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1. A Study of Targeted Telephone Scams Involving Live Attackers

   Harris, Ian; Derakhshan, Ali; Carlsson, Marcel (September 2020, Socio-Technical Aspects in Security and Trust)

   Gross, Thomas; Vigano, Luca (Ed.)

   We present the results of a research study in which participants were subjected to social engineering attacks via telephone, telephone scams, in order to determine the features of scams which peopleare most susceptible to. The study has involved 186 university participants who were attacked with one of 27 different attack scripts which span different independent variables including the pretext used and the method of elicitation. In order to ensure informed consent, each participant was warned that they would receive a scam phone call within 3 months. One independent variable used is the time between the warning and launching the scam. In spite of this warning, a large fraction of participants were still deceived by the scam. A limitation to research in the study of telephone scams is the lack of a dataset of real phone scams for examination. Each phone call in our study was recorded and we present the dataset of these recordings, and their transcripts. To our knowledge, there is no similar publicly-available dataset or phone scams. We hope that our dataset will support future research in phone scams and their detection. 

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2. Good jobs, scam jobs: Detecting, normalizing, and internalizing online job scams during the COVID-19 pandemic

   https://doi.org/10.1177/14614448221099223  

   Ravenelle, Alexandrea_J; Janko, Erica; Kowalski, Ken_Cai (July 2022, New Media & Society)

   Good jobs that allow remote work have enabled white-collar professionals to stay home during COVID-19, but for precarious workers, online advertisements for work-from-home employment are often scams. In this article, based on in-depth interviews conducted between April and July 2020 with nearly 200 precarious workers, we find that precarious workers regularly encountered fraudulent job advertisements via digital media. Drawing on Swidler’s concepts of the cultural tool kit and cultural logic, we find that in this time of uncertainty, workers defaulted to the focus on personal responsibility that is inherent in insecurity culture. Following the cultural logic of personal responsibility, job seekers did not place blame on job search websites for allowing the scams to be posted, but normalized the situation, deploying a scam detection repertoire in response. In addition, the discovery that advertised “good jobs” are often scams affecting workers’ desire to continue job hunting and perceptions of potential future success. 

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3. How Non-Experts Try to Detect Phishing Scam Emails

   Nthala, Norbert; Wash, Rick (May 2021, Workshop on Consumer Protection)

   null (Ed.)

   Email remains one of the most widely used methods of communication globally. However, successful phishing email attacks and subsequent costs remain unreasonably high despite technical advances in defenses that limit phishing scams. In this paper, we examine human detection of phishing. We found that non-experts go through four different sensemaking processes to determine if an email is a phishing message; they use different knowledge and skills to become suspicious differently in each process. Additionally, non-experts rely on their social connections as an investigative tool to determine if an email is a phishing scam. We discuss the impact of our findings on phishing training and technology. 

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4. Impact of Smartphone-Based Interactive Learning Modules on Cybersecurity Learning at the High-School Level

   https://doi.org/10.1109/EDUCON54358.2023.10125124  

   Sudha, Sai Sushmitha; Bandreddi, Jyothi Priyanka; Podila, Laxmi Mounika; Govindula, Ramesh; Richardson, Austin; Niyaz, Quamar; Yang, Xiaoli; Javaid, Ahmad Y (May 2023, IEEE)

   The increasing use of computer technologies to perform everyday activities simplifies living, but brings the underlying cybersecurity concern to the fore. Due to the accessibility of smartphones, many teenagers are “online” for significant hours in a day. Many middle and high school students have been victims of a cybercrime through online activities. Additionally, various incidents of Internet fraud have been reported where teenagers are persuaded to buy games, music, and videos without realizing they are falling for a scam or disclosing their credit card information. Studies have shown that implementing a successful security awareness camp is crucial in boosting cybersecurity and attracting talent to this domain. This paper discusses our efforts on creating smartphone apps in the context of cyber-security to encourage safe use of apps and raise awareness among teenagers. The strategy used is to develop apps with the intention of closing security gaps. By doing this, teenagers gain a wealth of information about cybersecurity. This work aims to develop students' problem-solving skills and create a cybersecurity mindset for dealing with real-world cybersecurity-related problems such as malware or phishing assaults and to promote interest in cybersecurity careers among high school students utilizing smartphone-based interactive learning modules. We also examine gender-specific patterns and evaluate whether students' cybersecurity problem-solving skills have improved due to this novel intervention. 

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5. Building Rapport in Interviews with Adolescent Trafficking Victims

   https://doi.org/10.1002/car.2864  

   Dianiska, Rachel E.; Simpson, Emma; Kim, Sarah; Lyon, Thomas D.; Quas, Jodi A. (March 2024, Child Abuse Review)

   Abstract Though much is known about children's sexual abuse disclosure, less attention has been directed towards disclosure in other types of youthful victims, especially those who may be reluctant to tell due to either normative development or victims' specific experiences. Trafficked youth, particularly those who are adolescents, represent one such group. Understanding how suspected youth trafficking victims are questioned by authorities, especially with respect to establishing rapport and trust, is important for informing professionals how to effectively question this unique population of victims to overcome their reluctance. We examined transcripts of interviews conducted by federal interviewers (n = 12,653 question‐answer turns across 33 interviews) and police (n = 4,972 question‐answer turns across 14 interviews) with trafficked youth between the ages of 12 and 18. Interviews were reliably coded for the length of pre‐substantive questioning, provision of instructions and ground rules, and use of rapport building and supportive strategies. Federal interviewers used pre‐substantive instructions and built rapport with potential victims more often than police did. Also, and although infrequently used overall, supportive interviewing strategies were evident more often by federal interviewers than police. Results provide much‐needed knowledge about how law enforcement investigators interview and elicit disclosures from vulnerable populations of adolescent victims. 

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