“The Connected User Are You Safe?” - An Exploratory Study About Users Fear of Identity Theft

The surge in digital transactions has led to a notable spike in identity theft cases, incurring enormous expenses for e-commerce companies and users. The safety of online businesses and their users depends on addressing identity theft. We utilise natural language processing to examine Reddit posts related to identity theft to determine the elements influencing individuals’ concerns about identity theft when transacting online. We match these factors with theoretical lexicons to create a unique framework. Further, to extend the study, we intend to validate these factors through statistical analysis to understand their impact on users’ fear of identity theft during online transactions.