‘It’ll never happen to me’: Psychologist tells why people fall for scams
Published on: Friday, February 02, 2024
By:
FMT, Sankita Jayanandan
The self-serving bias, coupled with greed and the notion of sunk costs, may be behind the tendency of people to fall for scams. (Envato Elements pic)
PETALING JAYA: A psychologist has shed light on why people may fall for scams, after figures from the national scam response centre (NSRC) showed losses of more than RM1 billion recorded from tens of thousands of online scams over the past year alone.
Victor Goh said the tendency to fall prey to scams could be attributed to what is known as the “self-serving bias”, where people believe they are somehow immune to such threats.
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He said this leads them to believe that scams can be pulled on others, but not themselves.
Goh, head of the Psychology department at HELP University, told FMT this was one reason why initiatives such as awareness programmes do not work as deterrents.
“People may think: ‘It can never happen to me’ or ‘It’s so obvious’, but everyone is equally at risk if they are not careful.
“This is why when the scam happens – they don’t realise it,” he said.
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He said factors such as greed and sunk costs also play a part in people falling for schemes that are “too good to be true”.
“Greed overrides logical thought and we fall for it, especially when scammers use large sums of money, increasing the brain’s tendency to resort to mental shortcuts,” he said.
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“Using the ‘sunk cost’ idea, scammers trick people into investing small amounts, making them feel like they should put in more money because they’ve already spent some, hoping to get it back later.”
The NSRC said on Jan 28 that RM1.34 billion in losses was recorded from 33,234 cases of online scams between Jan 1 and Dec 8 last year.
A recent case saw an 80-year-old woman losing RM10 million in a cryptocurrency scam.
Deputy communications minister Teo Nie Ching said the government had tracked losses from six types of scams: investment (RM437 million), e-commerce (RM383 million), telecommunications (RM334 million), e-finance (RM104 million), love scams (RM41 million) and non-existent loans (RM39 million).
Goh said scams often target vulnerable groups like the elderly, less informed individuals, and those in urgent need of money, as they are susceptible to pressure.
“Phrases such as ‘I am like you’ and ‘I was just like you’ are often used to create a sense of understanding, aimed at convincing people that they can provide help,” he said.
He added that scammers employ psychological tricks, not technology, such as avoiding text messages or not sharing a one-time password (OTP).
“So, teaching people the psychological tricks that scammers use like the foot-in-the-door tactic, sunk costs, similarity, and authority helps people identify a scammer even before they start asking for OTPs or passwords,” he said.
Foot-in-the-door refers to cases where scammers ask for a small sum first, then larger sums later. Meanwhile, scammers may use similarity to show the perceived likeness of the scam to any financial products the victim may already have.
Same crime, different tactics
Criminologist Shankar Durairaja of Unikop College said while scammers engage in similar crimes, their tactics differ each time.
He said scammers use specific skills and artificial intelligence or AI to create various scenarios. Thus, tracking becomes a challenge for law officers because new online scams related to the latest trends emerge on a weekly basis.
“For example, when the government announces RM500 cash aid for B40 families, scammers use methods like messages or emails, adjusting their tactics based on the current government assistance,” he said.
“There are many online courses offered, even on hacking, so the scammers can equip themselves with adequate information to attract victims,” Shankar said, adding that scammers cannot use the same tactics employed years ago because people do become aware.
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