Scams: Understanding vulnerabilities and protective strategies

Many people don’t realize that scams are complicated events orchestrated by scammers, which often include myriad persuasive techniques and take advantage of our individual characteristics and circumstances.

While each scam varies in complexity, they typically progress through three broad stages, each influenced by factors that either heighten or diminish our vulnerability to becoming victims. Dove (2018, 2020) developed a model of fraud susceptibility which explains how these stages and factors interact.

Stage one: Precursors

There are certain precursors that make engaging with the scam more likely. Those include time constraints, social influence or situational and existential circumstances.

For example, people who find themselves in a financially difficult situation will be more likely to engage with questionable job offers even if they think they may potentially be scams because they have less to lose than people who have a job already. Their situation makes them less risk-averse because they have a lot to gain if the job offer is real (existential circumstance). Similarly, someone who would never think of hitchhiking at the side of the road as a general mode of transport may decide to do so when stranded due to a car breakdown (situational circumstance).

Sometimes, people are a part of the group that is investing in the venture, and they don’t want to be left out. This is how most pyramid schemes work. They target groups of individuals who work or socialize together.

These factors will influence whether a potential victim is likely to engage in the scam.

From the scammer’s perspective, various factors can significantly influence the attractiveness of an offer, largely dependent on how closely the scam mirrors a legitimate opportunity. Additionally, scammers may use persuasion techniques such as scarcity, authority, social proof, etc., to make the offer more attractive at the moment.

Stage two: Commitment

Once a potential victim engages with a scam or the scammer, they enter a commitment stage. In this stage, there are many things that can influence how the situation evolves, and a lot of it is down to individual characteristics, such as individual personalities or how we process the information we are given. For instance, more impulsive individuals may act in haste without thinking, while more vigilant individuals may check certain facts before acting or delay until they can seek advice to avoid masking uninformed decisions. Compliant individuals may be more likely to go along with what others are doing despite their concerns.

Many people believe that scams only happen to naïve and gullible people. However, this belief can make one more vulnerable to scams because it could lead to an illusion of control, resulting in greater confidence and less caution around decision-making.

Stage three: Aftermath

Many people, once they’ve been scammed, become less trusting and form protective strategies for the future. For example, one might realize that they acted impulsively in the past, which led to victimization. As a result, they are now more cautious, giving themselves more time to process information carefully, seek advice, or even just ‘cool off’ from the initial excitement.   These are all good strategies leading to more balanced decision-making because they address individual characteristics that can contribute to victimization.

However, not all protective strategies are as effective. Some people choose to focus on scam delivery or other types of scams when creating avoidance strategies for the future. For example, they may focus on avoiding similar scam narratives or avoid answering the phone when strangers call because they were scammed this way in the past. However, specific avoidance strategies are not very effective, as scammers vary their scam delivery (e.g., phishing emails, texts, calls, social media, etc.) and often adapt their scam narratives to fit current events (e.g., fund campaigns around recent events or similar).

How can you protect yourself as best as you can?

Scams are complex, and scammers are not the same when in terms of sophistication and resources. More recent scams utilizing generative AI, and especially those using deep fakes, can be extremely convincing and able to defy all but the closest scrutiny.

Scammers also shake up their narratives and delivery, so focusing on one particular scam offers limited protection from future scams. So what can you do?

The best protection from scams is taking time to make a decision, double-checking facts, and asking for professional advice whenever financial decisions have to be made. Scammers often evoke strong emotions that compromise rational thinking, but these states are fleeting. Allowing some time to pass between receiving and engaging with the ‘offer’ lowers impulsivity driven by excitement, fear, social proof, or other persuasive techniques, leading to better decisions.

Additionally, be aware of your personality traits. Do you find it difficult to say no to pushy people? Are you easily excited by the prospect of new things and opportunities? Or perhaps you find reading small print and checking details boring, preferring to trust people if they seem trustworthy? Do you think you are too smart to be scammed? 

This may make you more vulnerable to certain types of scams, so it is worth taking the time to understand your personal motivations and vulnerabilities that could be exploited by scammers. We are all vulnerable, but each one of us is vulnerable in a unique way that has to do a lot with our interests, motivations, personalities, as well as our circumstances and social norms we are accustomed to. 

Stay safe. 

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in this guest author article are solely those of the contributor and do not necessarily reflect those of Tripwire.