Why do individuals respond to fraudulent scam communications and lose money? The psychological determinants of scam compliance

Abstract Why do so many people all over the world, so often, react to completely worthless scam offers? In two questionnaire studies, one of which included the distribution of an experimentally manipulated simulated scam, we investigated differences between respondents who did and did not report past compliance with scams. We found that the principal differences were in their response to very high‐value incentives, in the extent to which they reacted with positive emotions to the thought of winning a large prize, in their reliance on signs of official authority, and in their self‐confidence. The first two of these can be regarded as forms of visceral processing. Some of these differences suggested a dispositional difference between victims and non‐victims.