RT Article
T1 An Examination of Email Fraudsters` Modus Operandi
JF Crime & delinquency
VO 69
IS 11
SP 2329
OP 2358
A1 Maimon, David 1978-
A2 Howell, Christian Jordan
A2 Moloney, Maria
A2 Park, Young Sam
LA English
YR 2023
UL https://krimdok.uni-tuebingen.de/Record/1869422376
AB Focusing on two of the most common deceptive strategies employed by fraudsters, we assess which type of cue—politeness or urgency—is more likely to result in an email fraud attempt. We also examine whether these cues are mutually exclusive and consistent throughout the progression of a fraud attempt. To answer our research questions, we posted “for-sale” advertisements on classified-advertisement websites and interacted with fraudsters who responded to our advertisements. Findings reveal that fraud attempts are more likely to follow probe emails that include cues of urgency than cues of politeness. Moreover, although the majority of fraudsters’ probe emails include deceptive cues of either politeness or urgency, the majority of subsequent emails include deceptive cues of both politeness and urgency.
K1 email fraud
K1 criminal event perspective
K1 interpersonal deception theory
DO 10.1177/0011128720968504