Successful layering

Scams can be extremely sophisticated, yet for many people, a typical scam is a Nigerian prince asking for help to launder money or a desperate, and dare I say naive, scammer that was talked into holding ‘I can’t believe it’s not butter’ sign, hoping this would get them some funds. But the reality is much darker. Good scammers are very good at psychology and often design frauds by layering different fraud techniques, all designed to complement each other for greater success. For example, scams that evoke visceral influence (fear, panic or greed) will usually have time limits attached to them also (e.g. offer expires, you have 24 hours etc.). This is to ensure that the potential victim has no time to regain composure. Under visceral influence, careful deliberation is compromised and we tend to focus on superficial things, like the size of the reward, attractiveness of the offer or even on the scammer, many of whom are polished, charming and will appear trustworthy. Any inconsistencies will be disregarded in favour of these superficial cues, because when one is under the visceral influence, they are likely to focus on goals associated with that influence. This is why you are always told not to go shopping for groceries hungry and it’s equally true of acting on anything when intense fear or excitement has been evoked.

Scams that appeal to social norms, often use altercasting too. Altercasting is another persuasive technique, where a perpetrator will put a victim in a specific role that is congruent with their goals. For example, I have seen advance fee scams that use narratives where either an orphan girl, a widow or even a pastor appeals for help (social norms) and the victim is placed in a role of a friend or a confidante, where a perpetrator will trust the victim with confidential or deeply personal information before asking for funds down the line. By that time the victim has been acting as a friend or an advisor and this role is likely to help facilitate the fraud, because they will be more likely to help.

Scammers often layer persuasion techniques for greater impact.

In conjunction with other individual factors, these techniques can be very effective.

Other factors also come into play. Different circumstances, for example, have been known to influence compliance in certain scam situations. Or certain individual characteristics, such as lack of vigilance or impulsivity. For example, if you are down on your luck, looking for work and you are running out of money, you will be more likely to take risks and consider financial opportunities that don’t look very sound. You may be more likely to concentrate on potential rewards instead of any negatives associated with high return investments. If you are also more compliant in general, it is even more likely that, when persuaded to do so, you will decide to go along with something you have some reservations about. Of if you are more impulsive, you may act quickly, without allowing the time to think about your decision. All of these factors combine (or layer) to produce a unique vulnerability score.

Many frauds are still relatively simple. Badly constructed phishing email that will bring a smile to your face, for example, but many are far from simple. It all comes down to how good the scammer is and how motivated they are in developing a highly credible looking, psychologically designed frauds that create situations that can be highly persuasive, and how they go about executing them. The more effort they invest, the more lucrative the venture will be, so it’s good to be vigilant and not underestimate what fraudsters are able to do by concentrating only on badly designed scams that are easy to spot.

'Fake it till you make it' - psychology in fake reviews

Online customer reviews have revolutionised the way we shop. Having instant feedback about a product, service or a customer can help one avoid bad purchases and guide decisions. People are attracted to reviews. However, scammers are too. Why is that?

As human beings, we shape our beliefs and our behaviours by observing others, how they behave and what they believe in. This is known as social proof. Exchanging and sharing experiences, talking about our likes and dislikes, about what makes us happy and what makes us angry. We are social. This is why reviews can be so influential. In real life, this translates to word of mouth, which is harder to fake, but online, creating a fake review is relatively easy.

We look to others to define our reality.

There are several good guides how to spot fake reviews .There are plenty of reviews online that are shill reviews (or covert advertising), planted by marketing teams to excite people about a particular product. Shill reviews can also be left on social media or forums as this adds credibility and companies may even offer the product free of charge or offer discounts in return for a review, which in some cases, such as on websites that specify whether the reviewer has purchased the product, can add additional credibility to the review.

Many companies that offer a platform on which sellers and buyers come together (e.g. eBay, Amazon, AirBnB) will have problems with fake reviews, but may also have problems with fraudulent activities that exploit the review system to appear legitimate. For example, a fraudulent account that is selling substandard products purporting to be quality or branded products may initiate several verified reviews by pretending to be both, a seller and a buyer. The initial costs associated with that process (such as eBay fees) are irrelevant given the credibility and legitimacy it creates (a product reviewed by satisfied customers will appear legitimate and foster trust). Therefore it is easy to see why some people fake reviews. Fake reviews can also be part of new ‘brushing scams’, where people receive parcels and goods they never ordered so that fake reviews can be generated.

Why is it important to look at fake reviews through psychology?

By understanding motivation behind fake reviews and the persuasive techniques used to create them, we can learn to spot what is real and what is fake.

So what is psychology behind fake reviews?

