In today’s digital age social networking sites have become a popular form of communication and how people share information. These platforms also expose users to many risks, including cybercrime. The article, “Cybercrime Risk Fear Among University Students’ Social Networking Sites” written by Abdulnaser Fakhrou and Mahmoud Ali Moussa, explores the prevalence of cybercrime anxiety among students, specifically examining how fear affects their online behavior. By utilizing a validated scale to measure cybercrime fear, the study provides insight into the psychological impact of cyber threats on vulnerable populations like university students. 

There are many factors that go into cybercrime, for example in the text, the authors investigate the social behavior of university students regarding potential cybercrime and how it affects their day to day life. Human behavior leads us to believe that most people don’t think about cybercrime until it happens, after an event like getting your Instagram account hacked, however the fear from getting hacked again is highlighted and the risk of being in digital environments. The article’s primary focus is how college/university students perceive the risk of cybercrime on social media networks. Social sciences like human behavior play a big role in helping determine levels of fear. 

The study done by Fakhrou and Moussa, used a descriptive approach with a snowballing sampling, which is when one person recruits their friends and it keeps repeating this process. They eventually gather around six hundred students to be used as test subjects. They analyzed the date they got from exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The way they received data was through a 15 question survey, where they then organized the data into a model called the three factor model. 

The study’s focus on risk perception and data collection, mirror concepts covered in many courses, such as quantitative and qualitative methods. This study’s main focus on social anxiety and anxiety in general helps make it relatable to most university students. The study highlights a concern for young university students, who may be vulnerable to cybercrime and lack the digital literacy needed for protection, illustrating how marginalization can result from limited resources or knowledge. By providing a validated scale for measuring fear of cybercrime, the study contributes to the growing understanding of cybercrime’s psychological impacts, promoting safer online environments and informed public policies for digital platforms. 

Overall, the studies research shows that most of the 612 students did show some level of fear revolving around social media and social networking sites.