Thinking Activity: Analyzing Cybercrime, Digital Culture and Security

This assignment consists of a series of thinking activities focused on cybercrime, digital security, and related sociological theories. It begins by analyzing the Nigerian advance fee fraud scam and considering the circumstances under which engaging in such behavior might be considered acceptable. The assignment then applies Merton’s strain theory to the Nigerian fraud scheme. Further, it explores vulnerabilities to identity theft and credit card fraud, suggesting protective measures. The assignment also reflects on the impact of technology on American culture through a 24-hour unplugged experiment. Finally, it differentiates between hacking and cracking, discussing their portrayal in media versus reality, and identifies other types of cybercrimes beyond identity theft and credit card fraud, recommending their inclusion in future discussions on the topic. The document provides comprehensive answers and references to support the analysis.

Running head: THINKING ACTIVITY
THINKING ACTIVITY
Name of Student-
Name of University-
Author note-

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Answer 1
After reading “The Scam that Will Not Die”, if I had received a similar email, I would
not have engaged in such activities. As mentioned in the article, some people simply ignore such
emails and some respond out of greed. I believe that greed is something which can never lead to
anything good. Usually, these types of emails are scams and these can lead to troubles. Firstly, it
is weird that an unknown person is suddenly asking for help regarding an act, which is very
risky. Secondly, I believe, that keeping myself engaged with my own work is the best thing
rather than involving myself with a scandalous work of another for greed. Therefore I prefer not
to engage myself in such activities.
Answer 2
The strain theory of Robert K. Merton, developed in 1938, is a sociology and
criminology theory that states that individuals are pressurized by the society for achieving
socially accepted goals, but lacks the means to achieve such goals, which creates strain and may
lead the individuals to commit crimes. Nigeria is a country which was divided due to political
fragmentation and is characterized with religious and cultural conflicts between the people. The
country was divided into two states. The social structure is characterized with inequalities. For
example, the south dominates the country and natives knowing English, have better
opportunities. A large amount of the population, thrive to achieve ‘wealth goals’ and due to such
social structure, they either commit crimes or become victims to fraud fee scams out of greed.
Thus, Merton’s strain theory can be applied in the Nigerian fraud fee scam.

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Answer 3
There are various ways in which we are vulnerable to identity theft and credit card frauds
(Brickey & Taub, 2017). Some of the ways are:
 Use of fraudulent websites that ask for personal information.
 Fraudulent bank web pages asking for bank account or credit card numbers.
 Lottery winning mails asking for account numbers for transferring money.
 Fraudulent loan schemes with very less rates of interest, etc.
The ways which must be used for protection:
 Clearing logins and passwords or changing passwords.
 Using credit card services for online purchases, having better guarantees under
the federal law than the online payment services or personal debit card.
 Staying alert regarding a trick, which is a spam or pop-ups duplicate legitimate
banks or business for obtaining personal information, used for accessing personal
accounts..
 Monitoring of bank and credit card statements.
 Monitoring credit card report, etc.
Answer 4
The American culture is characterized with the use of high-tech gadgets and computers
today. In this scenario, I attempted to spend 24 hours being ‘unplugged’. So, as a result I
decided to spend the whole day without internet, which made me realize certain major things
about the use of internet. I realized that internet has impacted our lives in a massive way. It has

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made a lot of tasks easier and simpler to do and also in an effective way. Our social life is
completely dependent on the use of gadgets, computers and internet. Even though we still make
complains about various elements of the internet. In this context, I realized that the internet has
brought many great things to us and we should be grateful to be able to work with it, because I
found out how difficult it is to spend a single day, being “unplugged”.
Answer 5
The five differences between hacking and cracking are:
 Hacking is the unauthorized access of computer or internet without authentication and is
the manipulation of inner working of information of technology, used for committing
white collared crimes.
Cracking means invading software for obtaining encrypted code or to remove
copy protections or for invading security devices in computer networks.
 Hackers use hacking to attack the private information of users for monetary gains. It
includes crimes like forgery, theft and fraud.
Cracking on the other hand, is used for breaking licenses for authenticated
products and for making pirated use of such products, for example, pirated use of a
patent product of any company.
 Hackers commit these crimes by using malicious software that destroys or modifies data.
Crackers use commit crimes by using algorithms for breaking into various
encrypted computer systems.
 Hacking is also done when a person downloads copies from a computer system, for
fraudulent purposes, in an unauthorized manner.

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Cracking is also done when a person breaks into an encrypted system and uses the
information therein and is mainly done for copyright breaching with malicious
intentions.
 Hacking includes a large number of white collared crimes ranging from using credit
card numbers to unauthorized file sharing of various commodities.
Cracking is less harmful than hacking but it is also used for committing various
white collared crimes like copyright infringement, money laundering, fraud, etc.
Hacking and cracking, portrayed in movies, show that hackers and crackers use
software and high-tech gadgets to hack or crack systems or by use of false finger prints
and false retina scanning within a very short time. But in reality, hacking and cracking
requires high level of knowledge in computer programming and mathematics and also
algorithms and both the processes are very much time consuming.
Answer 6
Apart from identity theft and credit card frauds, there are various other types of
cybercrimes. Identity theft and credit card frauds are the two most common cybercrimes to
which people become a victim to. But the people must be made aware of the other types of
cybercrimes, including money laundering, trafficking in child pornography, digital piracy and
ATM fraud, wire fraud, counterfeiting and forgery (Van Slyke, 2016). The future edition of this
book must also include all such other cybercrimes and remedies against them because in today’s
digitalized world, all these cybercrimes are becoming familiar, about which the people must be
made aware of.

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References
Brickey, K. F., & Taub, J. (2017). Corporate and white collar crime: cases and materials.
Wolters Kluwer Law & Business.
Van Slyke, S. R., Van Slyke, S., Benson, M. L., & Cullen, F. T. (Eds.). (2016). The Oxford
Handbook of White-Collar Crime. Oxford University Press.