Anatomy of Phone Scams: Victims’ Recall on the Communication Phrases used by Phone Scammers
Farhanim Mohamad Asri, Tengku Elena Tengku Mahamad · Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research/Advances in social science, education and humanities research · 2023
Scam activities has existed long before the advent of modern technology and today, it is still a growing concern that is happening across the globe due to the fast-growing technologies such as phones, the internet, and social media.Modern scams can either be physical (i.e., phone scam) or online (i.e., e-mail scam).Although many researchers have attempted to understand the cause and outcomes of phone scams however, very little research to date have attempted to identify the communication phrases used by scammers as part of their strategy to lure victims.Thus, this paper aims to identify the common phrases used by scammers during their modus operandi.Furthermore, this paper explores factors that may explain how and why victims fall for the scammers' scheme.Based on eight semi-structured interviews with victims of phone scams living in the state of Selangor, we discovered that the different scammers who had scammed the participants used similar communication phrases when trying to trick them out of their money.Phrases such as 'You have an overdue..', 'I can help you..', or 'Let's settle this together' was commonly used.Contrary to what has often been assumed, the victims are aware of the danger of falling victim to a scam.However, trust and panic are the main factors that made them fall victim.The results also represent a further step towards developing a strategy to combat scam activities by providing information on the language and communication used during communication exchanges between the scammers and the victims.