CHAPTER 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SCOPE

Introduction

In the digital age, cybercrime has emerged as a significant threat to individuals,

organizations, and communities. As technology evolves and becomes more integral to everyday

life, so too do the methods employed by cybercriminals. This has created an urgent need to

understand and implement strategies that can prevent cybercrime victimization and enhance

overall community safety.

Cybercrime encompasses a range of illegal activities conducted through or facilitated by

digital means, including fraud, identity theft, cyberstalking, and ransomware attacks. The impact

of such crimes can be profound, affecting financial stability, personal privacy, and even mental

health. As the frequency and sophistication of cybercrimes increase, traditional methods of crime

prevention are often insufficient, necessitating a more comprehensive approach. The study of

preventing cybercrime victimization involves exploring various theoretical frameworks that

explain why cybercrimes occur and how they can be mitigated. Key theories, such as Routine

Activity Theory and Social Learning Theory, provide insights into the conditions that lead to

cybercrime and offer strategies for prevention. For instance, Routine Activity Theory highlights

the importance of increasing the presence of capable guardians, while Social Learning Theory

underscores the value of promoting secure online behaviors through observation and imitation.

Practical measures, including educational programs, technological defenses, and robust

policy frameworks, play a crucial role in reducing the risk of cybercrime. By educating

individuals about potential threats and how to protect themselves, implementing advanced
security tools, and supporting legislative efforts, communities can create a safer digital

environment.

This study aims to analyze these theoretical and practical approaches to develop a

comprehensive framework for preventing cybercrime victimization. By integrating insights from

various disciplines and focusing on community engagement, the goal is to establish effective

strategies that enhance digital security and foster a more resilient society. Cybercrime is a term

that covers a broad scope of criminal activity using a computer. At an organization level,

cybercrime may involve the hacking of customer databases and theft of intellectual property.

Many users think they can protect themselves, their accounts, and their computers with anti-

spyware and anti-virus software only. Cyber criminals are becoming more sophisticated and are

targeting consumers as well as public and private organization. Cybercrime is any crime that

takes place online or primarily online. Cybercriminals often commit crimes by targeting

computer networks or devices. Other cybercrimes include things like “revenge porn,” cyber-

stalking, bullying, and child sexual exploitation.

Due to the facts gathered the researchers would like to know in Preventing the

cybercrime victimization towards a safer community in the Dapitan City Zamboanga del Norte

in order to cope the cyber activities in the said city.

Theoretical background

This study is primarily anchored on Social Control theory by Travis Hirschi (1960)

Moreover, this study supported by Social learning theory by Albert Bandura and also anchored

by Routine Theory by Marcus Felson and Lawrence Cohen.

Social control theory implies a set of social measures, processes that encourage people to behave

according to the law. The theory seeks to understand the ways moral cords, values, norms,

commitments, and beliefs reduces deviant behavior. The social control theory is closely related

to the process of socialization and social learning. This concept has developed in two different

directions. First direction is closely related to the primary group relations impact on individual

behavior and second direction refers to the impact of macrosocial institutions (education,

religion, law and the political system Travis Hirschi, 2015).

The theory states that human learn socially, not just intellectually. This means we learn

from our peers, parents, teachers, coaches, etc., rather than solely from books. Bandura’s theory

is widely used in educational setting, including classrooms, colleges, universities, and

businesses. It’s also been applied to parenting, sports, sports, politics, religion, and may other

areas. Albert Bandura’s work led him to develop the concept of self-efficacy, which means

confidence in one’s ability to perform a task. Self- efficacy influences behavior, including

learning. The more confident we feel about our abilities, the more likely we are to try new things.

The paper pays attention to the potential role that the social control theory has in the

improvement and development of previous Information-Communication Technology (ICT)

Policy. Online activities are daily routine of people all around the world. Emerging information

and communication technologies create numerous challenges and issues how to regulate its use.

ICT policy interests are closely related to concern of social order in cyberspace. The

development of ICT possibilities at the same time follows development of new cybercrime

forms. The ICT policy needs to explore new strategies and theoretical integration that transcend

the existing criminological frame. The sociological theory of social control to a significant

degree may predict and explain crime and how people define and respond to deviant behavior.
How social control theory may order individual behavior in cyberspace? May it help prevention

of cybercrime and maintain more safer and conscientious use of the internet? The following

article provides an analysis of the possibilities of social control theory in maintaining the order in

cyber society. Throughout the article, the social control theory is discussed by content analysis

scientific method. Main purpose of the paper is to encourage concerning use of social control

mechanisms as one of the effective tools for regulation in cyberspace and prevention of

cybercrime (Ivana Luknar 2020).