Fake reviews employ something known as ‘social proof’ or tendency to look at others to define our reality. As stated above, we look to others to see what they do, how they behave and what they believe in and we adjust our behavior accordingly. People will trust things that are backed by other people. What a fake review does is establishes a dialogue with a desired customer, where a person leaving a review is able to persuade someone reading that review that the product they are looking at is just what they need. There are several persuasion techniques that allow this. If a desired audience can be identified, parallels can be drawn with that audience in a review, emphasizing similarities between a reviewer and a potential customer (this is a known scam technique). Then, a reviewer may concentrate on statements that emphasize life changing properties of the product, which are made specifically to evoke positive emotions. fake reviews may even mention risks or a high cost, but these will be minimized quickly by concentrating on the fact that the risk was worth taking. When people see others take risks, they feel more confident in taking the risk themselves.

These techniques and the way they are executed are frequently adapted or modified by scammers, especially when they become well known and predictable, therefore it is imperative to research and evaluate them frequently and adapt fraud prevention measures accordingly.

Are security warnings making us fatigued?

Internet security, software and anti-virus updates - we are all aware of these and many of us frequently ignore them and now there is some research on why that is. People may be experiencing ‘security fatigue’ due to the amount of security warnings out there, and this may be dangerous as it leads to less caution. Having so much security or fraud advice from different sources, can confuse and intimidate users to the point that they ignore all advice. For example, in real life, we have limited time for making decisions. When there is too much information to consider, it’s easier to ignore all information than trying to figure out which security advice should be followed.

Badly designed security warnings are largely ignored

In a research study by Egelman, Cranor & Hong, participants that willingly gave their details to a fraudulent website created for the experiment, explained they did so because they did not understand the risks and said they frequently ignore security advice. Therefore, warnings barked at people without properly explaining why there is a need to be cautious may not be the best way forward. Having simple advice, concentrating on fraud elements that are mostly stable (e.g. scam techniques or personal vulnerabilities), as well as individual factors (e.g. personality or circumstances that influence fraud compliance) may be a better way in fight against fraud. This is supported by research that looked at how individual differences impact privacy attitudes (Egelman & Peer, 2015).

Designing good security advice is an art. Just as criminals use specific persuasion techniques to influence compliance, security advice that is not compelling will be largely ignored.
For example, research by Modic & Andersen found that security warnings that used concrete (explanation of what malware does to a computer), rather than vague (message saying access is blocked due to security concerns) threats were more effective.  They also found that adding cues to authority (e.g. security team has identified this site is dangerous) to a security message was more effective than social cues (e.g. your friends have already been scammed). This means that people seem to appreciate concrete advice coming from those that they perceive are experts in the field, rather than being inundated by vague or conflicting security advice that can be found in abundance online.

There is another aspect to consider and that is a potential for alienating customers. Many companies invest money in fraud prevention measures that reduce revenue lost to fraud but forget about fraud prevention advice for their customers. This is often just an afterthought and I have seen many legitimate emails contain really outdated scam advice within their content. This includes telling customers that they can trust emails that have their name in the content or to pay attention to spelling. Fraud is an organized crime and scammers have realized that a little bit more effort invested in designing phishing content tends to pay big dividends. Often this means that they get some data on the potential victim and can offer personal information as a way of enhancing credibility of the correspondence.

If your customer receives a phishing email bearing your logos, and they remember your outdated phishing advice, which is no longer valid, they may get scammed.

Once this happens they will forever have a negative view of your brand. They will no longer trust you.

Many fraud victims I interviewed told me about lack of trust following victimization. And sometimes this mistrust gets attached to companies whose credentials were misused by scammers. The best you can do for your customers is keep any fraud prevention advice current and relevant.

When a person is defrauded, they suffer great psychological distress. It is not just about the lost funds, it is about deception, about morals. On a rational level, a victim of a phishing attack bearing your company logo will know that you did not cause this but on an emotional level, they will forever associate your brand with not being able to trust you. This is why it’s important to have the best possible fraud prevention advice for your customers, to make it engaging, relevant and personal and to update it frequently.

Miracle cures and clairvoyant scams

In 1800s, a magician and a showman Phineas Taylor Barnum wrote a book called “Humbugs of the world”. By ‘humbugs’ he was referring to old fashioned swindles and scams. Many are still being used today, such as fake lotteries, miracle cures and clairvoyant scams, which just goes to show that scams have always been lucrative. In fact, Barnum was such a great trickster, that one of the cognitive biases (the original Forer effect) was renamed after him.

Picture credit: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/35043703324205786/

P.T. Barnum was a magician and a showman in the 1800s. He wrote a book about old fashioned scams, many of which are still used today.

