Analysis: Fraud can have long-lasting traumatic impact on its victims, especially when some of them are children
Con artists have gone from snake oil salesman and fortune tellers to biotech entrepreneurs and dating app Casanovas. While the story behind these tales is ever-evolving, the result is always the same: somebody gets duped. But while we devour podcasts, TV shows and movies about these scammers, what happens to their victims after the credits roll?
The National Crime Agency says that fraud is the most commonly-experienced crime in the UK, yet it goes largely underreported. Only an estimated 13% of cases are reported to Action Fraud, the UK's national reporting centre for fraud and cyber crime, or the police.
Yet despite these undeniable facts, most people think they are too quick to fall prey to the tricks of a street grifter or dodgy URL sender. Believe me, if a team of veteran journalists can get scammed, you would be a piece of cake.
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From RTÉ, trailer for The Real Carrie Jade
The latest podcast offering from the multi-award-winning RTÉ Documentary On One team started life as a podcast about a terminally ill woman undergoing experimental surgery for Huntington's disease until it descended into an IRL con artist tale. The Real Carrie Jade goes beyond the con to illustrate the trauma and long-lasting impact fraud can have on its victims, especially when some of them are children.
In the immortal words of Mark Twain, "how easy it is to make people believe a lie, an how hard it is to undo the work again!" According to Dr Christian L Hart, Professor of Psychology at Texas Woman's University, denial usually plays a major role when people are conned, even when there is glaring evidence that something is off. "Oftentimes, even in the face of close family members and friends around them telling them you're being scammed. They say no, no, no, you just don't quite see it right."
He asserts that it's difficult to accept deception because most of our relationships are with honest and trustworthy people,. "We tend to assume other people operate the same way that we do. And so you know, we're not nasty people. So how could this person be a nasty person?"
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Liveline, readers talk about the havoc caused by conwoman Carrie Jade Williams
When people have their vulnerability compromised, they become less trusting in all facets of life moving forward, adds Dr. Drew A. Curtis, Interim Dean of the Archer College of Health and Human Services from Angelo State University. "That's going to be the hardest part, recovering that trust for future relationships, future investments, future opportunities. You're probably going to, at least in the short term, kind of keep people further away is usually a response you'll see from people at least relationally."
Pig butchering is a long-term ruse and type of investment fraud usually involving cryptocurrency. It alludes to the fattening of pigs before slaughter except it's a real person and a con artist taking everything they have. The term is a good benchmark for how society often perceives the victims of scams: weak, defenceless creatures whose fate is inevitable.
Dr Cassandra Cross is Associate Dean (Learning & Teaching) in the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice at Queensland University of Technology. She says there are strong negative stereotypes around fraud victims, such as they’re gullible, uneducated and somewhat deserving of their circumstances. "When victims disclose, many are humiliated by authorities as well as family/friends. For older victims, there is an additional burden of having one’s capacity questioned."
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From RTÉ, episode 1 of The Real Carrie Jade
Overall, victims experience a wide range of harms, both financial and non-financial, says Cross. This can include the deterioration of mental and physical health as well as relationship breakdown, unemployment, homelessness and, in extreme cases, suicide and suicide ideation.
She draws a link between online fraud and intimate partner violence and argues that offenders deliberately use coercive control and techniques of psychological abuse to defraud their victims. "They are deliberate in their words (and silences), their (in)actions, their requests, and what they choose to reveal to victims. They create a level of trust and rapport with the victim which can be impenetrable by those on the outside." This helps to try and isolate victims from family and friends or those who might intervene with support and advice.
Sometimes, when a victim disengages from their offender the attacker will strike again by posing as someone to assist the victim, like an asset recovery attorney, says Prof Thomas J. Holt from the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University. Offenders can even create "suckers lists" adds Cross, which involves trading victims' details with other offenders.
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From RTÉ Radio 1's Liveline, Joe discovers more information about Carrie Jane Williams' past
Dr Roberta Liggett O'Malley is Assistant Professor of Criminology at the University of South Florida and focuses on sextortion-based crimes. While police officers and those involved in prevention will often recommend victims opt out of online life and turn off their phones, she says this fails to recognise how digitally connected the modern world is.
Feeling like you can't engage online is a substantial social hit, which adversely impacts professional and personal prosperity. "If you're an entrepreneur or you're somebody who is in the workforce, and you want to have a LinkedIn page as well as your personal social media page, falling victim to these kinds of scams makes you really nervous to continue to engage online."
In terms of under-reporting, Dr O’Malley explains that it might be a matter of mindset. If a loss is financial, a person might contact their bank before the police. Sometimes it’s the case that victims assume the police can’t help, as fraudsters are often based in another country. Whether it’s material wealth or prince charming, when we think we’re on the cusp of getting what we want, red flags suddenly evaporate.
From Big Thing, what psychological traits does the con artist look for in victims?
"I guess the reality is that we're all to a certain degree set up to be victimized because I think we all have needs," says Dr Hart. The difficulty, he explains, is that scammers can identify and weaponize those needs.
But desire doesn’t always involve direct personal gain, sometimes, it’s the need to project care and compassion. Dr Hart has witnessed a number of scams where people become emotionally overcome by someone else's bad luck and want to intervene.
According to Prof Holt, most scam artists don’t have a target population and victims span all age ranges, so it’s less about finding an optimal victim and more about who is willing to engage. "You just need to be able to get someone who's willing to actually interact with you. And then that increases the odds that you'll eventually be able to get them to a point where you can ask for funds and then keep those fund requests going."
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From RTÉ, episode 4 of The Real Carrie Jade
People who move into a new environment, be it geographical, occupational or life situation, are more at risk of being conned because they’re encountering new things and might not recognise the social rules, says Prof Stephen Lea, Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Exeter.
Offenders rationalise schemes by convincing themselves they’re robbing a bank, not a person, to keep offending and alleviate guilt, says Dr O’Malley. "They think of robbing banks and not people, and kind of have this assumption like, oh, well, like if I take money from you, the bank will just refund you and it's not really that big of a deal."
You can be caught in your own backyard
Unlike other crimes, falling victim to a scam is a constant, daily threat, says Dr Gareth Norris, Senior Lecturer in Psychology at Aberystwyth University. Ask yourself, how many times a day does someone attempt to burgle your house? "I probably had 10 emails today that were probably fraudulent and many of them will have gone into my spam or I've just deleted them. But that's 10 attempts…"
Prof Lea is always asked the same question in interviews: have you yourself ever fallen victim to a scam? He confesses he used to say no, but he’s since changed his answer to 'not yet'. "You can be caught in your own backyard. Because these people are criminals, they are studying people's behaviour and thinking 'how can I trip them up?'"
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
