Why do fraud victims get blamed? Lerner’s Belief in a Just World and its application to victims of online fraud
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-02-2022-0037 |
| Published date | 25 March 2022 |
| Date | 25 March 2022 |
| Pages | 828-839 |
| Subject Matter | Accounting & finance,Financial risk/company failure,Financial crime |
| Author | Shalini Nataraj-Hansen,Kelly Richards |
Why do fraud victims get blamed?
Lerner’s Belief in a Just World
and its application to victims of
online fraud
Shalini Nataraj-Hansen and Kelly Richards
Department of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice,
Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Abstract
Purpose –Victims of online fraud face a high levelof blame from their families, friends, professionals, the
broader community and often from themselves. Victims are commonly perceived as stupid, gullible and
undeserving of justice. The reasons for this are under-researched, and there are currently no satisfactory
explanationsof why victim-blaming occurs so frequently in cases of online fraud. Thispaper aims to propose
a potential theoreticalexplanation for the high level of blame experienced by online fraudvictims.
Design/methodology/approach –Lerner’s Belief in a Just World (BJW) theory is posited as a helpful
theoreticalexplanation for the high level of blame directedtowards victims of online fraud.
Findings –This paper arguesthat Lerner’s BJW theory is a helpful framework for understanding the blame
faced by victimsof online fraud because it posits that behavioural responsibility(a trait commonly ascribed to
online fraud victims) is central to perceivedblameworthiness; and that compensation for a crime determines
the level of blame directed towards victims. As victimsof online fraud are exceptionally unlikely to receive
any type of compensation (whether monetary or otherwise), BJW may help explain the blame directed
towardsvictims.
Originality/value –Prior scholarshippredominantly understands the blame faced by onlinefraud victims
through the lens of Nils Christie’s (1986) “ideal victim”thesis. This paper presents an advance over this
existing understanding by illustrating how BJW provides a more detailed explanation for victim blame in
online fraud.
Keywords Online crime, Online fraud, Victims, Victim blame, Belief in a Justice World, Fraud
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
Online fraud is a problem of global significance and is becoming increasingly prolific.
Online fraud can be defined as:
[...] the experience of an individual who has responded via the internet to a dishonest invitation,
request, notification or offer by providing personal information or money that has led to a
financial or non-financial loss or impact of some kind (Cross et al., 2014, p. 1).
For example, investment fraud involves a perpetrator obtaining financial advantage by
commissioning a fake investmentor other opportunity to present to the victim as a meansof
inciting them to transfer funds (Mugarura, 2017, p. 1), while romance fraud involves a
perpetrator obtaining financialadvantage by deceiving the victim through the pretense of a
genuine romantic partnership (Rege, 2009;Nhan et al.,2009;Whitty, 2015;Hooi Koon and
Yoong, 2017). In Australia in 2020, $850m was reported lost to online fraud, which is an
increase of 28% from the previous year (ACCC, 2021). Internationally, the Internet Crime
JFC
30,3
828
Journalof Financial Crime
Vol.30 No. 3, 2023
pp. 828-839
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1359-0790
DOI 10.1108/JFC-02-2022-0037
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