Mark Button
Biographic Data
| ID | 254658 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Mark Button |
| GIVEN NAMES | Mark |
| FAMILY NAME | Button |
| SIGNATURE | BUTTON M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Portsmouth |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-4169-2619 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 64 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 220 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 63 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1998 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Servant leadership
The exercise of authority is becoming a defining issue for churches with numerous cases of abuse and misuse of power being highlighted. It is an issue that can impact churches of all sizes, and contexts, and as such it is one that all church leaders must consider. Against this background, this article offers a critique of the popular concept of the term ‘servant-leadership’, which is often used as a corrective or antidote for the various challeng…
Korean-Targeted Human Trafficking for Cyber Scam Operations
Human trafficking intersects with cyber scams, yet Korean cases remain underexplored. This study provides an in-depth analysis of Korean-targeted recruitment and exploitation pathways for cyber scam operations in Cambodia. Thematic analysis identified four themes: Korean-targeted recruitment, multi-layered coercive control, exploitation of Korean nationals’ characteristics to target fellow Koreans, and exploitation of Korea’s financial system and…
Evolutionary fraud, the global scamming ecosystem and a typology of actors
This study examines the adaptive nature of the global scamming ecosystem, focusing on developing a novel typology based on the size and organizational structure of scam operations. Through a combination of qualitative and case study analysis, the research categorizes scammers into five distinct groups, namely, “Demons,” “Gorgons,” “Ogres,” “Behemoths,” and “Mega Behemoths,” ranging from lone actors to large-scale enterprises with intricate hierar…
Exploratory research to examine the impact of fraud on victim health
Globally, there has been a significant rise and diversification in fraud that is targeting individual members of the public. Research evidence has shown that victims suffer harm as a consequence of fraud victimisation. However, few studies have focused on how fraud impacts on victim health, despite the importance of health in policy assessments and the design of victim support services. Furthermore, there are conceptual questions on how to operat…
Nigerian confraternities and mass cross-border fraud
Nigeria is well-known for its significant problem with criminal actors who commit industrial-scale online fraud and related crimes, predominantly targeting foreign nationals and businesses. However, the structures and characteristics of those involved remain less understood. A key area of debate concerns the degree of organization among these perpetrators and their affiliation with organized crime groups. A specific focus of this debate is the in…
The profile and detection of bribery in South Korea
Bribery, including its various forms such as political contributions and gift-giving in return for favourable treatment in government tenders, present a challenge for law enforcement authorities around the world. While bribery undermines the well-being of people, the rule of law, and harms market competition around the globe, the vast majority of white-collar-crime research is Western focused. This paper is the first significant analysis of the p…
Policing cross-border fraud ‘Above and below the surface’
Cross-border fraud, including its various forms such as online retail fraud, pyramid schemes, romance fraud and pig butchering, is a major problem around the world. Despite clear evidence that cross-border fraud is growing, there is little research charting the scale of cross-border fraud and the optimal policing responses to deal with it. This paper aims to fill this research gap by exploring what we know about the nature of cross-border fraud a…
Pulpit, power, and predation
We analyse public discourse on pastors' unethical financial exploitation within the charismatic Christian community. Using qualitative content analysis of social-media responses, we examine how the public perceives, discusses, and interprets these cases, privileging emic viewpoints. We find that faith leaders are seen to exploit congregants' social trust and spiritual devotion for personal gain. Grounded in Donald Cressey's Fraud Triangle theory,…
Pathways, Pressure, and Profit
Love, Lies, and Larceny
Assessing Human Trafficking and Cybercrime Intersections Through Survivor Narratives
An Anatomy of 'Pig Butchering Scams
Fraud as Legitimate Retribution for Colonial Injustice
An assessment of convicted cryptocurrency fraudsters
We examine cryptocurrency fraud cases prosecuted by Nigeria's Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). We considered the lens of the Space Transition Theory (STT) in exploring the dynamics of these digital crimes. Our data analysis reveals common types of fraud, including cryptocurrency investment schemes. The results show an exclusive male demographic (100%), with the majority under 30 years old and only a quarter possessing a degree, pr…
Preventing fraud victimisation against older adults
The prevention of fraud against older adults and other age groups, has been the subject of limited research with very few systematic attempts to map different tools and strategies that are used. This paper using the UK and South Korea as a starting point, but other countries too, maps some of the most common tools and strategies used to prevent frauds that target older adults. It develops the first comprehensive typology of strategies built upon …
The technification of domestic abuse
