The scams among us: who falls prey and why
The scams among us: who falls prey and why
Not a week goes by without stories about scams appearing in popular media outlets. Given the ease with which scams can be circulated, they have become one of the most common crimes globally, inflicting high emotional, financial, and psychological tolls on millions of individuals. Despite their profound and pervasive impact, researchers know relatively little about why some individuals fall victim to scams but others remain immune to the techniques utilized by scammers to lure potential victims. For example, research thus far provides mixed results about the impact of demographic characteristics (e.g., age) as well as personality variables (e.g., risk taking) on individuals’ susceptibility to scams. Even less is known about how the nature or type of scam affects an individual’s susceptibility. Gaining a deeper understanding of these issues is the key to being able to develop preventive programs and reduce the prevalence of victimization. Here, we discuss some promising directions, existing gaps in current knowledge, and the need for decision scientists to address this important problem.
Demographics variables, fraud, individual differences, risk factors, scams, susceptibility
260-266
Hanoch, Yaniv
3cf08e80-8bda-4d3b-af1c-46c858aa9f39
Wood, Stacey
f73c11f1-c315-4812-9eb9-5d4cb5b395ad
1 June 2021
Hanoch, Yaniv
3cf08e80-8bda-4d3b-af1c-46c858aa9f39
Wood, Stacey
f73c11f1-c315-4812-9eb9-5d4cb5b395ad
Hanoch, Yaniv and Wood, Stacey
(2021)
The scams among us: who falls prey and why.
Current Directions in Psychological Science, 30 (3), .
(doi:10.1177/0963721421995489).
Abstract
Not a week goes by without stories about scams appearing in popular media outlets. Given the ease with which scams can be circulated, they have become one of the most common crimes globally, inflicting high emotional, financial, and psychological tolls on millions of individuals. Despite their profound and pervasive impact, researchers know relatively little about why some individuals fall victim to scams but others remain immune to the techniques utilized by scammers to lure potential victims. For example, research thus far provides mixed results about the impact of demographic characteristics (e.g., age) as well as personality variables (e.g., risk taking) on individuals’ susceptibility to scams. Even less is known about how the nature or type of scam affects an individual’s susceptibility. Gaining a deeper understanding of these issues is the key to being able to develop preventive programs and reduce the prevalence of victimization. Here, we discuss some promising directions, existing gaps in current knowledge, and the need for decision scientists to address this important problem.
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Accepted/In Press date: 25 January 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 17 May 2021
Published date: 1 June 2021
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Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2021.
Keywords:
Demographics variables, fraud, individual differences, risk factors, scams, susceptibility
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 446804
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/446804
ISSN: 0963-7214
PURE UUID: 314cbeb5-2abd-4efd-b8f2-293ba7c70e4e
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Date deposited: 23 Feb 2021 17:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 06:18
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Author:
Yaniv Hanoch
Author:
Stacey Wood
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