Research proposal

1. RESEARCH PROPOSAL
PRESENTATION
Presented By: La Salle
Mama
Salatan

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Stop The Smishing: A Pragmatic
Analysis on Deceptive
Text Messages And its Language
Patterns

3.  Texting is one alternative in a larger universe of messaging modalities, including email,
instant messaging and messaging within social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, and
Instagram).
 One of the most threatening crimes of all internet users is that of ‘identity theft’
(Ramanathan and Wechsler, 2012) which is defined as impersonating the person’s identity to
steal and use their personal information (i.e., bank details, social security number, or credit card
numbers, etc.) by an attacker for the individuals’ own gain not just for stealing money but also
for committing other crimes (Arachchilage and Love, 2014).

4.  According to Josh Fruhlinger, et al (2020), Smishing is a cyberattack that uses misleading text messages to
deceive victims. The goal is to trick them into
o believing that a message has arrived from a trusted person or organization, and then
o convincing them to take action that gives the attacker exploitable information (like bank account login
credentials, for example) or access to their mobile device.
 In 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation in United States of America (USA) reported phishing is one of
the most common cyber-crime in 2020, in- fact it doubled from 114,702 incidents from 2019 to 241,324
incidents in 2020. After the data breach of Verizon in 2021, they reported phishing as the top "action variety"
seen in these types of incidents. Seventy five (75) percent of organizations around the world experienced
phishing attacks in 2020. Phishing attacks can take place over email, phone, or websites.

5. According to the Manila Bulletin, published on September 2, 2022, text scams are prevalent again. And this
has been a recurring problem that has not been addressed squarely by concerned government agencies and
telecommunications companies.
According to Jamael Jacob in a GMA News report on spam and text-based scams published on September 5,
2022, malicious SMS plays a significant role in many of the recent bank fraud and recruitment scam incidents.
Some victims admitted to clicking on the links in the messages. They eventually gave their bank account
information and money to online fraudsters and other criminals.
Thus, this study is essential because it will help the citizens to identify and avoid being victimized by
suspicious messages coming from unknown sources, which can steal their personal information. The
researchers will also determine the causes of this issue that lead to victimization of unsuspecting citizens.

6. Statement of the Problem
1.What age and gender groups are most likely to receive the deceptive messages?
2.How do these mobile scammers persuade their victims?
• What are the most recurring words/phrases used by the mobile scammers
to
• persuade their victims?
• What are the illocutionary acts exhibited in the messages of a scammer?
• What are the predominant illocutionary acts found in scam messages?
3.What are the top 3 most common fraud text messages all about?
4.What is the impact of these messages to the receivers?

7. Theoretical Framework
This research is anchored on the Speech Act Theory of J.L. Austin (1962) and John
Searle (1969). The theory is a subfield of pragmatics that studies how words are used
not only to present information but also to carry out actions.
According to an American language philosopher J.R. Searle (1985), speaking a
language is performing speech acts, acts such as making statements, giving
commands, asking questions or making promises. Searle, further, states that all
linguistic communication involves linguistics (speech) acts.
Searle (1969) improves on Austin‟s (1962) Speech Act theory and categorizes the
illocutionary act into five classes. These are the following; Assertives, Directives,
Expressives, Expressives and Declaratives.

8. Moreover, Searle (1969) improves on Austin’s (1962) Speech Act theory and categorizes the illocutionary act into
five classes. These are the following:
(1) Assertives: Commit the speaker to the truth of the expressed proposition: state, suggest, claim, report, warn, etc.
(2) Directives: It is usually used to give order thereby causing the hearer to take a particular action, request, command
or advice. Directives have the intention of eliciting some sort of action on the part of the hearer: order,
command, request, beg, beseech, advise (to), warn (to), recommend, ask, ask (to);
(3) Commisives: These statements commit the speaker to certain future action. It could be in the form of a promise,
vow, offer, undertake, contract, threaten, etc.
(4) Expressives: The purpose of expressive statements is to express sincerity of the speech act like excuses and
sympathy; thank, congratulate, condole, praise, blame, forgive, pardon, etc.
(5) Declaratives: These statements are used to say something and make it so, such as pronouncing someone guilty and
declaring a war.

9. QUANTITATIVEMETHODS
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Conceptual
Framework

10. Significance of the Study
 This research will be beneficial to the various stakeholders of the
society considering that this arguably a national issue of public
concern. Any member of the society can be a victim of ‘smishing’
messages and if victimized, it can cause an individual’s loss of
income or worse, their reputation.
 In the digital era, the ‘smishing’ problem became rampant because it
is considered the most accessible and convenient way of victimizing
the citizens who are not aware about the perpetrators’ schemes.

