Scammers Use Modern Tech and Psychology to Manipulate Their Victims

At the start of the year, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a Florida woman had been convicted for her part in swindling victims in an online romance scheme. When she pled guilty, she admitted to laundering more than $2.7 million to her co-conspirators abroad.

Although this crime ring was busted, the DOJ reports there are many others, and such scams are increasing each year. Gone are the days of getting a misspelled email from a dethroned “Nigerian prince” asking for money. Social scientists have found that scammers are using sophisticated social engineering techniques that are adaptable, realistic, and often irresistible.

How Frequent are Frauds?

Emails from the Nigerian prince who needed money to reclaim his wealth and power almost seem quaint compared to today’s scammers. In 2022, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reported that consumers lost almost $8.8 billion to scams. The amount was a 30 percent increase from 2021, meaning that people were becoming more susceptible to scams.

The rip-offs included romance cons in which a fraudster pretended to be someone who was romantically interested in the victim and then began asking for money. The swindles also involved fake investments, phony sweepstakes, and tech support scams in which a person was contacted and told there was something wrong with their computer, which could be corrected for a fee.

As technology becomes more advanced, criminals have turned to deepfake videos or voice-cloning to manufacture a crisis involving a family member or friend. Usually, the victim receives a call in which a voice that sounds like their loved one says they are stranded and need help getting home. Sometimes, the caller says they are in jail and need bail money. In 2022, adults ages 60 and older were 73 percent more likely than younger people to report they fell for such a scam.

Decoding Deception

How are scammers so successful? In a 2022 study in the American Journal of Criminal Justice, researchers analyzed how victims described their interactions with scammers in order to identify patterns in both how the communication unfolded and how the victim perceived it. The study found that scammers use complex human psychology and proven principles of persuasion to swindle victims.

In the study, researchers analyzed descriptions by scam victims (n=52), all of whom were approached either on a social media site like Facebook or a dating app. The study found consistent themes in how the victims reported their interactions with their scammer.

One common strategy involved the scammers initiating a give-and-take with the victim. “Reciprocation leveraged a sense of obligation in victims through small gifts or gestures, fostering trust and creating an emotional debt,” says Fangzhou Wang, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor at the University of Texas-Arlington in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Victims, for example, received bouquets of flowers. One was surprised with a flower arrangement on Valentine’s Day. “I admit,” the victim wrote. “I was completely gobsmacked by this guy.”

Manufacturing a crisis was another manipulative technique in which the fraudster claimed some sort of personal financial emergency and needed urgent help.

“These strategies highlighted the fraudsters’ ability to exploit human psychology to achieve their goals,” Wang says.

Part of that exploitation involved weaponizing social norms, particularly the obligations people feel when asked for help during a crisis.

One victim, for example, described how he believed the woman he communicated with online was going through an emergency in which she couldn’t pay her electric bill because she had reallocated funds to pay for her sick mother’s medication. She claimed she had no one else but the victim to help her.

“If I could help her this time, it would mean a lot to her,” the victim shared. “Despite my misgivings, I sent her $100. It was all I had.”

What are the Persuasive Techniques?

In addition to appealing to social norms, fraudsters also used established persuasive techniques to sell themselves to the victim. Likeability, for example, is a known factor in persuasion because people are more hesitant to refuse someone they like. The scammers in the study worked overtime to make themselves both likable and relatable to the victims, which enhanced the likelihood the victim would make a decision-making error when asked to send money.

Similarly, researchers have found that people are more likely to be persuaded by authority figures, and the study identified how scammers relied on appeals to authority. People are socially conditioned to comply with authority figures, so scammers often send documentation like doctors’ notes, letters from bank officials, or notices from government agencies to back up their claims.

For example, if a scammer claimed they needed $3,000 to pay a customs tax in order to import gold bars, which they promised to later share with the victim, then they produced an official letter with realistic-looking stamps and logos.

As a result of scammers using multiple strategies, Wang says the analysis found victims had both complex and deep emotions about what occurred.

“Many victims continued to rationalize or justify their relationships with fraudsters even after inconsistencies arose,” Wang says.

How to Avoid Scammers

In the study, all of the victims met their scammers online through social contexts such as Facebook or dating apps. In some instances, the scammer and victim began communicating daily via telephone and text, which made the relationship feel real.

To avoid scammers, Wang advises people to be wary if they have met someone online and they want to move the communication off-platform to texting or phone calls.

Scammers often make declarations of love early in the communication, and Wang says this should be considered a red flag. People should also be alarmed if their new “friend” turns to them for financial help with some sort of crisis.

In the event a person feels the love is real, Wang recommends verifying their information. “Use reverse image searches, verify credentials, and check the consistency of the fraudster’s claims,” she says.

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