The (Relative) Impact of Email Cues on the Perceived Threat of Phishing Attacks: A User Perspective on Phishing Deceptiveness

User perception of phishing threats is fundamental for the uptake and effectiveness of many phishing counter-measures, including phishing reporting and awareness. Extant research focused on phishing victimization, but a clear under-standing of the drivers influencing users' perception of phishing threats is still missing. This work investigates the relation-ship between phishing cues and perceived email deceptiveness through an online questionnaire with 74 participants. By as-sessing email conditions varying on cues, participants judged the perceived deceptiveness of emails individually and relative to each other. Results reveal that impersonation-related cues increase the perceived email deceptiveness and that emails with persuasion-related cues rank as the most deceitful irrespectively of other cues. We discuss our findings w.r.t. The literature and their implications on practice and research.