11. Significance of the Study
For this, the researchers believe that this study is essential to the public, notably to
those people who share their personal information online. This study will provide
knowledge about how pragmatic acts play in scam text messages and how
cybercriminals scam the users without their knowledge and awareness. The
researcher believes that it is critical to understand how these incidents happen and to
be aware of what information they must share online with all of their personal details.
Particularly, everyone now uses smartphones most of the day, tons of schemes
constantly appear.

12. Significance of the Study
This research aims to determine how scammers use scam text
messages to deceive someone’s personal details through pragmatic
acts. In fact, there are numerous methods that scammers may employ,
but pragmatic acts can be a useful method on which they can rely to
identify the credibility of messages from unknown sources.

13. Scope and Limitation
of the Study
This study will focus on scam text messages and scammer patterns in
phishing, the targeted victims based on age and gender the most common
scam that these cybercriminals use. The researchers will also determine
the potential causes of being a victim of fraudulent messages.
. Out of 44 barangays in Iligan City, the locale of study will be Barangay
Poblacion, considering that this is the metropolitan area of the city.

14. Review of Related Studies
 According to Josh Fruhlinger, (2020), Smishing is a cyberattack that uses
misleading text messages to deceive victims. Text message and smishing scams
occur when scammers send fake texts to lure you into sharing your personal
information.
 Taiwo (2010) conducted a critical evaluation of worldwide virtual scam emails
over a period of time. How cyber criminals investigate experiential,
interpersonal, and textual language metafunctions worldwide audiences. Holt
and Graves (2007) investigated 419 scam email messages and investigated the
techniques employed by email fraudsters

15. METHODOLOGY
Research Design - This paper will use descriptive-qualitative research methodology to
attain the study's objectives through obtaining information concerning the current status of the
phenomena and to describe “what exists” with respect to variables or conditions in a situation.
A qualitative analysis will be used because this content involves the free-form relation of details
in a relatively unstructured context. In this case, a content analysis will be utilized in analyzing
the corpus in order to identify scammers' strategies (e.g. words/phrases used; types of scam
messages; and illocutionary acts).

16. METHODOLOGY
Data Gathering Procedure - This research will be conducted in Barangay Poblacion, which is
one of the 44 barangays of Iligan City, Lanao Del Norte, Philippines. The researchers will
collect the ‘smishing’ messages from 100 random individuals who will agree to participate in
the study. A short interview regarding the impact of receiving ‘smishing’ messages will also be
conducted to know the extent of its effect.
According to the Department of Health (DOH), Iligan City has an environment with low risk of
COVID-19 infection, having a reproduction number of just 0.89. Although it is not exceptionally
high, the researchers will still make sure the standard health protocols are followed throughout
the data collection in the said barangay. In addition, the respondents’ consent to participate in the
study will also be primary gathered.

17. METHODOLOGY
Research Instruments
 Camera - The camera will be used in taking the pictures of ‘smishing’
messages from the smartphones of the respondents and in taking videos of
the residents’ answers to the short interview regarding the impact of
‘smishing’ messages to them.
 Interview Questionnaire - This instrument will be used as a guide in
interviewing the respondents about the impact of receiving ‘smishing’
messages to them. It is composed of three (3) open-ended questions:

18. Locale of the Study
 This research will be conducted
in Barangay Poblacion, Iligan
City. As of 2020 Census data, it
has an approximate population
of 3,613. This represented
1.00% of the total population of
Iligan.

19. METHODOLOGY
 Research Participants
A total of 100 target respondents from Barangay Poblacion, Iligan
City are expected to participate in this study. The researchers will
specifically collect data from respondents aged 18 to 50 years only
because the minors can only participate with their parents’ consent —
an additional step that is not feasible and practical, considering that the
location of the study is a metropolitan area and not a residential area.

20. METHODOLOGY
 Research Analysis
First, a content analysis of the corpus will be conducted to determine the recurring
words/phrases and top 3 common types of ‘smishing’ messages that certain age and gender
groups may receive. Using the Speech Act Theory, the researchers will derive the illocutionary
acts, with emphasis on the predominant illocutionary acts, to determine the impact of
‘smishing’ to the respondents.
Furthermore, the victims of scam text messages will be categorized under the five
subheadings of Austin‘s performative aspect of Speech Act Theory. Such analysis will expose
patterns and of how language is used and created by the scammers to “fish” information.

21. METHODOLOGY
 Research Analysis
Using the data from the survey questionnaires and interviews answered by random
residents of Barangay Poblacion, Iligan City, the researchers will determine the
pragmatic acts of scammers in phishing personal details to their victims and how
they were able to convince the victims to believe in them. The interpretation of such
findings will still be anchored on the Speech Act Theory. Furthermore, the impact of
receiving ‘smishing’ messages shall also be derived from the answers of the research
participants on the short interview (see 3.3.2).