Psychological influences in e-mail fraud

Purpose - Internet fraud is an epidemic that costs US$7.1 billion as of 2007. The advent of the internet and proliferation of its use makes it an attractive medium for communicating the fraud, particularly through the use of e-mail. This paper aims to explain how victims of online fraud can be influ...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of financial crime 2010-07, Vol.17 (3), p.337-350
Main Authors: Chang, Joshua J.S., Chong, Mark David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive dissonance
Cybercrime
Electronic mail systems
Expected values
Fraud
Heuristic
Influence
Internet
Mail fraud
Psychology
Rationality
Studies
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Summary:Purpose - Internet fraud is an epidemic that costs US$7.1 billion as of 2007. The advent of the internet and proliferation of its use makes it an attractive medium for communicating the fraud, particularly through the use of e-mail. This paper aims to explain how victims of online fraud can be influenced by judgmental heuristics and cognition when they make nonnormative or sub-optimal decisions.Design methodology approach - The paper will analyse the content of 14 recent fraud e-mails to explain how victims of online fraud can be influenced from a psychological perspective, using theories of bounded rationality, judgmental heuristics and cognition.Findings - The paper suggests that e-mail fraudsters, whether intentionally or not, employ specific methods that correspond closely to how the human mind works within a context of bounded rationality. These methods have a propensity to exploit psychological blind spots in victims caused by selective perception and post-decisional dissonance, as well as sub-optimal or nonnormative responses in automatic behaviour due to the common use of heuristics (for example, representativeness, availability and affect) when making decisions in complex task environments.Originality value - Considering the current and widespread problem of online fraud, this paper is expected to inform and prepare internet users against such deception by offering a better understanding of how fraudsters can psychologically influence the way victims and potential victims make their decisions.
ISSN:1359-0790
1758-7239
DOI:10.1108/13590791011056309