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Explaining Fear of Identity Theft Victimization Using a Routine Activity Approach

The current study aims to estimate and explain citizens’ fear of identity theft victimization by examining data collected from a nationally representative sample of South Korean residents. Specifically, we compared participants’ levels of fear of identity theft victimization with fear of other types of crime using paired-samples t-tests. We found that fear of identity theft victimization is significantly higher than fear of other types of crime. Drawing on routine activity theory, we explored the relationship between victimization (i.e., identity theft), online proximity to motivated offenders (i.e., phishing), online exposure to motivated offenders (e.g., online banking and shopping), target suitability (e.g., downloading pirated media), and fear of identity theft victimization. Results from ordinal logistic regression models suggest that victimization and online exposure to motivated offenders were significantly related to fear of identity theft victimization.