Discourse analysis to identify fraud on the Marketplace platform of the social network Facebook

Abstract

Online commerce emerged as an innovative proposal that eliminated the physical barriers that were once inherent to global trade. With the widespread acceptance and growth of online activity, new ways of buying, selling, and scamming also emerged. This research focuses on analyzing conversational interactions of users who were scammed on the Facebook Marketplace platform, from both criminological and linguistic perspectives, to prevent fraud. The analyses demonstrate that criminal behavior and fraudulent discourse are identifiable and processable through the systematization of the iter criminis and iter victimae, as well as the identification of eight thematic modules commonly found in fraudulent conversations. A survey was conducted among 30 participants to identify the perceptions of users who utilize Marketplace. The results indicate that 56% are young people between the ages of 18 and 25 and that, within this group, women are more vulnerable to deception, at 67%. Although most people surveyed recognize the risks of the platform, the lack of regulation is a key factor that facilitates fraud. These results open the possibility of continuing this line of research and proposing prevention strategies for data protection in online commerce.