The Evolution of Fear: How the Image of the "Thief" Changed in the Public Consciousness from Pickpocket to Cybercriminal

[Professor]

Abstract: Fear of theft is one of the oldest social emotions. But the object of this fear, the image of the thief, is continually transformed along with society and technology. From the clever pickpocket in a crowd to the invisible hacker halfway around the world, this evolution reflects our deepest anxieties about property, privacy, and trust in a changing world. This article offers a gentle journey through this history to understand not what was stolen, but who we fear in each period and why. It is a look at how it is not the criminal who changes, but our own perception of vulnerability.

Introduction: The Thief as a Cultural Archetype​

In the public consciousness, a thief is more than just a lawbreaker. He is a personified threat, a mirror of our fears of losing control. His image is composed of three components: method (how he operates), image (how we imagine him), and damage (what exactly we lose). As the technology of theft evolved, so did this cultural archetype, shifting from physical to digital space.

1. The Age of the Tangible: Pickpocket and Burglar (19th – mid-20th century)​

Method: Physical dexterity, strength, mechanical tools. A pickpocket operates in a crowd, relying on distraction. A burglar relies on lock picks, crowbars, and knowledge of weak points in locks and windows.

Image in the mind:

• The Pickpocket: A figure of urban folklore. Often romanticized as a "rogue" with a golden hand, the stuff of jokes. His danger lies in proximity, in the violation of personal physical space ("in my pocket!"). He is part of the chaotic yet tangible urban environment.
• Burglar (night burglar): A more sinister image. A shadow under the window, the creaking of floorboards. He's not just violating property, but the home, the safest place. This represents the fear of intrusion into the family's privacy.

Loss and fear: Losing a wallet full of money, family silver, or savings from under a mattress. The fear is concrete, tangible, and local. The victim can imagine the thief's face, the place, and the moment of the theft. The thief is part of the same physical world.

2. The Age of Mechanization and Trust in Systems: The Checkbook Swindler and the Loan Fraudster (mid-late 20th century)​

Method: Deception, document forgery, exploitation of vulnerabilities in nascent bureaucratic and financial systems. Not brute force, but intellectual superiority and manipulation of trust.

Image in the mind:

• Smooth talker (confidence man): A charming stranger in an expensive suit, capable of gaining trust. He exploits not the victim's vigilance, but rather the greed or kindness (inheritance scams, counterfeit securities).
• White-collar criminal: No longer an outsider, but an insider — a bank clerk, an accountant. Their danger lies in their duality : they enjoy the trust that the system and their position give them. This undermines faith in institutions.

Damage and fear: Loss of savings, credit history, and business reputation. Fear shifts from the physical loss of an item to the loss of documented property and social status. The thief becomes less visible, operating through intermediaries (papers, phone).

3. The Digital Age: The Lone Hacker and the Virus Writer (1990s–2000s)​

Method: Knowledge of weak points in software code, writing viruses and Trojans. Theft occurs indirectly, through system hacking.

Image in the mind:

• The Hacker in a Hoodie (film image): A reclusive genius, a teenager in a dark room, surrounded by computer screens. He doesn't rob, he hacks. His motives are often non-monetary: curiosity, challenging the system, revenge. This is the image of an incomprehensible, anomalous threat from a new, digital world.
• Virus Creator: An almost mystical figure who creates a "digital contagion" that spreads itself. Fear of something uncontrollable and epidemic.

Damage and fear: Data corruption (loss of diploma, photo), system failure (computer not working), breach of digital integrity. For the first time, fear of losing intangible assets — information — emerges on a massive scale. The thief is abstract, somewhere on the internet.

4. The Age of Globalization and Data: Cybercriminal and Carder (2000s–present)​

Method: Highly organized activity, often based on the SaaS (Crime-as-a-Service) model. Social engineering, phishing, and human exploitation. The goal is systematic monetization.

Image in the mind:

• A faceless transnational group: Not a romantic hacker, but a cybercriminal corporation with departments, budgets, and tech support. Based in an unknown jurisdiction. It's the image of globalized, efficient, and impersonal evil.
• "Cyberghost": A completely invisible threat. There's no face, no nationality, not even a specific action at the time of the theft — the data is stolen retroactively from the compromised database. This is the fear of complete uncertainty about the threat's source.

Damage and fear: Loss of digital identity (accounts, card data), privacy (messages, photos leaked), and trust in the digital environment itself. The main fear is becoming transparent, losing control of one's digital shadow. The damage is often delayed and unobvious (data is sold, used for blackmail).

5. The Emerging Age: The Thief of Algorithms and Artificial Identities (Near Future)​

Method: Manipulation of AI algorithms (adversarial attacks), theft or substitution of digital profiles (deepfake for biometrics), exploitation of IoT devices.

Image in the mind:

• The Invisible Thief Who Steals the Self: A threat that can steal not money, but a voice, a face, a demeanor to defraud loved ones or damage a reputation.
• Algorithm saboteur: Someone who forces autonomous systems (driverless taxis, smart grids) to work against their creators. This is the fear of losing control over technologies that were meant to serve us.

Damage and fear: Undermining personal autonomy (who am I if my digital self is compromised?), destabilization of the infrastructure based on trust in AI. Fear that reality can be fabricated, meaning trust in any digital evidence will disappear.

Conclusion: From Pocket to Cloud – Fear's Inward Journey​

The evolution of the thief is a story of how the threat moved from the external world to the internal, from the material to the virtual, and ultimately into our very identity.

• The pickpocket threatened the wallet in his pocket.
• The fraudster threatened the bank account.
• The hacker threatened the data on the computer.
• Cybercriminal threatens digital twin in the cloud.
• The thief of the future will threaten the integrity of our “I”, dissolved in algorithms.

This is the path of increasing abstraction and psychologization of fear. The modern "thief" is no longer a person, but a process, a system, or a vulnerability. Our fear has shifted from the loss of a "thing" to the loss of control, privacy, and trust in the digital environment in which we now live.

Understanding this evolution helps us not to paralyze ourselves with fear, but to recognize its nature. It shows that at its core lies the same human desire — for security and integrity. And if we once locked our doors, today our task is to build equally reliable, but more sophisticated, protection for our digital identities. This is the challenge of the new era, and recognizing how the image of the enemy has evolved is the first step toward meeting it not with blind terror, but with calm and meaningful preparedness.