İtobiad (Jun 2023)
Processes And Patterns of Online Reaction Against Online Fraud (Ponzi Schemes) Victimization – ‘Çiftlik Bank’ Case in Türkiye
Abstract
Social media interactions, in which crime is at the center, offer researchers an opportunity that is difficult to encounter in real life. This opportunity is the recording of the data of the social reactions made in the heat of the event on the social media channels. Thus, data that can be recorded in real life only to be collected and analyzed by the researcher at the time of the event awaits the attention of researchers in the internet big data. The research is a qualitative case study. The aim of the research is to analyze the course and pattern of the social reaction toward the victims of fraud crime in Türkiye, with reference to the Çiftlik Bank incident, which occupied the agenda of Türkiye for a long time by using this opportunity offered by social media. In this respect, the research universe is social media channels, the research area is "Ekşi Sözlük," a social media platform, and the research sample is the reactions given to the event under the title of " Çiftlik Bank.” 2726 social reaction content obtained from the sample with document analysis was collected as data. The data were divided into themes and sub-themes through the MAXQDA program in accordance with the code book and analyzed in a sequential and comparative manner. In this analysis, three ways were followed in the most appropriate way for the purpose of the research. In the first way, it has been analyzed what kind of social reaction toward the victims at which stage in the process following the occurrence of the event. In the second way, all stages were analyzed comparatively and the pattern of social reaction toward the victims was reached. In the last way, a more holistic view of the pattern of social reaction toward victims is presented. In addition to the process pattern reached, the important results of the study are as follows: i) The cornerstone of the social reaction against the victims of the fraud process is the clarification of the victimization. Before the victimization becomes clear, the social reaction is to share the "rumors for and against" about the case with each other as information. However, as the victimization begins to become clear, it is seen that ridicule, insults, and curses toward the victims increase. ii) Another result of the research is that the social reaction piercing tip is aimed at the victim, not the perpetrator. iii) Another prominent result in this context is that no response from the victims expressing the victims themselves and their grievances was encountered. From this point of view, it is evaluated that the victims give a withdrawal reaction against the social reactions instead of defending themselves.
