Online Deception Investigation: Content Analysis and Cross-Cultural Comparison

The increased use of emerging digital platforms as new tools in communication has become an integral part of business activities and the social lives of many individuals. Given the Internet’s vulnerable design, however, the rapid growth of online deception poses an extremely serious problem, and there is still little scholarly work on this issue. Using online deception cases from Taiwan, the authors undertook the current study with a twofold objective: (1) to investigate the distribution and patterns of deception tactics, and (2) to test hypotheses about how the identity of a potential victim and the purported identity of the deceiver affect the selection of a specific deception tactic. They found that the selection of deception tactics is significantly influenced by the characteristics of the deceivers and their targets. Implications of their results are also discussed.