GROUP 2
Presented By:
Maadi, Katrna P.
Murayao, Cristel Ann O.
Julang, Misra
Pagotaisidro, Rosvie
Agustin, Jonathan I.
Dagalea, Christian G.
The Hidden Danger of
Cybercrimes on Social
Media
INTRODUCTION
The 21st century has been characterized by massive
technological innovations that have shaped the way people
interact. The social, political, and economic dimensions of
human life are facilitated by a digital age that has
encompassed the whole world. Universally, there has been
a rapid rise in the use of computers and electronic gadgets.
These developments have led to significant growth in
criminality, especially in cyberspace. Cybercrimes have
grown progressively with perpetrators developing newer
and sophisticated techniques every day. Despite the
measures taken by the international community to combat
the vice and mitigate its effects, cybercrimes have
continued to rise alarmingly across the world. According to
Cyber Security Breaches Survey of 2018, 40% of businesses
worldwide have been a victim of cybercrime. The research
The framework of social media is meant to connect others
and engage users with each other. Individuals can now
communicate with others, but businesses and
organizations can also engage with consumers. News
outlets as well can provide information to an audience.
Social media has become a tool that people can use to
engage with others quickly and effectively. The real-time
element of social networking has made information
accessible to nearly everyone (Wu, 2018, p. 2-3). The
internet has an overwhelming amount of data collected
from social media. Information, opinions, and frequent
sharing with others are common occurrences seen over
the internet. People use social media for different
reasons. Some will use it to view activists' activities,
others will look up information, but many will use it as a
source of simple entertainment. News and public
information are not typically things people think of
A major challenge to dealing with social media
networking is privacy and security on the accounts.
There is a vast amount of data that is continuously
flowing within social media platforms (Soomro &
Hussain, 2019, p. 9). These digital platforms allow
people to socialize with other like-minded individuals
with common interests. There are ample opportunities
for users to be able to work on collaborating projects,
creating content, communicating and socializing with
others, and gaming (Smith, Smith, & Blazka, 2017, p.
33-34). Currently, the largest social media networks
are Facebook and Twitter.
With the increasing use of social media, cybercrime has become
rampant. Standard cyber-attacks such as phishing, malware,
and ransomware are indeed common. These basic attacks can
damage a computer and at times a person’s finance. However,
with social media, the cybercriminals have finessed their
methods of attack. The harm committed does not necessarily
damage the user’s computer, but rather effect the person in
more physically and psychologically. Cybercriminals use the
rapid connectivity of the internet to exploit the vulnerabilities
of the network. Most people are unaware of this exploit, which
makes bad individuals feel safe committing crimes in the digital
era (Soomro & Hussain, 2019, p. 9). Criminals will use social
media to plan their intended crime. They gather the information
they need before executing the plan. The reason they can do
this due to the quick response time of social media. They can
commit crimes all in real-time (Soomro & Hussain, 2019, p. 10).
Victims will no longer have personal data. Frauds can occur,
such as claiming social security benefits and opening new lines
METHODOLOGY
The research design used in this study entitled "Social Media: The Unseen
Risks of Cybercrimes". The researchers used qualitative approach to
investigate the relationship between social media and cybercrime. This study
made use of semi-structured interviews to collect detailed story from
individuals who had experienced cybercrime on social media.
Participants
The study recruited participants through snowball sampling, starting with
individuals who had publicly shared their experiences with cybercrime online.
The researchers then asked these individuals to recommend other potential
participants, expanding the sample through their connections.
Data Collection
Semi-structured interviews were conducted with participants, focusing on
their experiences with cybercrime on social media. The interviews were
guided by a set of open-ended questions designed to obtain detailed stories
about the events leading up to the crime, the nature of the crime itself, the
immediate and long-term consequences, and the participants' perceptions of
Data Analysis
Thematic analysis was used to analyze the interview
transcripts, identifying key themes and patterns within
the data. The researchers used a combination of
inductive and deductive coding techniques, allowing for
both appearing themes and pre-determined themes to
be explored.
Ethical Considerations
The study sticked to ethical guidelines for research
involving human participants. Participants were informed
of the study's purpose, procedures, and potential risks.
Informed consent was got from all participants before
data collection. Confidentiality and anonymity were
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Social media introduces a new aspect to
cybercrimes. Users can now research and
communicate not only with people they know but
also with strangers across the globe. This global
online community means that crimes like online
harassment and cyberbullying can affect almost
anyone. While social media users are the most
impacted, their responses to these issues can
vary.