Routine Theory there is a part of the opportunity perspective in criminology which views

criminal opportunities as the ultimate cause of criminal events. Its central tenets explain that

crimes occur when circumstances favorable to crime culminate to produce criminal

opportunities. According to routine activity theory, motivated offenders will act upon

opportunities when they encounter suitable targets that lack capable guardianship. In the parlance

of routine activity theory, cybercrimes rely on computer networks to connect motivated

offenders with potential targets of victimization in an absence of capable guardianship.

Cyberlifestyle-routine activities theory argues that the separation of motivated offenders and

suitable targets in time can be reconciled by considering their interaction as “lagged” in time.

Cybercrime and the threat it creates are growing in its reach, in accordance with similar

growth in information technology. Some countries account for more of the variation in

cybercrime activity than others, which affects less criminally involved nations as well,

considering that cybercrime does not respect national borders over the Internet. Routine activity

theory (RAT) has been used to explain cybercrime at the individual level, but not at the national

level. Much research has focused on high cybercrime countries, but this research is often

conducted by cybersecurity firms and is exclusively descriptive, making no inferences. This

research sought to determine what characteristics predict whether a nation is high in either

spamming activity or phishing activity. In a sample of 132 countries, it was found that wealthier

nations with more Internet users per capita had higher cybercrime activity. Unemployment was

also found to interact with Internet users such that the effect of the proportion of Internet users

on spam was strongest in nations with higher unemployment. The implications these findings

have for policy and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Conceptual Framework

Cybercrime is a term that covers a broad scope of criminal activity using a computer. At

an organizational level, cybercrime may involve the hacking of customer databases and theft of

intellectual property. Many users think they can protect themselves, their accounts, and their

computers with anti- virus software only. Cyber criminals are becoming more sophisticated and

are targeting consumer’s as well public and private organizations.

The effects of a single, successful cyber-attack can have far reaching implications

including financial losses, theft of intellectual property, and loss of consumer confident and trust.

The overall monetary impact of cybercrime on society and government is estimated to be billions

of dollars a year. As from Table 1, many impacts are shown and if you convert them in monetary

value is when you get billions of dollars. Recent cases in the United Kingdom have brought to

public light that women do exploit the internet to sexually abuse children (Martellozzo, E.,

Nehring. D. & Tylor, H 2020).

The risks that children may encounter when online ae numerous and rather serious:

exposure to inappropriate conversation; unwittingly becoming the subject of sexual fantasy;

being sent indecent or obscene images; being ask to send indecent images of themselves or their

friends; being engaged in sexually explicit talk; and being encouraged to perform sexually

explicit acts on themselves or their friends. All these activities and risk form the new reality of

cyberspace, where everyday hundreds of children are approached for sexual abuse. As it can be

seen in the finding, 95% of respondents declared that cybercrime effect children through

Figure 1:

Schematic

Diagram

of the

Study

Statement

of the

Problem

This

study aims in preventing cybercrime victimization towards a safer community in order of the

crime rate and perceived if it decreases.

Specifically, it seeks to answer the following questions:

1. Profile
1.1 age
1.2 gender
1.3 marital status
1.4 educational attainment
1.5 occupation
1. 2. What is the prevalent toward cybercrime activities perceived by the respondents?
2. 3. What is the most prevalent experience cybercrime activities as perceived by the
respondents?
3. 4. What is the most prevalent strategies to prevent cybercrime activities do perceived by
the respondents?
4. 5. Is there a significant relationship between the most prevalent feared and experience
cybercrime activities as perceived by the respondents?
5. 6. Based on the findings. What preventive measure can be propose??

Hypothesis

There is significant in preventing cybercrime victimization towards a safer community

perceive the crime in Dapitan City?

Significance of the study

The results of this research study will benefit the following:

Patrol officer of Dapitan City The result of this study research study shall build a good

relationship between the police officers and the citizen of the community and to come up with a

better strategy in crime prevention.

Philippine National Police Organization to address the organizational and systematic

dysfunctions; second, to enhance the law enforcement capabilities of the PNP; and third, to

improve the welfare and benefits of PNP Personnel and their dependents.
Citizen of Dapitan City to become more discipline and to cooperate with the different Police

effort in crime prevention.