The Barnum effect

The Barnum effect refers to the acceptance of vague personality feedback that could apply to anyone, as highly accurate description of one’s personality. Giving vague feedback is often a component of clairvoyant scams, where a victim will be given universally valid description of their personality as proof that a clairvoyant is genuinely able to see things. Description will be accurate because it is vague and it is true of almost everyone. In the original experiment, psychologist named Bertram Forer used sentences he collected from daily horoscopes and gave them to participants as bona fide personality feedback following psychometric tests. All participants received the same feedback. He then asked participants to rate how accurate the feedback is and was surprised to find that participants were rating it as highly accurate. This is how clairvoyants or psychics can make you feel that they know something about you, when in fact, they are providing such vague feedback, which can apply to anyone and not just you.

Miracle cures

I wanted to also explain a bit about scams people don’t often hear about, unless they have a health problem or an issue they feel too embarrassed to talk to their doctor about - scams offering ‘miracle cures’. Miracle cure scams tend to target people who are either desperate because they have tried everything without success (and this often sadly includes terminally ill people) or those that have chronic or embarrassing conditions. Research found that these types of scams often purport to have cures for diabetes, cancer, baldness, obesity, impotence and loss of libido.

Miracle cures often target embarrassing conditions and use fake testimonials.

Fake testimonials provide social proof we, as humans, often seek when making decisions.

Some miracle cure scams may have professional or legitimate looking appearance, such as being endorsed by health clinics or doctors, but they are largely ineffective and could also be dangerous. Scams selling cures often use social proof cues, such as fake testimonials. Social proof is a known scam technique and is highly effective.
People define their reality by looking to others, how they behave, what they do and what they believe in and act accordingly. Therefore fake reviews and testimonials can be highly effective, especially when we are desperate to believe in something, such as a miracle cure to an embarrassing problem.

These types of scams affect women more than men and are rarely reported, which is why they are not talked about as much as some other types of scams (e.g. financial or romance). Often, people may not know they have been defrauded when it comes to clairvoyant or miracle cures scams, because the product was received (e.g. vitamins or supposed cures) but purchasing a product that claims to cure a disease when it actually does nothing is also fraud and should always be reported to the authorities.

Grooming techniques in fraud

In the olden days when scammers relied on selling you something, an overpriced double glazing or a miracle product, they were usually easily spotted due to their fake smiles, polished suits and a skill, not unlike that of a python, of being able to squeeze every last penny out of you.  They were ruthless, arrogant, forceful, and it was easier to spot the warning signs of being scammed.  We have all heard scary stories about window salesmen who refused to leave your home hours after they have given you a quote for the new windows and you told them you would like them to leave at least 50 times.  But what people don’t realise is that modern scammers have evolved. They are no longer forceful or arrogant and they often address our needs. Hope of a large investment on your pension savings, hope of finding your one true love, hope of a miracle oil that will help your loved one battle cancer when their oncologist has run out of hope or hope of buying a time share apartment that will bring you nothing less but a secure income in old age. Scammers have become slick, smart, calculated, embracing innovation and using psychology to get the victims to comply.  

For example, research into dating scams found that scammers invest hours upon hours of communication with their victims. Sometimes lasting several months and sometimes very intense communication, which helps to cultivate an interpersonal relationship between a victim and a scammer, which is hard to override.  Frequently they send gifts in the beginning too, making the relationship seem genuine and loving, even to victim’s friends and family. The more the victim communicates with the scammer, the easier it becomes for the scammer to get what they want in the end.  And before the blame is placed on the victims being gullible, let me explain how this exchange might work.  

Fraud victims are often groomed, sometimes for months

As children we were brought up to share, be nice and return favours.  These are simple societal rules that help us nurture relationships we have with others.  When a stranger asks us to give them money out of the blue, we have no problem saying no.  But when a friend asks, especially if they have done us favours in the past, we will feel obliged to help them.  It’s known as reciprocity and it’s ingrained in us. Those that don’t observe this rule are thought of as selfish or uncivilised.  Reciprocity rule is a strong evolutionary tool which helped us survive, form bonds, keep friends… but it is also a powerful tool for a scammer and is a known scam technique. Scammers, and this is especially true of dating scams in which women are victims, often send small presents to their victims, flowers, perfume, small tokens of love. This ensures that somewhere down the line, the victim feels bad about not reciprocating. In dating scams, the usual technique is for scammers to claim to be in different countries as doctors or soldiers. When they eventually ask for money for an operation or the plane ticket or a solicitor or some other worthy cause, the lengthy communication, the attention, the gifts that the victim received will make them feel obliged to help the scammer even if they feel uncomfortable about it. This is because we have been pre programmed to return kindness.