Methods of domestic abuse are progressively incorporating computer misuse and other related online offences and digital tools, escalating opportunities for perpetrators to monitor, threaten and humiliate their victims. Drawing on empirical research involving media case study analysis, a technology review and interviews undertaken with 21 professionals and service providers supporting domestic abuse victims, this article outlines the context in En…
Disseminating fraud awareness and prevention advice to older adults
Raising awareness to combat scams has become a central strategy of fraud/scam prevention. Using data from a wider evaluation of a targeted campaign to improve fraud prevention and awareness for older adults predominantly over 75, this paper offers findings on the most effective means of dissemination of anti-scam communications to this group. The paper draws upon almost 1000 questionnaire responses and qualitative data from older adults, as well …
Fear and phoning
This study explores the experiences of attempted frauds and victimisation which use largely telephone-based means of communication on predominantly over 75s in the United Kingdom. Using a postal survey targeted at the clients of a charity working mostly with this age group, two surveys were conducted during the 18-month life of the project, securing almost 2,000 responses, which sought to explore their experience of fraud as part of a wider evalu…
An exploratory study of victimisation and near misses in online shopping fraud
The Impact of Deviant Social Media Influencers and Consumer Characteristics on Purchasing Counterfeit Goods
Product counterfeiting is a large and global economic crime that causes significant economic, social and personal harms. Facilitated by the efficiency and convenience of e-commerce, finding and buying counterfeits have never been easier. Going beyond product listings on websites, counterfeiters are now using sophisticated marketing techniques to promote their illicit wares. This includes employing deviant social media influencers who violate soci…
Tweets and Reactions
How do tweets reflect the long-standing disparities between the northern and southern regions of Nigeria? This study presents a qualitative analysis of Twitter users' responses ( n = 101,518) to the tweets of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) regarding the production and prosecution of cybercrime. The article uses postcolonial perspectives to shed light on the legacies of British colonial efforts in Nigeria, such as the amalgama…
Economic Crime
This book is the first attempt to establish 'economic crime' as a new sub-discipline within criminology. Fraud, corruption, bribery, money laundering, price-fixing cartels and intellectual property crimes pursued typically for financial and professional gain, have devastating consequences for the prosperity of economic life. While most police forces in the UK and the USA have an ‘economic crime’ department, and many European bodies such as Europo…
Assessing the seriousness of cybercrime
The reform of the Crime Survey of England and Wales (a national victim survey) has exposed a very high number of individuals who fall victim to computer misuse cybercrimes such as hacking, computer viruses and ransomware. These crimes receive very little attention from the criminal justice system and very few are brought to justice, partly because of the nature of them (global crimes), but also because of a lack of capability among the police. Th…
Investigative private policing beyond the police
This paper is based on a survey of 331 private investigators predominantly based or working in the UK. It offers findings on the background, roles undertaken, tools used and outcomes of their work. It divides the investigators into four main groups: private investigators (or detectives), investigators working for forensic accountants, in-house private investigators and in-house public investigators (non-police). Given the lack of research on this…
Security
Security as a concept has historically been the subject of much academic consideration and located in a diverse range of disciplines ranging from international relations, economics and finance, soc
Deliberative Democracy in Practice
We bring democratic theory and democratic practice together by examining practical efforts by several different organizations around the USA to make good on the promise of democratic deliberation through organization of public forums on particular issues. Participant observation and interviews with organizers and other participants reveals that deliberation is a complicated process marked by conflict, differing orientations, and political inequal…
A Monkish Kind of Virtue”? For and Against Humility
Over the past several decades, scholars of liberal and democratic theory have shown a heightened interest in the role that various virtues might play in promoting the good/free society. Yet within this recent “return” to the virtues, one quality that has been almost entirely left out of the discussion is humility. In this essay, I critically address this lacuna and offer a defense of a particular form of humility, what I call democratic humility.…
Private security and the policing of quasi-public space
Fraud as Legitimate Retribution for Colonial Injustice
Comparing private security regulation in the European Union
This paper examines the regulatory systems for the private security industry in the European Union (EU). Building upon other studies to compare regulatory systems it proposes a much more sophisticated approach to assess the quality of regulatory systems using 22 different criteria based on two areas: legislation and societal foundations. From this analysis a maximum of 100 points are possible and the paper is able to rank 26 of the 28 member stat…
Love, Lies, and Larceny
Organizational Inhibitions to Addressing Occupational Fraud
This article examines organizational inhibitions in relation to addressing occupational fraud. The a priori assumption would be if an organization discovers occupational fraud it would deal with it. However, this research illustrates, drawing upon 24 semi-structured interviews, two case studies and participant observation, a range of avoidant rationalizations constructed by representatives of organizational victims to justify not tackling occupat…
