the pandemic.

The pandemic is reshaping the routine activities of societies en masse, leading to changes in the ecology of risk and opportunity for cybercrime. There is evidence of a large increase in the prevalence of cybercrime as a result, yet much of this has a paradoxically “local” character.

The authors identify specific practical implications for law enforcement, namely, that the role of local police in policing cybercrime should be re-envisioned, with a democratic, community-oriented approach at its heart.

The theoretical perspective outlined is a novel and critical development of a well-established framework, opening up new paths to the theorisation of cybercrime and cybercrime policing. The authors’ suggestions for practitioners have the potential for direct impact, both at the level of practice and in terms of broader imaginaries and organisation of police and policing.

In the field of crime prevention there are several theoretical approaches explaining why crime occurs and how to prevent it. Three of them – routine activity theory, crime pattern theory and the theory of crime-as-choice – are logically tested in this work. The point of departure is to test if the theories are logical consistent and logical valid, irrespective of whether the criterion for criminal intent is changed from direct intention to negligence.

The issues will be explored in a logical structure by a first-order logic propositional analysis.

The analysis shows that all three theories are logical consistent, but only routine activity theory is logical valid. The conclusion is that crime prevention should in general assume that routine activity theory is the legitimate theory and that social prevention as a prevention strategy is logically unnecessary to adopt because it does not matter whether the offender is motivated (direct intention) or not (negligence).

It does not really matter if the authors theoretically treat white-collar offenders as motivated, because if they have committed an actus reus, they are an offender according to the objective requisites. This means that the best strategies to prevent a potential white-collar criminal are situational prevention, i.e. complicate their access to money, where it becomes irrelevant if the potential offender has a mens rea or not. What counts is the prevention of actus reus by a potential offender.

As far as I know, no one has previously investigated the logical consistency and/or logical validity of routine activity theory, crime pattern theory and the theory of crime-as-choice as theories of crime prevention.

While a number of IS security researchers consider the threat posed by employees who perpetrate computer crime, there is currently a lack of insight into how the offender interacts with the criminal context both prior to and during commission. A greater understanding of this relationship may complement existing security practices by possibly highlighting new areas for safeguard implementation. To help facilitate a greater understanding of the offender/environment dynamic, this paper, therefore, aims to assess the feasibility of applying three criminological theories to the IS security context. Rather than focusing on why people become criminals, these theories entitled routine activity theory, environmental criminology and the rational choice perspective, focus on the criminal act.

Drawing on an account of the Barings Bank collapse, events highlighted in the case study are used to assess whether concepts central to the theories are supported by the data.

Analysis indicates support for the concepts central to environmental criminology and the rational choice perspective. While case study evidence supports two of the concepts advanced by routine activity theory, as a whole the theory is found wanting, as the “guardianship” and “handled offender” concepts appear to lack the necessary sophistication to theoretically accommodate and explain supervisory and control failings cited in the case study.

While future research could encompass continued application of the theories to further assess their suitability for the IS domain, consideration could also be given to the application of the preventive tools and methods which have been developed in tandem with the three criminological approaches. Another stream of future research may involve the application of the theories in conjunction with existing security practices.

Greater knowledge of the offender/context dynamic may feasibly enhance existing security practices by possibly highlighting new areas for safeguard implementation.

From an IS security perspective, there is currently a lack of insight into the offender/context dynamic. The paper presents a group of criminological theories, which have previously not been considered for application in the IS context. The theories may feasibly throw light on the behaviour of offenders in the criminal context, both prior to and during commission.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the influence of exposure to motivated offenders who may alter the vulnerability levels to phishing victimization. This is particularly focused on explaining the influences of individuals’ online lifestyles and attitudes toward information sharing online on phishing susceptibility.

This conceptual paper explores the risk of phishing victimization using criminological theories. The authors draw on empirical evidence from existing cybercrime literature and revisit routine activities theory (RAT) and lifestyle RAT (LRAT) to elucidate the risk of phishing victimization. This paper proposes that cyber-RAT, which was developed from RAT and LRAT, could interpret phishing victimization. Grounded on the intervention-based theory against cybercrime phishing, this study suggests that an attitude toward precautionary behavior (information sharing online) is essential to mitigate the phishing victimization risk.

