"Auntie, Please Don't Fall for Those Smooth Talkers": How Chinese Younger Family Members Safeguard Seniors from Online Fraud

2025-01-18

AI Summary

This study investigates the practice logic and challenges of intergenerational collaboration within Chinese families to prevent online fraud targeting older adults, contextualized within cultural norms and familial dynamics. Method: Drawing on 124 Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book) posts and 16,872 associated comments, the research employs inductive thematic analysis, online ethnography, and user-generated content (UGC) mining. Contribution/Results: It introduces the first family-centered taxonomy of elder-targeted online fraud in the Chinese context and systematically identifies five distinct anti-fraud roles assumed by younger family members—prevention, detection, intervention, loss mitigation, and education—along with their underlying mechanisms. The study uncovers emergent threats (e.g., covert subscription-based fraud) and critical barriers (e.g., elders’ resistance to assistance, caregivers’ psychological and financial burdens). It proposes a culturally grounded, multi-stakeholder family support conceptual framework, offering empirical evidence and theoretical foundations for age-inclusive, family-oriented anti-fraud interventions.

Technology Category

• Application Domains: Humanities & Computational Social Science
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Social Cognition And Interaction
• Game Theory and Economic Paradigms: Coordination and Collaboration

Application Category

• Economics, Online Markets and Human Computation: Trust and reliance of crowd workers and data experts on GenAI
• Responsible Web: Mitigating online harms, including harassment, spam, and fake reviews
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Attacks and countermeasures in recommendation systems

Abstract

Online fraud substantially harms individuals and seniors are disproportionately targeted. While family is crucial for seniors, little research has empirically examined how they protect seniors against fraud. To address this gap, we employed an inductive thematic analysis of 124 posts and 16,872 comments on RedNote (Xiaohongshu), exploring the family support ecosystem for senior-targeted online fraud in China. We develop a taxonomy of senior-targeted online fraud from a familial perspective, revealing younger members often spot frauds hard for seniors to detect, such as unusual charges. Younger family members fulfill multiple safeguarding roles, including preventative measures, fraud identification, fraud persuasion, loss recovery, and education. They also encounter numerous challenges, such as seniors' refusal of help and considerable mental and financial stress. Drawing on these, we develop a conceptual framework to characterize family support in senior-targeted fraud, and outline implications for researchers and practitioners to consider the broader stakeholder ecosystem and cultural aspects.

Problem

• cyber fraud prevention
• elderly care
• Chinese cultural context

Innovation

• Inter-generational support
• Cyber fraud prevention
• Digital safety strategies