Scammers can groom victims in many ways. For example, some financial scams perpetrated over the phone would use grooming techniques. A scammer would typically call the victim daily and befriend them, even sharing details of their lives (usually mimicking victim’s circumstances, beliefs or likes). This not only fosters trust between a victim and a perpetrator but also makes it difficult for the victim to report the crime once they start to suspect something is wrong, because they feel guilty. This means that the scammer can go on scamming more people in the meantime. Often, scammers will also ask the victim to keep the transaction or a relationship a secret. This also plays into their hands and avoids detection.

It is often difficult to detach yourself once you are involved in a pattern but if you suspect you might be groomed by a scammer, talk to your friends and family about it, ask for help and search online for fraud advice which may make things clearer and make it easier to report fraud.

Nigerian scams are still very much alive

Nigerian or advance fee - 419 scams have been around for decades.  They usually contain a story of a bank official who has spotted an account with funds that are unclaimed and needs someone to help him get the money out of the account without it being in his name. This is somewhat illegal and he needs help of someone who can receive the money in their account and be paid for it.  Sometimes it is a royal person, a distant prince, rich widow unable to leave money to anyone, someone dying of cancer with wealth to give away and so on.   Once the victim replies, they request conversations, befriending the victim and eventually ask for fees to process legal papers.  The victim never sees the money they were promised.  Worse still, sometimes the victim will receive a fake cheque and cash it, wire the money to the person that is asking them to launder money and then find out the cheque was fake after few days, losing funds they sent. 

Sometimes victims are not even after money but simply believe they are helping the person as the stories are often elaborate.  In the past, Nigerian scams were executed via postal means, incurring a cost to the scammer.  With the invention of the fax and the phone, they became more prevalent and the Internet finally allowed them to become almost an everyday occurrence for most people while not costing much to execute.  Research also stipulates that they are now so well known that they are purposely used to identify the most vulnerable victims, whose details are then sold to other scammers too. 

Recently I have been contacted by someone asking me to warn about a scam purporting to be a girl from a refugee camp, but upon reading the email, I realised it was a spin off, a Nigerian type scam with a new twist to fit the current times. Briefly, the story is about a girl who is in a Syrian refugee camp and needs someone to help her get the money that her late and wealthy father deposited in the bank. This is a complex story and I decided to explain why it is complex and how it is written with a view to persuade in the future.  The initial emails asks only that the victim listens to the story but even acknowledging the email might be dangerous if you are uncomfortable saying no. Here is why:

The story starts with an account how the girl lost her mother and father to a violent murder and her consequent life in a refugee camp.  She prays to get out of her situation.  Without explaining what she wants from the victim yet, she asks for trust and not to be betrayed and asks to know more about the potential victim.  This part is likely to elicit empathy towards her situation - who would not feel empathy when someone tells you about their parents' murder.  Asking to know about you is likely to induce feelings of familiarity and closeness, as if you are friends, once you share this information and people help their friends.  She asks for trust and not to be betrayed. You may not think about these words at this point but when the request comes you may feel uncomfortable saying no, because you will feel as if you are betraying her, despite the doubts you might feel. 

persuasive elements in Nigerian type scams

Second part tells more about her situation in the camp and the pastor who is helping her to email a random person across the globe.  It also gives the pastor's telephone number.  The victim will probably not use it but if they do, it will add credibility to the story. The endearments used are to evoke feelings of closeness, the mention of the secret too - we tell secrets to those we are close to so potential victim might feel privileged they were entrusted with the secret.  She then explains about her father's fund that contains millions, that she cannot access and makes a request.

Scammers often put victims in a position of trust, by making themselves appear vulnerable. This gives the victim a feeling of power but in reality, the scammer holds all the strings.  The girl in this story follows up by reminding you that she requested you to be trustworthy.  Scammers are good at altercasting.
Altercasting, a persuasion technique, is where a person puts the victim in a specific position, often targeting the ego of the person (calling for a man of vision for example) or social norms (understanding and honest people). These types of scams often don’t ask for more than few details and for the recipient to respond to correspondence, which is also a known scam technique. Once invested, it’s harder to back out.

Microsoft research argues that Nigerian type scams are still around and purposely say they are from Nigeria because everyone knows about them. Therefore those that respond and engage with these types of scams are likely to be extremely vulnerable, which means they will, sadly, be a sure thing for a scammer. Their details are harvested and sold to other scammers who will further exploit them. If you have elderly or isolated neighbours, especially if they are not so internet savvy, talk to them about scams. Often knowing something about scams can be enough to protect from becoming a victim.