Cyber Trust in the Norwegian Online Flea Market: An Ethnographic Study on Fraud

Abstract

This work-in-progress paper reports an ethnographic study on how cyber trust could be designed to prevent online fraud. A yearlong ethnographic study was conducted with a group of victims who were scammed in online shopping. I discuss how to re-build cyber trust by linking the various interests of actors, such as sellers, the police, the Consumer Council, the person registers authority, the national collection agency, and the classified advertisements website provider, with an anticipated safety for online shopping. Through the actor-network theory, this paper unpacks the mechanism behinds payment method of classified advertisements website and discusses cyber trust which are unsuccessful in the present case. The reason behind this is that the interests of different actors are likely not translated, which causes vulnerability and provides an opportunity for scammers. I assert that a better understanding of the social aspect of technology use will provide fruitful insights on societal changes in today’s information society for better living.