The Voices of Scam Victims: A Psychological Model of the Experience of Fraud

Abstract

Fraud has become omnipresent and the number of victims is rising. The variety of scams in operation and the easy delivery, especially online, means that more and more people are targeted by fraudulent offers, which increases the risk of victimisation. However, little has been done to understand the stages of the scam process and its surrounding themes. Using evidence from 12 interviews with victims of face-to-face, phone and online scams, different scam stages are identified; circumstances leading to engagement with the scam, factors connected to continuous engagement and fraud aftermath. The stages are broken down into themes and subthemes that help explain intricate connections and natural progression through scam stages.

The article also considers wider societal consequences of fraud victimisation, such as loss of trust and lack of empathy, reported by victims of fraud.

Keywords: fraud, scams, scam, fraudsters, victims, victimisation, themes, defrauded, cybercrime, psychology, persuasion

JEL Classification: K00, K14, K42, K49