Scam psychology – how scammers get in our heads (and wallets)
All In The Mind
ABC listen
4.4 • 785 Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2023
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
A lot of us would like to think we could spot a scam a mile away. Spelling errors, suspicious email addresses and requests for money… all tip offs that something isn't right.
But none of us are immune to scammers' psychological tricks – not even psychologists.
In this episode, forensic neuropsychologist Dr Stacey Wood reveals the tricks and techniques scammers use, and what makes us most vulnerable to their tactics.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an ABC podcast. |
| 0:06.1 | What is the most daring or absurd scam you've come across in your time researching scams? |
| 0:12.8 | Like, what's a scam that sticks out really saliently in your memory? |
| 0:16.7 | Well, there are a number of good candidates, but I have to say when I first heard about the |
| 0:23.0 | psychologist hypnosis scam, I was kind of skeptical, right? I'm like, I thought I had seen it all. |
| 0:29.8 | Right. But that one was very bold. What was that scam? I've never heard of that one. |
| 0:35.3 | Well, there's different versions of it, but the idea is that psychologists were getting phone calls |
| 0:42.5 | indicating that they had missed court on a case related to their practice. |
| 0:49.2 | And if they didn't pay a huge fine, they would lose their license. |
| 0:55.8 | So it starts as kind of a normal scam, right? |
| 0:58.9 | So there's some kind of emotional threatening information that gets the person's attention |
| 1:05.3 | and gets them to engage. |
| 1:07.4 | But the victim that I interviewed said it just felt like they were under hypnosis. |
| 1:13.4 | You know, they were complying with the commands of the person that they were in this kind of |
| 1:18.7 | trance and they couldn't shake out of it. |
| 1:25.1 | This is All in the Mind. |
| 1:26.9 | I'm Sana Khadar. |
| 1:28.5 | Scammers are master manipulators. |
| 1:30.9 | And they're getting better at what they do. |
| 1:33.5 | Dr. Stacey Wood is a psychologist who's been studying scams for the past 20 years. |
| 1:39.0 | I'm a college professor. |
| 1:40.3 | I run a research lab looking at the psychology of scams. |
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