Dramaturgia da fraude: crimes cibernéticos e a manipulação de vítimas no Ceará pós-pandemia

Abstract

This research is essentially qualitative, although quantitative data is also relevant. The central interest is to investigate what I call the dramaturgy of fraud: the set of performances mobilized in the execution of cybercrimes and scams mediated by information technologies. The dramaturgical character of these frauds is analyzed using Erving Goffman's theory, with brief adaptations insofar as social interactions, although not yet face-to-face, are direct in a context where they are digitally mediated. The accounts produced by interlocutors, victims of these crimes, serve as a basis here. The focus is on the financial, social, and subjective impacts experienced by the victims, even though the criminals are the authors of these performances. Thus, we seek to understand how these narratives reveal dimensions of digital literacy, informational vulnerability, and the ways in which the increasing immersion in digital technologies, deepened by the social isolation of the Covid-19 pandemic, produces experiences, risk perceptions, and coping strategies. This study engages with authors who analyze the centrality of information technologies in contemporary society, considering both the deepening digitalization of life and the inequalities in the capacity to operate critically within this environment. Based on this framework, it discusses how fraudulent practices articulate performative, interactional, and technological elements, contributing to an understanding of the social mechanisms that allow for the emergence and effectiveness of fraud in the context of the information society.