Scam victims manipulated into taking rushed decisions: Experts

Victims of loan scams are often led to believe they are just one transfer away from securing the money they desperately need, and those here who let down their guard last year lost a total of $18.3 million.

Others fall victim to the powers of persuasion and pressure, giving up their hard-earned savings.

Victims in all types of scams here lost at least $633 million last year.

The tactics scammers employ, and the steps that can be taken to protect victims, are among the highlights of the Asian Conference of Criminal and Operations Psychology being held this week.

Presenting their findings at the opening of the four-day event yesterday, psychologists Carolynn Misir and Lee Rong Cheng said their research showed that victims are often manipulated into thinking "emotively".

This results in them making rushed and emotionally driven decisions, when they should instead stop and evaluate all of the information. "This is what we term as a 'cognitive break' - to pause, step out of the situation and evaluate," said Ms Misir and Mr Lee, who are with the Police Psychological Services Department.

They said fraudsters exploit a host of psychological techniques to dupe victims into giving information or money.

For example, in e-commerce scams, victims are often hurried into making decisions like buying lower-priced items that are supposedly available online for only a limited time, said the psychologists.

Last year, victims here lost $5.8 million to e-commerce scams.

The event, which is being held virtually, brings together experts and others to discuss topics such as misinformation, drug abuse and extremism.

In her opening address, Minister of State for Home Affairs and Social and Family Development Sun Xueling said criminals take advantage of weaknesses in the human psyche.

"Maybe where we desire too much, trust too much, or have let our guard down... criminals are on the lookout for that, exploiting our human tendencies and psychology to harm us or scam us," she said, noting that scams made up more than half of the crimes reported here last year.

Scams also contributed to a 24 per cent rise in the overall crime rate here last year.

Understanding human psychology can help improve the measures against crime, said Ms Sun.

She noted that victims of scam can suffer from helplessness and shame, and risk falling into a cycle of self-blaming and even self-harm.

"One victim said she was devastated and felt like committing suicide," Ms Sun said.

"The victim also thought that she was going crazy, and did not dare talk to anyone else because people will laugh and mock her."

The issue of how to care for victims of scams will be discussed at the conference, which was first held in 2010.

Ms Tiffany Danker, also from the Police Psychological Services Department, said that victims can face stress and trauma during investigations - for example, when they have to recount a crime to the authorities or lawyers.

Victims who lack social support may find it especially stressful, said Ms Danker, who presented findings of her study at the conference.

In an effort to address this issue, police officers and front liners undergo regular training on victim care, she said.

Victims may also be assigned a counsellor for emotional support during investigations.