Digital Crime Victimization in Iceland: Impact of Me-Too and Covid-19
Author(s): Helgi Gunnlaugsson
Wednesday 14 | 14:40-15:00
Room: TP52
Session: Crime and deviance
The web has increasingly been used as a source to target vulnerable victims all over the globe. By using the internet we can all be connected offering all kinds of new opportunities for deviant activities and crime. A variety of internet-related threats are regularly being reported in the mass media, e. g. consumer fraud, cyber vandalism, cyberbullying, sexual harassment, and most recently cyberwarfare.
The first study in Iceland examining cybercrime victimization among the Icelandic public was conducted online in cooperation with the Social Sciences Research Institute in 2016. The same survey was placed again in 2018, 2020 and 2022 to a sample of about two thousand respondents reflecting the Icelandic population 18 years +.
According to the findings in 2016 about 13 percent of the respondents reported having been victimized by cybercrime in the past couple of years prior to the survey. In 2018 and 2020 close to 20% of the respondents admitted cybercrime victimization. Slander and consumer fraud were the most common types of victimization. Respondents aged 18-29 years old were most likely to have been victimized in 2018 and 2020.
In 2022 the same survey was conducted once again, using the same questionnaire as before. Do we see an increase in cybercrime victimization? Did we detect signs of more sexual harassment in the wake of the me-too confessions in 2017? Did the pandemic have any impact on victimization experiences in 2022? Which social groups report the most victimization?