Examining the Impact of Presence on Individual Phishing Victimization

Research on phishing has implicated users' heuristic processing as the reason why they fail to recognize deception cues and fall prey to phishing attacks. Other research on online behavior has found that the attributes of the medium activate heuristics that contribute to feelings of presence and enhance the persuasiveness of presented information. The deception literature has, however, yet to examine how such medium attributes lead to victimization in a phishing attack. The present research thus fills an important gap in the literature. The study explores how perceptions of presence in a phishing attack influence its victimization rate. This is examined using an experiment in which participants are subjected to a phishing attack where the amount of social presence in the email is manipulated. In contrast to subjects in the lean information conditions, those in the information-rich condition were more likely to heuristically process presence cues, leading to their victimization.