Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The psychology of being scammed.
A fascinating article from the excellent Mind Hacks blog on the psychology of being scammed, commissioned by the UK government's Office of Fair Trading and created by Exeter University's psychology department.
The report concluded that the most successful scams involve:
Appeals to trust and authority: people tend to obey authorities so scammers use, and victims fall for, cues that make the offer look like a legitimate one being made by a reliable official institution or established reputable business.
Visceral triggers: scams exploit basic human desires and needs – such as greed, fear, avoidance of physical pain, or the desire to be liked – in order to provoke intuitive reactions and reduce the motivation of people to process the content of the scam message deeply.
Scarcity cues. Scams are often personalised to create the impression that the offer is unique to the recipient.
Induction of behavioural commitment. Scammers ask their potential victims to make small steps of compliance to draw them in, and thereby cause victims to feel committed to continue sending money.
The disproportionate relation between the size of the alleged reward and the cost of trying to obtain it. Scam victims are led to focus on the alleged big prize or reward in comparison to the relatively small amount of money they have to send in order to obtain their windfall.
Lack of emotional control. Compared to non-victims, scam victims report being less able to regulate and resist emotions associated with scam offers. They seem to be unduly open to persuasion, or perhaps unduly undiscriminating about who they allow to persuade them.
and a couple of surprises:
Scam victims often have better than average background knowledge in the area of the scam content. For example, it seems that people with experience of playing legitimate prize draws and lotteries are more likely to fall for a scam in this area than people with less knowledge and experience in this field. This also applies to those with some knowledge of investments. Such knowledge can increase rather than decrease the risk of becoming a victim.
Scam victims report that they put more cognitive effort into analysing scam content than non-victims. This contradicts the intuitive suggestion that people fall victim to scams because they invest too little cognitive energy in investigating their content, and thus overlook potential information that might betray the scam.
Full article The psychology of being scammed with links to the report
The report concluded that the most successful scams involve:
Appeals to trust and authority: people tend to obey authorities so scammers use, and victims fall for, cues that make the offer look like a legitimate one being made by a reliable official institution or established reputable business.
Visceral triggers: scams exploit basic human desires and needs – such as greed, fear, avoidance of physical pain, or the desire to be liked – in order to provoke intuitive reactions and reduce the motivation of people to process the content of the scam message deeply.
Scarcity cues. Scams are often personalised to create the impression that the offer is unique to the recipient.
Induction of behavioural commitment. Scammers ask their potential victims to make small steps of compliance to draw them in, and thereby cause victims to feel committed to continue sending money.
The disproportionate relation between the size of the alleged reward and the cost of trying to obtain it. Scam victims are led to focus on the alleged big prize or reward in comparison to the relatively small amount of money they have to send in order to obtain their windfall.
Lack of emotional control. Compared to non-victims, scam victims report being less able to regulate and resist emotions associated with scam offers. They seem to be unduly open to persuasion, or perhaps unduly undiscriminating about who they allow to persuade them.
and a couple of surprises:
Scam victims often have better than average background knowledge in the area of the scam content. For example, it seems that people with experience of playing legitimate prize draws and lotteries are more likely to fall for a scam in this area than people with less knowledge and experience in this field. This also applies to those with some knowledge of investments. Such knowledge can increase rather than decrease the risk of becoming a victim.
Scam victims report that they put more cognitive effort into analysing scam content than non-victims. This contradicts the intuitive suggestion that people fall victim to scams because they invest too little cognitive energy in investigating their content, and thus overlook potential information that might betray the scam.
Full article The psychology of being scammed with links to the report
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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My friend suffered severe brain damage in a road accident. when he came out of the coma his personality had changed and he became more irrational and very arrogant.
He replied to a email spam 'my father died intestate abroad and i needs solicitor fees to inherit' and sent money. So far he has 'given' all his savings £70-120,000.
recently they asked him to borrow from friends and family. Now they are getting him to sell his little house in france. He trusts nobody but them.
we (friends and folk) got legal advice to discover this: if sombody wants to give all their money away it's not against any law.
he is about to be evicted from home because he sends his rent/living money every week. I have even spoken to them in ghana.
And we wonder why spam emails exist ?
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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That's such a shocking story James.
Is there no way of protecting people in your friend's situation? I'd imagined that arguments about mental incapacity came into it somewhere - but I've only come across that term being used about people who make formal agreements about what should happen in the future in case they became unable to make decisions for themselves (ie they nominate someone they trust), which clearly doesn't cover your friend's case. How scary.
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Permalink Reply by Clive Carter on
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ANOTHER element that could be added to the list, especially in the case of phishing emails, is:
Limited Time. If you are asked to confirm your bank details within the next 24 hours otherwise your account will be suspended, you might be propelled by the sense of urgency more than consideration of the likelihood of the sense or logic of it. You are being 'bounced' into action.
Most of the points in the list (and Limited Time), are themes common to regular advertising and sales techniques, as well as outright fraudulent scams (unrepeatable offer, Ends Friday. Act Now! Last 10!)
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