The ‘fraud justice network’ and the infra-structure of support for individual fraud victims in England and Wales
This article explores the infra-structure of support for victims of fraud in England and Wales using a new model for examining support through what the authors call a ‘fraud justice network’, which acknowledges the multiple state and private systems of justice alongside the criminal justice system that fraud victims interact with. Using evidence from interviews with victims the article explores the different levels of support for fraud victims at…
Pathways, Pressure, and Profit
An Anatomy of 'Pig Butchering Scams
New challenges in public order policing
From ‘shallow’ to ‘deep’ policing
The policing of insurance fraud has traditionally been dealt with beyond the criminal justice system as a private matter between the claimant and the insurer with only a few iconic cases referred to the criminal justice system each year. The growth of insurance fraud, particularly ‘crash-for-cash’ fraud, and the disinterest of the police, has led to a change in the response of the insurance industry. This paper will argue that this response can b…
Assessing Human Trafficking and Cybercrime Intersections Through Survivor Narratives
White Collar Criminals' Experience of Imprisonment in England and Wales
This article explores white collar criminals' experience of imprisonment in England and Wales. Based upon interviews with 13 convicted offenders after they had completed their imprisonment, it is the first study to date of this kind in England and Wales (all others have been based in prison). It offers a unique impartial insight of prisoners' experience, beyond the influence of the prison walls. The paper explores the experience around the largel…
Exploring the impact of organizational investment on occupational fraud
Public perceptions of private security in shopping malls
Too many chiefs and not enough chief executives
The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) has proved to be one of the most controversial policies of the Labour government. Indeed, despite opposition from core government support groups New Labour has still been keen to promote PFI. In some parts of the public sector this had led to substantial and radical projects being pursued. In the police service, however, there have been relatively few projects and most that have emerged have been relatively co…
Professionalizing Counter Fraud Specialists in the UK
New directions in policing fraud
Violence, abuse and the implications for mental health and wellbeing of security operatives in the United Kingdom
This paper addresses mental health and wellbeing among security operatives in the UK using a mixed-methods approach of survey questionnaire and interviews. The survey questionnaires were designed using three hybrid surveys: Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale; The Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C); and CAGE-AID as a screen for substance misuse. The survey questionnaires were distributed with the support…
The barriers to the opening of government data in the UK
This paper explores some of the key barriers to Open Government Data (OGD) that responsible civil servants in the UK face as they try to comply with the UK-led OGD initiative. Empirically, we provide a quantitative analysis of the resources published on the government’s central OGD portal, data.gov.uk, and a unique insight into the publishing of OGD in the UK based on 22 interviews with responsible individuals at the operational level of publishi…
Police, governance and the Private Finance Initiative
This paper, drawing on semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, examines the impact of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) on police in England and Wales with the specific aim of subjecting recent debates about the alleged ‘dispersed’ or ‘distanciated’ nature of state rule to critical analysis. In order to do this we draw on Shearing's (2005) distinction between ‘state anchored’ and ‘corporate-anchored’ pluralism to argue two points: th…
Pulpit, power, and predation
We analyse public discourse on pastors' unethical financial exploitation within the charismatic Christian community. Using qualitative content analysis of social-media responses, we examine how the public perceives, discusses, and interprets these cases, privileging emic viewpoints. We find that faith leaders are seen to exploit congregants' social trust and spiritual devotion for personal gain. Grounded in Donald Cressey's Fraud Triangle theory,…
Fear and phoning
This study explores the experiences of attempted frauds and victimisation which use largely telephone-based means of communication on predominantly over 75s in the United Kingdom. Using a postal survey targeted at the clients of a charity working mostly with this age group, two surveys were conducted during the 18-month life of the project, securing almost 2,000 responses, which sought to explore their experience of fraud as part of a wider evalu…
An exploratory study of victimisation and near misses in online shopping fraud
Beyond the Public Gaze — The Exclusion of Private Investigators from the British Debate over Regulating Private Security
Deliberative Democracy in Practice
We bring democratic theory and democratic practice together by examining practical efforts by several different organizations around the USA to make good on the promise of democratic deliberation through organization of public forums on particular issues. Participant observation and interviews with organizers and other participants reveals that deliberation is a complicated process marked by conflict, differing orientations, and political inequal…
Plural Policing' In Action
This paper considers the emergence of a wide range of private, municipal, hybrid and public bodies in the policing of environmental protest illustrating an example of 'plural policing' in action. It begins by exploring the innovative and challenging tactics of a new form of protester, which has been identified as the Militant Environmental Activist (MEA). The strategies pursued by the MEA have led to a complex range of organisations becoming invo…
