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Understanding the state of criminological scholarship on cybercrimes

Holt, Thomas J. (2022) — Computers in Human Behavior

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DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2022.107493 (opens in a new tab)

Type:   Journal Article
Country:   Global
Tags:   Cross National Research, Cybercrime, Fraud Measurement, Longitudinal Research, Online Fraud, Policing, Romance Scams, Victimization
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Synopsis

            
This publication is a review of criminological research on cybercrimes, examining how scholars have studied hacking, malware, fraud, piracy, and related offenses that are economically motivated or involve data, finances, and persons in online spaces. It notes that criminologists have produced a large and growing body of work over the past decade, with an emphasis on behavioral, attitudinal, and environmental factors that help explain why individuals engage in online offenses. The article traces methodological variety, including survey studies (from college samples to national youth panels), the use of honeypots and live-system experiments, analyses of open-source hacking incidents, and examinations of illicit online markets on both Open and Dark Web platforms. It also highlights intersections with social science and computer science approaches. Key themes identified include the predictive role of social bonds, peer associations, and individual self-control for cyberdeviance; the influence of deterrence messaging and organizational information security policies; and the complex dynamics of illicit digital markets, phishing, data theft, and piracy. The review summarizes how researchers have explored the market practices, victimization, policing responses, and legal proceedings related to cybercrime, noting mixed but emerging evidence on deterrence, sanctions, and the impact of policing interventions. It also highlights gaps and limitations, such as uneven data quality, limited cross-national generalizability, and the need for continued study of victims, policymakers, and the evolving structure of cybercrime markets as technology and enforcement environments change. Overall, the article presents a state-of-the-field assessment and points to directions for future criminological inquiry.

          

        
                  

            
Identified Gaps

            
Romance-fraud research has few consistent victimization predictors and limited evidence on risk factors in international contexts. Fraud and phishing measures are inconsistent, weakening comparisons across population surveys. Cybercrime research has few longitudinal studies, particularly involving young people, and official statistics undercount economically motivated offenses. Evidence on policing, public-private coordination, and judicial responses is limited and often based on nonrepresentative samples.

          

        
                  

            
Methods

            
Narrative review of criminological scholarship on cyber-trespass and cyber-deception/theft offenses, including hacking, malware, fraud, piracy, and online illicit markets. It synthesizes findings from prior survey, qualitative, quantitative, open-source, experimental, interview, ethnographic, police-data, and market-content studies. The review identifies methodological limitations and future research priorities; it does not report new data collection or a systematic review protocol.

          

        
                  

            
Limitations

            
This is a broad narrative review rather than original empirical research, and no review-search, screening, or quality-appraisal procedure is reported in the supplied text. Romance fraud is one subsection within a wider review of cybercrime. The article also notes that much underlying evidence is preliminary, inconsistently measured, underreported in official data, or based on samples not generalizable to broader populations or police forces.

          

        
                  

            
Future Work

            
Develop internationally comparable research on romance-fraud victimization risk factors. Improve and standardize measures of fraud, phishing, offending, and victimization, including distinctions between simple and complex cybercrime. Conduct longitudinal studies, especially among young people, to identify developmental pathways. Improve trend monitoring while official statistics remain incomplete. Examine policing, specialist units, public-private coordination, and cross-national judicial responses.

          

              

    
    

        
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