AI Literacy and Critical Thinking in Strengthening Students' Fraud Detection Capability in a Cashless Society (Financial Analytics and Economic Innovation Journal)

Summary

• A quantitative study surveyed 120 active university students in Java to analyze how AI literacy and critical thinking impact digital fraud detection capability.p.1
• The Indonesian National Police recorded 10,583 online fraud cases between January and March 2026, averaging 3,000 to 3,700 cases per month.p.2
• Simple linear regression showed that AI literacy had a positive and significant effect on critical thinking (β=0.688, p<0.001, R²=0.473).p.1
• AI literacy demonstrated a positive and significant direct effect on fraud detection capability (β=0.689, p<0.001, R²=0.474).p.1
• Critical thinking significantly enhanced fraud detection capability among students (β=0.691, p<0.001, R²=0.478).p.1
• The 10-item fraud detection capability measurement instrument achieved high internal consistency with a Cronbach's alpha of 0.819.p.8

Key insights

1. AI literacy accounts for 47.3% of the variance in students' critical thinking performance.p.9
2. Understanding how AI works and recognizing its limitations allows students to critically evaluate AI outputs rather than accepting them passively.p.9
3. Higher AI literacy directly increases fraud detection capability, explaining 47.4% of its variance.p.9
4. Critical thinking skills explain 47.8% of the variance in students' fraud detection capability in digital transactions.p.9
5. Online fraud cases in Indonesia reached between 3,000 and 3,700 monthly incidents in early 2026.p.2
6. Excessive reliance on AI tools without reflective engagement risks reducing independent reasoning through cognitive offloading.p.2
7. Fraud detection capability among students consists of two key dimensions: threat awareness and anti-fraud self-efficacy.p.7