New challenges in public order policing
The Impact of September 11th on the UK Business Community
Private security and the policing of quasi-public space
Arendt, Rawls, and Public Reason
A Monkish Kind of Virtue”? For and Against Humility
Over the past several decades, scholars of liberal and democratic theory have shown a heightened interest in the role that various virtues might play in promoting the good/free society. Yet within this recent “return” to the virtues, one quality that has been almost entirely left out of the discussion is humility. In this essay, I critically address this lacuna and offer a defense of a particular form of humility, what I call democratic humility.…
Too many chiefs and not enough chief executives
The Private Finance Initiative (PFI) has proved to be one of the most controversial policies of the Labour government. Indeed, despite opposition from core government support groups New Labour has still been keen to promote PFI. In some parts of the public sector this had led to substantial and radical projects being pursued. In the police service, however, there have been relatively few projects and most that have emerged have been relatively co…
Professionalizing Counter Fraud Specialists in the UK
New directions in policing fraud
Doing Security
Despite the growing interest in security amongst governments, organizations and the general public, the provision of much security is substandard. This book explores the problems facing security, and
Police, governance and the Private Finance Initiative
This paper, drawing on semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, examines the impact of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) on police in England and Wales with the specific aim of subjecting recent debates about the alleged ‘dispersed’ or ‘distanciated’ nature of state rule to critical analysis. In order to do this we draw on Shearing's (2005) distinction between ‘state anchored’ and ‘corporate-anchored’ pluralism to argue two points: th…
The Social Contract in America
Journal Article The Social Contract in America: From the Revolution to the Present Age by Mark Hulliung Get access The Social Contract in America: From the Revolution to the Present Age by Mark Hulliung. Lawrence, University of Kansas, 2007. 256 pp. $29.95. Mark Button Mark Button University of Utah Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Political Science Quarterly, Volume 123, Issue 4, Winter 2008, Pages 703–704…
Security officers and the policing of private space in South Korea
This paper provides empirical data on security officers in South Korea. It begins by examining broader international research on security officers identifying key traits, before assessing the findings from this research, which are based upon interviews with 60 security officers drawn from three distinct sites where they are commonly used in South Korea. These include an apartment complex, factory and retail outlet. The findings suggest several pa…
Direct elections and the local governance of crime in the United Kingdom
Setting the Watch Privacy and Ethics of CCTV Surveillance
Fraud investigation and the ‘flawed architecture’ of counter fraud entities in the United Kingdom
Countering Fraud for Competitive Advantage
Substantially reduce the largely hidden cost of fraud, and rea a new competitive advantage. As the title suggests, Countering Fraud for Competitive Advantage presents a compelling business case for investing in anti-fraud measures to counter financial crime. It looks at the ways of reaping a new competitive advantage by substantially reducing the hidden cost of fraud. Aimed at a wide business community and based on solid research, it is the only …
The ‘fraud justice network’ and the infra-structure of support for individual fraud victims in England and Wales
This article explores the infra-structure of support for victims of fraud in England and Wales using a new model for examining support through what the authors call a ‘fraud justice network’, which acknowledges the multiple state and private systems of justice alongside the criminal justice system that fraud victims interact with. Using evidence from interviews with victims the article explores the different levels of support for fraud victims at…
Fraud, Corruption and Sport
This book offers historical and contemporary international analysis of fraud and corruption in sport, including a diverse range of cases from the sporting world including football, cricket, horse raci
Evaluating the case for greater use of private prosecutions in England and Wales for fraud offences
Not a victimless crime
From ‘shallow’ to ‘deep’ policing
The policing of insurance fraud has traditionally been dealt with beyond the criminal justice system as a private matter between the claimant and the insurer with only a few iconic cases referred to the criminal justice system each year. The growth of insurance fraud, particularly ‘crash-for-cash’ fraud, and the disinterest of the police, has led to a change in the response of the insurance industry. This paper will argue that this response can b…
Online Fraud Victims in E ngland and Wales
The advent of the Internet has expanded opportunities to commit fraud and millions regularly fall victim. Fraud victims in general have been largely neglected by researchers in comparison with other crimes. There has also been very little research on issues related to the sentencing of fraudsters. This article offers some of the first insights on what individual online fraud victims actually want regarding the sentencing of the scammers who targe…
Political science (47 works) · Law (38 works) · Law (30 works) · Business (29 works) · Criminology (29 works) · Sociology (29 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (23 works) · Cybercrime and Law Enforcement Studies (23 works) · Psychology (22 works) · Public relations (22 works)