A scam is a false promise of something or someone that doesn't exist.

Peer pressure, need for consistency, and lack of self-control make certain people vulnerable to scams.

Recently scams have begun to prey more on those who respect authority.

“Sorry, I’m running late for lunch, I’ll see you soon,” the text reads.

Confused, you write back, “I’m sorry, you have the wrong number.”

“Oh, no! I was supposed to meet my friend for lunch. I must have messed up her phone number. I apologize, I’m Mary.”

But Mary isn’t texting the wrong number. She is trying to attract potential fraud victims.

Mary will soon tell you about her family, her personal issues, and her financial woes as she struggles to make a living. You become fast friends, or more than friends if Mary has struck gold and found a willing romantic partner to dupe with this scam.

A scam is an exchange whose purpose is to gain your trust and inspire a sense of urgency by offering the promise of something that doesn’t exist, whether that something is money, love, or power.

What makes people fall for a scam?

According to a 2013 study by David Modic and Stephen E.G. Lea, some individuals are more likely to comply with scams than others. To answer the question of who is more likely to fall for a scam, the authors created a Susceptibility to Persuasion Scale, which was tested and normed on 250 undergraduate students. This scale determines your likelihood of falling for a scam as opposed to the general likelihood of the population at large. What makes someone more likely to fall for a scam?

Authority or respect for those in power. For example, listening to the advice of your parents, following the rules of a teacher, or – in the case of scams – heeding the warning of a (purported) representative of your bank or financial institution who tells you they need to protect your savings account but requires your password to do so.

Social influence. We are all swayed by peer pressure, both overt peer pressure (imagine a teenager verbally pressuring someone to have a drink because “everyone else is doing it”) and covert peer pressure (think of adults attending an after-work happy hour where the assumption is that everyone will order an alcoholic drink). When we are unsure of how to react we often look to others for guidance. An example of social influence in a scam would be fake testimonials from people who have purportedly profited from investing in a business.

Need for consistency. Often, it takes time to realize that an investment is too good to be true, and someone who has a strong need for consistency may not want to appear like a flip-flopper when it comes to making decisions. Once we say yes to something (or someone), we often feel pressure to stick with the plan (and therefore to fall for a scam) even after red flags start to arise. People who stick to the plan despite their reservations have a stronger need for consistency in their words and actions than others who may be more flexible with evaluating new information.

Lack of self-control. Our greatest weakness in falling for scams is often our lack of emotional regulation. Scammers can prey on our emotional responses by making us fearful that our finances are in danger of being harmed or encouraging us to feel like we could be the hero in a situation where someone needs us. Investigating the truth behind a scam doesn’t take long, but it does take a willingness to exercise self-control.

Who falls for a scam more?

Modic and Lea conducted two studies to answer the question of who was more likely to fall for a scam. In Study #1, participants were asked to respond to whether someone was likely to get involved in 14 different situations, including a pyramid scheme, purchasing fake concert tickets, and an online romantic relationship scam.

Participants were also asked three other questions: whether they had ever found a scam plausible, whether they had provided information in this type of situation, and whether they had ever given money to someone.

A whopping 74% of the college students surveyed responded that they had complied with at least one scam in terms of finding the scenario plausible, giving personal information, or losing money. The majority of participants had fallen for at least one scam at some level by finding a scam plausible or giving away some personal information. They found that social influence (peer pressure), a need for consistency, and low self-control contributed to lifetime scam compliance.

In Study #2, a new sample of participants was asked to complete the same Susceptibility to Persuasion Scale but was only asked about what had occurred in the last three years. In this study, all four factors—adherence to authority figures; social influence (peer pressure); a need for consistency; and low self-control—all predicted falling for a scam in the last three years.

Why did adherence to authority predict scam compliance only in the past three years as opposed to across a lifetime? One theory is that modern scams increasingly impersonate banks, large corporations, and fraud departments, whereas older scams did not do so as often.

If a too-good-to-be-true offer comes your way and makes you feel a sense of urgency, fear, or flattery, take a minute to pause. Keep in mind that there are certain personality traits that make people more likely to fall for a scam, specifically peer pressure through social influence, a need for consistency in words and actions, adherence to authority figures, and low self-control.

Modic, D., & Lea, S. E. G. (2013). Scam compliance and the psychology of persuasion. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(10), 2062–2071. dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2364464

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