ONLINE
HARASSMENT
Online harassment shares similarities with traditional
harassment, differing mainly in the digital environment
where it occurs. This type of crime often includes other
malicious acts like cyberstalking, sending disturbing or
threatening messages, and making hate speech comments.
According to Statista, about 44% of internet users have
experienced some form of harassment, while 28% have
faced severe harassment. The data further breaks down
the types of harassment users encounter, with offensive
name-calling and intentional embarrassment being the
most common. In the severe harassment category, physical
threats, stalking, and sustained harassment are more
prevalent. With nearly 2,000 responses, it’s evident that 12
around four out of ten American internet users will
experience online harassment.
Table 1
Share of adult internet users in the United States who
have personally experienced online harassment as of
January 2020
To look into this more, we need to understand
why someone might harass another person.
There are certain traits that offenders usually
target. The most common traits are personal
or physical features like appearance, ethnicity,
gender, and political views. According to the
Pew Research Center’s Table 2, users
experience online harassment in different
ways based on how severe it is. Many people
feel mental and emotional stress as a result.
About 20% of those who faced less severe
harassment felt stressed, while around 34%
who faced severe harassment reported high
Table 2
Those who have faced severe forms of online
harassment
7
It appears that younger adults are more prone to severe
online harassment, with about 67% of internet users
aged 18-29 experiencing it. This rate is double that of
users aged 30 and above, likely because younger people
spend more time online and have more social media
accounts. Most people who have faced online
harassment report that it occurred on social media.
According to a Pew Research Center survey, 58% of
harassment incidents happened on social media
platforms. The survey further details that 82% of
individuals experienced harassment on a single
platform, while 18% were harassed on multiple
platforms. Interestingly, harassment is more commonly
perpetrated by strangers and individuals with fake
identities rather than people known to the victim. About
Cyberbullying
The NCES found that cyberbullying is a growing issue in the
U.S. It is similar to traditional bullying but happens online.
Cyberbullying mainly affects minors, while online harassment
can target anyone.
In the 2017-18 school year, cyberbullying happened at least
once a week in many schools. Almost 15% of all public
schools had cyberbullying incidents. It was most common in
middle schools (33.1%) and high schools (30.2%), and least
common in primary schools (4.5%). Overall, about 20.2% of
schools reported cases of cyberbullying. This is likely
because middle and high school students have more cell
phones and social media access, which usually requires users
to be at least 13 years old.
Pew Research Center discovered that 59% of
U.S. teens have faced cyberbullying. Table 3
showed the different types of bullying and
harassment teens go through. The most frequent
issue is offensive name-calling at 42%, followed
by false rumors being spread at 32%. Sharing
explicit images without consent is less common,
occurring in 7% of cases. Many teens also
reported experiencing multiple types of attacks.
Online bullying can easily spill over into the
physical school environment, perpetuating the 4
cycle.
Table
3
A majority of teens have been the target of cyberbullying
There are noticeable differences between
genders when it comes to cyberbullying. Females
are generally targeted more often than males.
However, in some cases, the difference is small.
For instance, 59% of males and 60% of females
have experienced cyberbullying. Both genders
face name-calling and physical threats at about
the same rates, 42% and 16%. Females are more
likely to encounter false rumors, receive
unsolicited explicit images, be asked persistent
unwanted questions, and have their explicit
images shared without consent. Males
experience these issues too, but at lower rates.
Protective
Measurements
One way social media users can protect themselves is by adjusting
their privacy settings. Fortunately, many people do make their
accounts private. Statista shows that the majority of users aged 30-
44, 45-54, and 55-64 have privatized their accounts at rates of 52%,
48%, and 45%, respectively. Conversely, only 40% of users aged 18-
29 and 38% of those aged 65 and older have done so. This suggests
younger adults might be more focused on building their personal
brand, while older adults might not be as familiar with these
features. However, with the increasing awareness of cybercrime,
internet users are becoming more cautious in their online
interactions. For example, 45% of people avoid opening emails from
unknown sources and 41% share less personal information.
Interestingly, 11% of people choose to close their social media
accounts, and 8% use the internet less frequently. Social media
platforms have policies to ensure user safety, including features
like unfriending, blocking, and reporting issues. Despite this, many
users feel that these platforms need to do more to address online
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