Reporting Social Media Fraud: Motivations, Barriers, and Reporting Mechanism

Online activities are always associated with threats, including online fraud and other types of cybercrime. Although online fraud is one of the most common threats, it received a low reporting rate. To enhance individuals’ reporting behavior, there is a need to understand the motivations and barriers that currently influence individuals’ reporting of online fraud experiences. This narrative review paper examines the literature to explore motivations and barriers influencing reporting behavior. Additionally, we identify theories from the literature that explain this behavior and examine reporting mechanisms used worldwide. The global nature of this problem is underscored by the fact that efforts from several countries, including the UK, Canada, and Australia, to establish a unified reporting channel have faced the common challenge of low reporting rates. Finally, we identify gaps that can be considered for future research and suggest future work. We followed a narrative review method where papers were selected based on related keywords. The aim was to investigate four main aspects: what motivates people to report online fraud, what barriers prevent reporting, which theories are used in the literature to explain reporting behavior, what reporting mechanisms are applied worldwide, and what research gaps exist. The literature has identified several challenges to reporting cybercrime, such as identifying victimization, knowing how to report cybercrime, the nature of the reporting process, and the response received after reporting. There is a crucial need to investigate the role of the human factor further and design reporting mechanisms that are more human-centered, as this could significantly improve reporting rates and combat online fraud.