Towards an Understanding of Enablement in Online Non-delivery Fraud
Creators: name: Whittaker, Jack Mark
Publisher: name: University of Surrey
Year: 2024
Subjects: fraud
non-delivery fraud
fraud enablers
online shopping fraud
offender research
advance-fee fraud
crime enablers
online fraud

description: Online shopping fraud has become very common with the growing preference for the public to shop online. The current academic literature on this type of fraud is limited in scope, focusing broadly on the prevalence of online shopping fraud and what actions and behaviours consumers take to avoid being victimised in this type of fraud. This thesis takes a novel approach, by focusing more upon how online shopping fraud is &lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;enabled&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;. To accomplish this, a new conceptual framework of criminal enablement is proposed, by arguing that enablement comprises of ‘active’ and ‘passive’ elements. The concept of ‘active enablement’ is then applied in a case-study analysis of an under analysed type of online shopping fraud – the ‘pet scam’. The crux of this thesis focuses on a qualitative sample (n=14) of deviant website developers located in Cameroon who enable the fraud by building these fraudulent websites. The results begin by setting four themes of technical enablement revealed in the interviews. The first finds that the website developers value speed over quality by using content management systems and that they often steal content from legitimate websites when they build fraudulent websites for their clients. The second theme identifies that the website developers build a range of fraudulent websites for their clients which are broadly intended to take advantage of supply and demand factors in the legitimate economy. The third theme provides insight into marketing and trust. It shows how the website developers do not trust their clients and, in order prevent themselves from being defrauded, use a range of loss mitigation techniques. The fourth theme provides insight into money laundering. The results then go on to set out five key social factors behind the website developers’ decision to actively enable online shopping fraud. The first theme identified describes how the website developers argue that they have been ‘pushed’ into undertaking this type of work because of the ongoing civil war in Cameroon. The second theme provides insight into the legitimate work that the website developers undertake and shows why they find this type of work unattractive. The third and fourth themes outline why they have chosen not to become fraudsters themselves. The issue of poor public perception of fraudsters and the targeting of fraudsters by the local police provides one justification. The website developers’ negative perceptions of ‘black magic’ and spiritualism provides another. The fifth theme explores the lucrative revenues website developers can generate by offering their services to fraudsters. The themes and issues identified in the analysis illustrate how the concept of ‘active enablement’ is complex, comprising of &lt;em&gt;both&lt;/em&gt; technical and social factors. The reflections and conclusions chapter summarises the findings and offers a further contribution to the understanding of online fraud. It argues that there is a far wider landscape of culpable actors who passively enable online fraud through their negligence. The thesis concludes by suggesting that it is only through better educating both fraudsters and fraud prevention agents about the enablement of fraud that it can better controlled.