Do you tend to be easily tricked by scammers? According to experts, it’s surprisingly easy to tell. Read on.
Imagine this. You sit in front of your TV set, when a phone call comes. You answer it and hear a disturbing news. Maybe your computer’s at risk. And needs to be fixed immediately. Or there’s a family member in trouble. And only your gift card can safe them.
There are people who can easily look through all these stories scammers are coming up with. But there are also people who just don’t stand a chance when facing scam. Is there any pattern in “who is who”? In fact, yes, it is.
Victim, or not? Test yourself
In 2016, economist Keith B. Anderson made a research on this topic. And came with fascinating findings. There really are personal characteristics that correlate with higher probability of becoming a scam victim. According to his findings, all people who tend to be fooled by scammers share 5 essential character traits.
Do you have these traits? Before we can tell, first answer five questions below.
- You believe you can tell scam from a legitimate call anytime.
- You’re not quite sure how consumer market works.
- You tend to believe in honesty of sellers.
- You tend to act impulsively.
- You tend to take risks.
Was your answer “yes” at least twice? Then beware. You probably tend to be tricked more easily than other people do.
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How did the Anderson’s survey look like?
Now let’s have a closer look at what is this based on.
To find an “ideal scam victim”, Keith B. Anderson conducted a survey using members of an internet panel. Participants were shown six mock print advertisements that advertised products in one of three different product categories.
The claims in three of the ads were sufficiently outrageous that they would likely only be found in advertising for a fraudulent offering. The other three ads, which were for the same three products, contained only more plausible claims. The result? All people who tended to purchase the likely-fraudulent products shared 5 essential character traits.