THE MEMORABLE MESSAGES LEADING TO THE DECISION TO TAKE SECURE MEASURES AGAINST FINANCIAL FRAUD ATTACKS: THE CASE OF SAUDI ARABIAN STUDENTS ABROAD

Abstract

Social engineering attacks (SEAs) pose significant challenges today. As attackers exploit various strategies to manipulate individuals using persuasion techniques and digital tools to deceive individuals into trusting them. These manipulation strategies are designed to exploit individual information in order to access confidential details for purposes such as stealing money or disclosing sensitive information. They encompass a range of tactics, including fraud, phishing, and vishing, which represent various methods; however, the underlying objective remains consistent. Since the success or failure of these attacks often depends on individuals’ concern about the risk and secure behavior, the threats of social engineering attacks may increase among those engaging in less familiar interactions, such as international students who face language barriers, cultural differences, and unfamiliar interaction norms. International students, with a focus on Saudi students abroad in Western countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia as a case study, represent a community navigating diverse challenges outside their home countries, yet they are often overlooked in communication studies. Using an open-ended online survey, this study employed an inductive qualitative content analysis approach to analyze participants’ fraud-related stories and messages to identify whether different forms of communication affect their concerns about the SEAs’ risk and behavioral responses to avoid such risk. Participants were asked to recall communication events and memorable messages, as well as report any protective behaviors they adopted to safeguard themselves against SEAs’ attacks. The analysis explored whether different forms of communication, focusing on memorable messages, influenced Saudi students abroad to adopt secure behavior and become concerned about such risks. The main findings revealed that interpersonal communication with close others and firsthand experiences with scammers appeared to impact participants’ concern and the risk associated with such experiences. This interactive communication involved participants sharing, talking about, or evaluating fraud-related information with others or themselves. Furthermore, the findings also found that this engagement often triggered intrapersonal reflections, such as feelings of fear of attackers exploiting advanced technology to make the attacks legitimate and influence trust in conducting online transactions. Furthermore, these emotional reactions to the prevalent attacks targeting individuals’ confidential information influenced participants’ decisions to adopt protective actions, reflected in their avoidance strategies and self-responsibility in financial matters and online behavior. Culture and religious values rooted in Saudi and Islamic traditions also appeared as key factors influencing participants to adopt secure behavior, as emerged from their memorable messages reflecting culture-based wisdom, which influenced the decision to adopt secure behavior against SEAs. Therefore, the findings expand understanding of message effects and protective behavior change models. These models suggest that factors such as perceived vulnerability and susceptibility to a threat motivate individuals to adopt or change behavior to avoid a threat. However, in the Saudi context, the data revealed that personally relevant as well as cultural and religious values work as motivators to adopt secure actions against fraud, particularly when the messages are interactive. Notably, the study supported the idea that factors like vicarious experiences, personal narrative, and emotional relevance were motivating factors in shaping protective behaviors among Saudi students abroad. Furthermore, the findings maintained factors like self-efficacy and attitudes toward a secure behavior, reflecting how participants evaluated their capacity to avoid a threat and engaged in precautionary actions. Practically, this study highlights the importance of designing anti-fraud communication strategies that are culturally and religiously framed, as participants shared messages that reflected personally relevant and reflected their cultural and religious values. This is especially true for Saudi Arabian students abroad, particularly when the messages are interactive. Furthermore, prevention messages can also leverage storytelling, emphasize relatable personal experiences to enhance memorability, and influence protective behavior change. The findings contribute to the literature on international students’ challenges by revealing how cultural familiarity, rather than exposure to less familiar environments, critically shapes participants’ concerns and behavioral responses to avoid fraud attacks. Meaning that less familiar interactions abroad did not appear to impact fraud concerns among Saudi students in Western countries. Instead, personal and emotional narratives shared within close others’ networks, firsthand experiences and intrapersonal reflection were memorable and influential. While some participants recalled media messages, authority warnings, and school instructions as memorable messages to recognize the risk associated with fraud, personal and cultural connections appeared more effective in motivating protective behavior change. Furthermore, the findings illustrate how participants’ fraud-related stories involving interactive communication events not only influenced their concerns about fraud risk and proactive behavior to protect themselves from the attacks but also enhanced the memorability of such interactions. The study’s findings provide valuable insights into the influential forms of communication that shape risk concerns and encourage the adoption of secure behavior against SEAs. Additionally, this study maps out the behavioral changes that participants adopted to protect themselves against fraud threats. These behavioral changes captured both technical and interpersonal strategies, including password management and privacy control. The study also identifies the memorable messages feature in relation to the communication context that increased the memorability of such messages, influencing these behavioral shifts. The current study findings expand the boundaries of the messages’ effect and protective behavior change of the factors associated with adopting or changing behavior to avoid a threat, particularly in the Saudi Arabian context. Furthermore, the study findings provide recommendations for improving fraud prevention communication strategies targeting international students and individuals specifically from collectivist cultures such as Saudi Arabia, suggesting that culturally framed and personally relevant messages can be more effective than solely informational appeals.