Research SummaryWe examined darknet user discussions on the Dread forum to identify key themes and emerging topics in fraud planning, focusing additionally on elderly victimization. Using the conceptual framework of criminogenic learning to study the process of fraud planning in darknet communities of practice, we analyzed the content of original user posts (n = 818) and comments (n = 1365) collected from the Dread forum. We identified nine unique fraud categories, of which payments‐related fraud was the most‐discussed fraud category and accounted for 25% of original user posts. We further found our sampled forum content to be dominated by the theme of learning or knowledge sharing in eight of the nine fraud categories, which appeared in more than 44% of original user posts. Our content analysis revealed specific insights into why and how darknet forum users may target people, including the elderly subpopulation, for different types of fraud. Overall, our research demonstrates the diversity of opinion and knowledge sharing among darknet forum users in relation to planning and committing fraud against the elderly, views on who is a suitable target and why, and what veteran and aspiring fraudsters consider to be important information for success in fraud.Policy ImplicationsUtilized independently or as part of a multistage strategy of darknet data analysis, our research method can be used to monitor criminally active darknet forums for current and emerging themes in fraud against general populations and vulnerable subpopulations, such as the elderly, and to develop strategies to identify, disrupt, or destroy hubs of criminal planning and knowledge sharing. Our study additionally informs policy makers of certain elder‐specific vulnerabilities that might be addressed by more up‐to‐date elder cybercrime awareness campaigns and initiatives. Our findings also highlight the presence of insider threats that may inform discussions on how health and financial institutions can better regulate these cybersecurity risks.

中文翻译：

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从恐惧暗网社区汲取的经验教训：欺诈者如何以及为何将老年人作为受害者或同谋？


研究摘要我们研究了 Dread 论坛上的暗网用户讨论，以确定欺诈计划中的关键主题和新兴主题，并另外关注老年人受害问题。使用犯罪学习的概念框架来研究暗网实践社区中的欺诈计划过程，我们分析了从 Dread 论坛收集的原始用户帖子 (n = 818) 和评论 (n = 1365) 的内容。我们确定了九种独特的欺诈类别，其中与支付相关的欺诈是讨论最多的欺诈类别，占原始用户帖子的 25%。我们进一步发现，在九个欺诈类别中的八个中，我们抽样的论坛内容以学习或知识共享为主题，这些主题出现在超过 44% 的原始用户帖子中。我们的内容分析揭示了暗网论坛用户为何以及如何针对包括老年人在内的不同类型的欺诈行为的具体见解。总体而言，我们的研究表明，暗网论坛用户在针对老年人的计划和实施欺诈、对谁是合适目标及其原因的看法以及老手和有抱负的欺诈者认为哪些是成功的重要信息方面存在意见和知识共享的多样性政策含义我们的研究方法可以独立使用或作为暗网数据分析多阶段策略的一部分，用于监控犯罪活跃的暗网论坛，以了解当前和新兴的针对普通人群和弱势群体（例如老年人）的欺诈主题。制定战略来识别、扰乱或摧毁犯罪计划和知识共享中心。 我们的研究还告知政策制定者某些特定于老年人的脆弱性，这些脆弱性可以通过更新的老年人网络犯罪意识活动和举措来解决。我们的研究结果还强调了内部威胁的存在，这可能会为有关健康和金融机构如何更好地监管这些网络安全风险的讨论提供信息。