David Modic: A Reluctant Bidder: Why Do Individuals Fall for Auction Fraud?

Duration: 18 mins 47 secs

Share this media item:

Embed this media item:

<iframe width="_width_" height="_height_" src="https://sms.cam.ac.uk/media/2077397/embed" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Choose size:

About this item

Available Formats

About this item

Description:	(No description)


Created:	2015-09-28 17:44
Collection:	Decepticon 2015
Publisher:	University of Cambridge
Copyright:	Dr S. Van der Zee
Language:	eng (English)
Keywords:	Deception; Auction fraud; Personality;


Abstract:	Online auctions are big business – the largest online auction house, eBay, has a monthly turnover worth millions of pounds across millions of transactions. This presents an opportunity and an incentive for scammers. While we are aware of various threat models when it comes to auction fraud, it is difficult to establish their prevalence and the specific compliance triggers used in them. In the present article, we ran a series of studies designed to (a) help us better understand which cues to deception help potential victims to avoid being scammed and which are largely ignored. (b) Furthermore, we established which personality traits and mechanisms of persuasion play a role in compliance with fraudulent offers, when it comes to auctions. In Study 1 6609 participants answered general victimisation questions and filled out the Susceptibility to Persuasion – II scale. The results show that persuasive mechanisms such as the need for consistency, social influence, risk preferences and the need for uniqueness play an important role in general scam compliance. In Study 2 we focused on victims of auction fraud, where 254 participants answered questions about their general attitudes towards auctions and, where applicable, about a specific fraudulent event they have been involved with. In the second part of Study 2, we asked the respondents to fill out the HEXACO personality scale, modified UPPS-IBS (Impulsivity scale), Deceptiveness scale and others. The data collection for Study 2 is still ongoing, but we postulate that the results of the analysis will show that (a) more experienced participants in auctions pay attention to more cues. That (b) the impact of item price on personal utility focuses the attention of auction participants and that (c) various constructs connected to self-regulation play an important role in auction fraud compliance.

Abstract:

Online auctions are big business – the largest online auction house, eBay, has a monthly turnover worth millions of pounds across millions of transactions. This presents an opportunity and an incentive for scammers. While we are aware of various threat models when it comes to auction fraud, it is difficult to establish their prevalence and the specific compliance triggers used in them. In the present article, we ran a series of studies designed to (a) help us better understand which cues to deception help potential victims to avoid being scammed and which are largely ignored. (b) Furthermore, we established which personality traits and mechanisms of persuasion play a role in compliance with fraudulent offers, when it comes to auctions. In Study 1 6609 participants answered general victimisation questions and filled out the Susceptibility to Persuasion – II scale. The results show that persuasive mechanisms such as the need for consistency, social influence, risk preferences and the need for uniqueness play an important role in general scam compliance. In Study 2 we focused on victims of auction fraud, where 254 participants answered questions about their general attitudes towards auctions and, where applicable, about a specific fraudulent event they have been involved with. In the second part of Study 2, we asked the respondents to fill out the HEXACO personality scale, modified UPPS-IBS (Impulsivity scale), Deceptiveness scale and others. The data collection for Study 2 is still ongoing, but we postulate that the results of the analysis will show that (a) more experienced participants in auctions pay attention to more cues. That (b) the impact of item price on personal utility focuses the attention of auction participants and that (c) various constructs connected to self-regulation play an important role in auction fraud compliance.

Available Formats

Format	Quality	Bitrate	Size
MPEG-4 Video	480x360	479.19 kbits/sec	65.93 MB	View	Download
WebM	480x360	240.5 kbits/sec	33.12 MB	View	Download
iPod Video	480x360	487.98 kbits/sec	67.13 MB	View	Download
MP3	44100 Hz	249.84 kbits/sec	34.40 MB	Listen	Download
Auto *	(Allows browser to choose a format it supports)