This paper aims to provide a clear insight into the understanding of phishing victimization risk using theoretical and empirical evidence.

The theoretical perspective outlined provides the understanding of the impacts of online routine activities on a phishing attack which in turn will increase the awareness of phishing threats. The important role of the precautionary countermeasure, that is, attitudes toward information sharing online is highlighted to reconcile the phishing victimization risk.

This paper examines the concept of criminal opportunity. More precisely, it focuses on the nature of such opportunities that are to be found within an IS context, and the threat posed by dishonest staff who may act on them. Although hackers and their activities may be given ample column space in the lay press, the potential threat posed by dishonest staff should not be underestimated. The 1998 NCC Business Information Survey reports that the greatest risk of security breaches arose from the activities of personnel within organisations, accounting for nearly 52 per cent of all (physical and logistical) security breaches detected. Similarly, the 1998 CSI/FBI Survey found that the largest single source of financial loss (almost 37 per cent) was attributable to unauthorised insider access. These facts are not lost on security practitioners who, as a rule of thumb, work on the principle that 25 per cent of people are dishonest whenever possible, 25 per cent are always honest and 50 per cent can be either, depending on the nature of security controls and personal motivation.

The purpose of this study was to explore human factors as the possible facilitator of cyber-dependent (hacking and malware infection) and cyber-enabled (phishing) crimes victimisation and to test the applicability of lifestyle routine activities theory (LRAT) to cybercrime victimisation.

A mixed methods research paradigm was applied to address the research questions and aims. The data set of Crime Survey of England and Wales (CSEW) 2014/2015 and 42 semi-structured interviews conducted with victims of cybercrime and non-victim control group participants were analysed via binary logistic regression and content analyses methods.

This research illustrated that Internet users facilitated their victimisation through their online activities. Additionally, using insecure Internet connections and public access computers emerged as risk factors for both cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crime victimisation. Voluntary and involuntary personal information disclosure through social networking sites and online advertisement websites increased the likelihood of being a target of phishing. Deviant online activities such as free streaming or peer-to-peer sharing emerged to increase the risk of cyber-dependent crime victimisation.

The binary logistic regression analysis results suggested LRAT as a more suitable theoretical framework for cyber-dependent crime victimisation. Future research may test this result with models including more macro variables.

Policymakers may consider implementing regulations regarding limiting the type of information required to login to free Wi-Fi connections. Checking trust signs and green padlocks may be effective safeguarding measures to lessen the adverse impacts of impulsive buying.

This study empirically illustrated that, besides individual-level factors, macro-level factors such as electronic devices being utilised to access the Internet and data breaches of large companies also increased the likelihood of becoming the victim of cyber-enabled and cyber-dependent crime.

This paper aims to examine demographic differences between individuals who do not take measures to protect themselves from identity theft victimization and those who do. A majority of the research on identity theft has focused on predictors of victimization, reporting behaviors of the victims and their health and mental outcomes. However, little remains known about the individuals who choose to take any identity-theft measures despite concerns over this fast-growing breed of crime.

Guided by Felson and Cohen’s routine activities theoretical framework (1979), this study uses the 2014 Identity Theft Supplement of the National Crime Victimization Survey to identify the demographic characteristics that influence the use of self-protection measures among individuals in the general population.

This study finds that these individuals are much more likely to be white, older, female and highly educated. The decision to undertake protection against identity theft is also influenced by the following factors: prior experience of misuse, possession of a bank account in the prior 12 months, current possession of at least one credit card and awareness that one is entitled to a free copy of one’s credit report.

This study addresses the gap in scholarship on identity theft prevention by applying the concept of guardianship in Cohen and Felson’s routine activity theory (1979) to the usage of self-protection measures in a general population. Future findings will identify the areas which agencies and researchers can focus on to inform policies that foster individuals’ own initiatives to take self-protection measures against potential identity theft.