Trends and developments in individual financial fraud research: a bibliometric study

Purpose Financial fraud targeting individuals has received considerably less scholarly attention than business or organizational fraud. The current study addresses this gap by presenting a simple classification scheme for individual financial fraud (IFF) and systematically examining the evolution of research in this domain. Design/methodology/approach This study analyzes 248 articles from the Scopus database published between 1972 and 2024. The study employs a bibliometric approach and uses tools such as R Biblioshiny and VOSviewer to conduct performance analysis and science mapping. Findings The analysis identifies Marcus Antanas Butavicius as the most prolific contributor to the IFF literature and Rui Chen as the most cited author. Bibliographic coupling reveals three key clusters in the literature: investment fraud, phishing scams and deceptive advertising. A focused content analysis of the clusters highlights victimization patterns associated with the fraud types and identifies gaps for future research. Research limitations/implications The current study is limited to English-language articles indexed in Scopus. Practical implications The findings identify key types of fraud, supporting targeted fraud prevention and awareness efforts for researchers, policymakers and practitioners. Social implications This study fosters consumer awareness and endeavors to protect individuals from financial harm. Originality/value This study offers a comprehensive bibliometric overview of the field and aims to position IFF within mainstream academic research, facilitating a deeper understanding and classification of this emerging domain.