Telecommunication and cyber fraud victimization among Chinese college students: An application of routine activity theory

Analyzing survey data from 1037 college students in China, a country with the world’s largest number of Internet users and the world’s largest e-commerce market, the current study demonstrates that consistent with previous research, some routine telecom/cyber activities of Chinese college students p...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Lin, Kai (Author)
Contributors: Wu, Yuning ; Sun, Ivan Y.
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2025
In: Criminology & criminal justice
Year: 2025, Volume: 25, Issue: 3, Pages: 717-735
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
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Keywords:
Victimization
routine activity
Fraud
cyber crime
China
Description
Summary:Analyzing survey data from 1037 college students in China, a country with the world’s largest number of Internet users and the world’s largest e-commerce market, the current study demonstrates that consistent with previous research, some routine telecom/cyber activities of Chinese college students predict higher odds of being targeted for telecom/cyber fraud, but online routines do not seem to predict the odds of completed victimization resulting in a financial loss. In contrast, the perceived presence of effective formal guardianship and target suitability exert a greater influence. These findings suggest that those previously and commonly used measures of routine activity theory are better suited for explaining attempted telecom/cyber fraud victimization, whereas completed victimization is chiefly predicted by target suitability such as risky/deviant online behaviors and low self-control.
ISSN:1748-8966
DOI:10.1177/17488958221146144