The article review should focus on (1) how the topic relates to the principals of the social sciences; (2) the study’s research questions or hypotheses; (3) the types of research methods used; (4) the types of data and analysis done; (5) how concepts from the PowerPoint presentations relate to the article; (6) how the topic relates to the challenges, concerns and contributions of marginalized groups; and (7) the overall contributions of the studies to society.
Date: 3/19/2023
Review of an Article on Elders’ Fraud Victimization from a Cybersecurity as a Social Science Perspective
The article I will be reviewing is from the International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime and is entitled, “’Elder Scam’ Risk Profiles: Individual and Situational Factors of Younger and Older Age Groups’ Fraud Victimization.” Here is an open link to view the article: https://vc.bridgew.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1117&context=ijcic
This article relates to the social science principles of empiricism, ethical neutrality, and objectivity. It relates to empiricism by collecting empirical data through a survey asking individuals for their own experiences. The research was ethically neutral because it simply surveyed participants with non-leading questions. The paper was also objective because it displayed their full results and the presentation was not biased.
The study sought to find how age effects fraud victimization as well as how situational and individual factors come into play. A review of previous research was done, but mainly this study used a survey to conduct research. There were no open-ended questions on the survey and 2,558 results were analyzed. The data was presented in tables with different scams across the top and demographics downwards. The analysis was first based on self-control and then from a Lifestyle Routine Activities Theory perspective.
In class we recently talked about subcultures and this paper is influenced by fraud subculture. The paper also looked at social media use of survey participants. The survey demographic questions included some of the social forces that we talked about. In terms of psychology relating to fraud victimization, this study looked at the self-control and behaviors of participants.
Elders are often seen as easy targets for those in the fraud subculture. Older people are less likely to have the knowledge to protect themselves from some of these scams. One of the scam mentioned in the study was an IT support scam, and people who didn’t grow up using technology might not know how to support themselves. Those in retirement would also be hit harder by fraud as they are stuck with a fixed income to support themselves financially.
This study had results that match previous research on how low self-control increased risk of victimization especially for older people. They found that reaching out didn’t help victims, but awareness programs would. Overall, the survey found and confirmed a lot about age and fraud victimization.
Parti, K. (2022). “Elder Scam” Risk Profiles: Individual and Situational Factors of Younger and Older Age
Groups’ Fraud Victimization. International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime: 5(3), 20-40.
Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/ijcic/vol5/iss3/3