How does cyber technology impact interactions between offenders and victims?
Offenders have the ability to easily interact and engage with a large pool of potential victims because of the amount of access we currently have with our devices, it is more accessible for offenders to take advantage of people. Beyond just the accessibility and ease, scams are now much more far-reaching, as someone in another country can target someone in another part of the world from their computer with no issues or restraints as long as they have a consistent internet connection. One of the most common scams is praying on people’s sense of accountability and responsibility and using the guise of being from a reputable company like Amazon and saying that their account has been compromised but they can fix it by providing their information. If you are not paying attention, you may easily fall for this because it does feel like a legitimate email and request, but legally a company cannot contact you requesting you to provide information via an unsecured line of communication. That is simply illegal and in these cases, it is a way for someone to gain access to your accounts and commit fraud. Awareness is absolutely essential when browsing online and having the understanding of learning what is a fraud attempt or an actual request from a real business.
Offenders also are evolving and learning new ways to exploit people, so consistently staying up-to-date with trends to make sure you are aware of potential new dangers and ways to gain access to your systems.