AI-driven fraud as an emerging cyber risk: Evidence from a global incident-based analysis

The rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) and deepfake technologies has introduced new and complex risks to individuals, companies, financial systems, and digital trust. While existing research has primarily examined deepfakes in sexual or political contexts, systematic analyses of AI-enabled fraud remain limited. This study addresses this gap by conducting an incident-based analysis of 167 documented cases of AI- and deepfake-enabled fraud worldwide between 2019 and 2025. Drawing on Cyber-Routine Activities Theory (C-RAT), the study examines temporal trends, victim targeting patterns, financial losses, and cross-national variations to assess how emerging AI technologies reshape opportunity structures for cybercrime. The findings reveal a sharp increase in AI-assisted fraud after 2022, coinciding with the public availability of generative AI tools. Victimization patterns shifted from companies toward individuals, while financial losses initially concentrated among companies before increasingly affecting individual victims. Country-level analysis highlights substantial variation, including evidence that targeted regulatory interventions can reduce exposure to AI-enabled fraud, as demonstrated in the People’s Republic of China. Overall, the results support C-RAT’s core assumptions regarding motivated offenders, suitable targets, and capable guardianship, while extending the theory to account for AI-driven cyber threats and systemic forms of guardianship. The study emphasizes that AI-enabled fraud represents a structural social risk inherent in modern digital infrastructures. Effective mitigation requires multi-layered strategies integrating technical controls, organizational investment in cybersecurity, and adaptive regulatory governance.

LINK: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07366981.2026.2631066

Exploring the Reflection of the Definitional Problem of Terrorism in Public Opinion Using Wikipedia Data

Abstract

Terrorism is a global issue, particularly after the 9/11 attacks in the United States. Despite the global attention, there is no common definition of terrorism, as what one country defines as a terrorist is considered a freedom fighter by another. However, the impact of a country's attitude towards such organizations on people's perceptions and discourse has not been thoroughly explored. Accordingly, this study examines Wikipedia content related to the People's Defense Units (YPG), an organization recognized as a terrorist entity by some countries but not defined as such by others. Turkish Wikipedia content about YPG, representing Türkiye, which recognizes YPG as a terrorist organization, is compared with English Wikipedia content about YPG, a viewpoint held by countries like the USA and the UK, which do not recognize it as a terrorist organization. Additionally, Turkish and English content related to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), recognized as a terrorist organization worldwide, is also examined using the sentiment analysis. The analysis reveals that the dominant sentiment in Turkish Wikipedia content related to YPG, representing Türkiye that recognizes YPG as a terrorist organization, is negative, while the dominant sentiment in English Wikipedia content is positive. Conversely, the prevalent emotion in both Turkish and English Wikipedia content about ISIS, universally acknowledged as a terrorist organization, is negative. In summary, the study finds that the attitudes and opinions of countries towards an organization are reflected in society, and the public's attitude towards the organization in the country they reside in also influences the discourse about that organization.

LINK: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/ijshs/issue/89666/1614095

Protests in Hong Kong

Hong Kong is definitely different from other Chinese cities. Hong Kong was a British colony for more than 150 years - part of it, Hong Kong island, was ceded to the UK after a war in 1842. 

The territory was also popular with migrants and dissidents fleeing instability, poverty or persecution in mainland China.

Then, in the early 1980s, as the deadline for the 99-year-lease approached, Britain and China began talks on the future of Hong Kong - with the communist government in China arguing that all of Hong Kong should be returned to Chinese rule.

The two sides reached a deal in 1984 that would see Hong Kong return to China in 1997, under the principle of "one country, two systems".

As a result, Hong Kong has its own legal system and borders, and rights including freedom of assembly and free speech are protected.

However, the country is currently on the agenda with great uprisings. Protests have continued in Hong Kong since April. The reason for these protests is the act adopted by the Hong Kong parliament. This act would have allowed extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China. 

The adoption of this law attracted the reaction of many people, especially young people. This reaction quickly turned into protests.

Western media soon began to follow the protests closely. Almost every day, many biased news about protests are shared. For this reason, CNN's news from May to August was examined.

First, the most used words were examined. The results of this research are as follows;

 [1] "after"          "also"           "and"            "are"            "arrested"       "been"           "bill"           "but"            "china"          "city"           "demonstrations"
[12] "extradition"    "for"            "from"           "had"            "has"            "have"           "hong"           "including"      "kong"           "last"           "long"       
[23] "monday"         "more"           "night"          "not"            "one"            "party"          "people"         "police"         "political"      "protest"        "protesters" 
[34] "protests"       "said"           "since"          "sunday"         "than"           "that"           "the"            "their"          "they"           "two"            "was"         
[45] "were"           "which"          "will"           "with"           "yuen"

Then, correlation analysis of some of the most commonly used words was examined. The first of the examined words is the China. The correlation analysis of the "China" word is as follows;

   mainland         mob         unlawful       station     between 
           0.98        0.98               0.98             0.97        0.96             
         movement      unrest                    accusations
               0.80        0.79                           0.76
   

As can be seen, one of the words with the highest correlation with China is unlawful. Then the correlation analysis of the word "police" was examined. The correlation analysis of the "police" word is as follows;

consecutive       march         weeks        people     kok          mong       
1.00                    1.00          1.00          0.96          0.92          0.92                 
demonstrators   extradition       support
          0.79          0.79                  0.79
       island         
         0.78       
As it is seen, the words that have the highest correlation with the word police are people, mong kok (one of the areas where protests continue) and arrest. Finally, the most commonly used words are shown in a graph.