Investigating what promotes and deters Scottish cybercrime reporting

Abstract

Cybercrime is under-reported in Scotland, with the reasons for this being poorly understood. To investigate underreporting, we commenced with a search of the related research and then carried out a review of actual cases. Next, to uncover Scottish-specific factors, we qualitatively interviewed 10 Scottish cybercrime victims. It emerged that victims blamed themselves for falling prey to cybercrime and were reluctant to report the incident. This is arguably a direct consequence of the UK government’s cybersecurity responsibilization strategy. Informed by our findings, we articulated a national strategy for promoting cybercrime reporting using the MINDSPACE behavioral influence model. Subsequently, we verified this model with a survey of 380 Scottish respondents, a representative sample of the general population in terms of age and gender. We report on and discuss our findings. Finally, we recommend two interventions to inform a national strategy for improving cybercrime reporting in Scotland.

Keywords

• Cybercrime
• Victims
• Reporting
• Responsibilization
• Scotland
• MINDSPACE