Future researcher Students in criminology who are interested on the same topic will find this

research study useful as future reference.

Scope and Delimitation of the study

This research study focused on the impact of cybercrime in the society. This research

study is only limited on the people in Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte, who are experiencing

cybercrime in social media. Furthermore, this study focuses on how cybercrime will be managed

in this generation nowadays.

Definition of terms

Cybercrime –is a criminal activity that either targets or uses a computer network or a networked

device. Most cybercrime is committed by cybercriminals or hackers who want to make money.

However, occasionally cybercrime aims to damage computers or networks for reasons other than

profit.

Society - a community, nation, or broad grouping of people having common traditions,

institutions, and collective activities and interests.

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter deals with the research design which will be used in the study. This are

presented in the following sections, Research Method, Research Environment, Respondents of

the Study, Research Instruments, Validation of Instruments, Scoring Procedure, Data Gathering

Procedure, Sampling Technique and Statistical Treatment of Data.

Research Method

This research was utilizing the descriptive quantitative method of the study. The

descriptive survey method of research is used to describe a population or situation accurately.

Through this type of research design, it helped the researchers to encourage or verify that a

number of specific lines of inquiry, steps, or actions are being taken, or have been taken, by a

researcher. Using quantitative method since it will determine process of collecting and analyzing

numerical data.

Research Environment

The primary data collection instrument that was utilized in this study is an adopted

questionnaire from the study of Saban, McGivern and Saykiewicz, (2022). The questionnaire

was categorized into two parts: Part I was the demographic information, such as age,

gender and educational attainment. Part II was the impacts of cybercrime using likert scale.

Closed-ended questions was used to assess the impact of cybercrime in society .In collecting the

data, the researchers were conducted the study in the selected barangays in Dapitan City

Zamboanga del Norte. The population of this city is large and along with the declining

population, there are cybercrimes that reported in the past months or years in the said city. The

questionnaire designed based on relevant literature and studies addressing the impacts of

cybercrime in society.
Respondents of the Study

The respondents of the study are consisted of 100 selected respondent that experiencing

cybercrime like cyber bullying or any other reported cybercrime. The constituent will benefit the

following in order to maintain the peace and order to prevent the cybercrime rate of the

community.

Weight Range of values Description Interpretation

4 3.41-4.20 Very much observe This is rating given
to a particular
descriptor which
means that the
cybercrime is highly
prevented.
3 2.61-3.340 Observed This is a rating given
to a particular
descriptor which
means that the
cybercrime is
observed.
2 1.81-2.60 Moderately Observed This is a rating given
to a particular
descriptor which
means that the
cybercrime is less
observed.
1 1.00-1.80 Not Observed This a rating given
to particular
descriptor which
means that the
cybercrime is not
observed.

Data Gathering Procedure

With approval of the research title, the researchers were prepared a questionnaire that

covers all specific problems raised in this study. After the corrections the questionnaire a request

letter was approved by the thesis adviser and was floated and distributed to the community

people and police officers in Dapitan City, Zamboanga Del Norte.

The researchers were gathered the data to the respondents of any barangays’ in Dapitan

city. After the data gathering all of the numeric response of the respondents will be tallied,

tabulated and analyzed for interpretation and to have meaning on this study.

Sampling Technique

This research study will use the purposive sampling for the random citizens in Dapitan

City, moreover the researchers also use purposive sampling for the respondents which is the

police officers. Random sampling is one of the simplest forms of collecting data from the total

population, under random sampling, each member of the subset carries an equal opportunity of

being chosen as a part of the sampling process furthermore, the purposive sampling refers to a

group of non-probability sampling techniques in which units are selected because they have

characteristics that you need in in the sample.

Statistical Treatment

For the analysis and interpretation of data, the frequency, percentage distribution and

weighted mean formula will have employed.

Frequency distribution refers to the tabular arrangement of the data by classes or

categories together with their corresponding frequencies.

Weighted mean will be used to evaluate the responses of the respondents to the

questionnaire according to the gravity or intensity of their responses.

Formula: % distribution = F/N x 100

Where F= Frequency

N= Total number of frequencies

%= percentage

The formula for getting weighted mean will be as follows

Wm= the sum of frequency

Fx = Frequency

N= Total respondents