How does cyber technology impact interactions between offenders and victims?

To start, crime has simply changed over the years. It used to be physical and face to face. It could be robbing a bank, stealing a car, or physical assault. This is the type of crime that leaves victims fearful and with post-traumatic stress. With the emergence of cybercrime though, a different type of relationship between offenders and victims has been seen.

Cybercrime in general has been a problem for countries all over the world for a period of time. With billions of people using the Internet every day, it seems like there are many opportunities ripe for the taking for cyber criminals. The bad part about it too is that cyber criminals can do just as much, if not more, damage to an individual over the Internet than face to face. That’s because it is not the physical world, yet. We are scared of a dark alley for obvious reasons. You can be robbed, attacked, or worse. But on the internet, there really are not any dark alleys. There are your shady looking websites, but for the most part, the online world is a place that is a fun and comforting for some people. However, the online world is a mysterious place. At any moment we can be targeted and have information, money, or even identities stolen in seconds, and most people would not even notice for an amount of time because it is happening behind a screen and not face to face.

In the end, there has been no changes to the true relationship between offenders and victims. They still did what they did, and you were still damaged in some way. Cyber technology has simply taken the physical aspect of it away. We are not victims to someone we know, but to someone who could live on the other side of the world.