Understanding our cognitive biases can help us realize that we sometimes are too trusting of emails, texts, or calls from someone we perceive to be an authority. Today’s guest is Martina Dove. Martina is a researcher with a fervent passion for fraud prevention. Her expertise focuses on persuasion, scam techniques, and individual characteristics that make people susceptible to fraud. She is passionate about fighting fraud by teaching people how to spot scammer techniques and has recently published a book on fraud psychology.

Show Notes:

• [0:50] - Martina shares her background in cybersecurity and what she does in her career now.

• [1:56] - Martina learned a lot about techniques scammers use by noticing cognitive bias.

• [3:27] - Through interviews with scam victims, Martina learned that it is not always the case that victims are just gullible. She has also been scammed.

• [5:48] - One of the scales that Martina developed is about how people perceive authority and how gullible they think they are.

• [7:03] - There are five fraud vulnerability factors: compliance, impulsivity, decision time, vigilance, and the belief in justice.

• [9:57] - Somebody who follows rules more than breaks them, there’s a persuasion technique that scammers use to dupe them.

• [11:19] - We tend to rationalize why bad things happen to other people.

• [13:06] - When we are under visceral influence, we lose our ability to reason.

• [15:42] - Some scams evoke social norms, especially in charity scams and fake social media posts.

• [19:06] - Scammers are always one step ahead.

• [21:37] - A good scammer will go a long way to support their story.

• [23:20] - Websites are very believable. How can you tell when one is legitimate?

• [24:36] - Fraud situations are complicated because no two human beings will be the same.

• [26:44] - Even if you have to lie, make it a rule for yourself to not make a decision right away.

• [29:20] - Scams work because humans are vulnerable and can be persuaded.

• [30:47] - Martina describes the way scammers control the conversation with a victim.

• [33:51] - The grooming component of fraud is hard to break.

• [35:17] - Prevention is always better than intervention.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review. 

Links and Resources:

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• Martina Dove’s Website

• Martina Dove on LinkedIn

• The Psychology of Fraud, Persuasion, and Scam Techniques by Martina Dove