Cyber technology has impacted interactions between victims and offenders by creating a new world in which most traditional crimes can take place. It has been shown that anonymity has a hand in this. Users online can interact anonymously, which may leave some offenders feeling more comfortable in carrying out their crimes. In a traditional harassment case, in most cases, a victim knows who their assailant is, however, with the use of cyber technology a harasser peruses their victim with a lower risk of repercussions. The scale at which an offender has access to people also increases with the use of cyber technology. Now offenders have access to people worldwide. Many people around the world have fallen victim to phishing scams in which money is sent to a person outside of their country. Victims may be tricked via sophisticated social engineering attacks when a victim sends money to someone who is not whom they say they are. Due to the global scale of these attacks, it is difficult for a prosecution to even occur. Theft, stalking, and other crimes can now be committed with some level of safety behind a computer screen.
Another alarming aspect of this is people of younger ages are becoming victims of cyber crime. cyber bullying is a good example of this. The use of social media to carry out these crimes has not only led to younger people being exposed earlier on in life but has had drastic repercussions such as suicide. We have all seen cases such as that of Megan Meier, who committed suicide after a vicious cyber bullying campaign waged against her not only by fellow classmates but the parent of one of those classmates’ mothers. Lori Drew, who used the alias of a young boy named Josh, anonymously harassed Megan, and harshly attacked her till she was no longer able to cope.
Cyber technology undoubtedly benefits us, but when used improperly and with malicious means can have long-lasting consequences that can result in death.