THE AGE OF THE “SCAMMER”
NEW VULNERABILITIES FOR
AN AGEING SOCIETY IN
THE 21ST CENTURY
Dr Jan Bailey, Dr Louise Taylor
&
Professor Paul Kingston
SCAMS
• Definition:
A misleading or deceptive business practice where you
receive an unsolicited or uninvited contact (for example by
email, letter, phone or ad) and false promises are made to
con you out of money. (Office of Fair Trading - UK 2006)
SCAMS
VAGARIES OF SCAMS
 Crime (suggestio falsi)
? Crime (supressio veri)
suggestion of falsehood
suppression of truth
Coercive selling
Blatant scams
PPI
Charity funding
Clairvoyants
Prize draws
Moral panic
THE “NEW VULNERABILITY”: OLDER PEOPLE
• Circa four million people are scammed in Great Britain
(2014) = £3.5 billion
• Older people are no more likely to be scammed than any
other group
BUT
• They lose more money when they are scammed.
PRELIMINARY UNDERSTANDING OF THE FIELD!
• Criminology – focus on fraudulent activity and the
scammer (micro focus) e.g. Criminology & Criminal
Justice; Journal of Financial Crime
• Psychology – visceral processing and character traits
(micro focus) e.g. Journal of Applied Social Psychology;
The Journal of Behavioral Finance & Economics
• Technology - International Journal of Scientific &
Engineering Research
SOCIOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTION
MACRO LEVEL LENS
Potential/no
vulnerabilities
Victim
Social isolation
Gender
Bereavement
Absence of political
ownership
Risk taking
Loneliness
Victim blaming
Capacity
Safeguarding
“DEMENTIA SUFFERER, 84, CONNED INTO FILLING HIS
HOME WITH HUNDREDS OF USELESS PRODUCTS”
(PLYMOUTH HERALD 3.6.2015)
EVALUATION OF A SCAM REDUCTION INTERVENTION
• One public health department intervention
• Pre and post test intervention study
• Narrative approach due to perceived sensitivities
• Small-scale pilot study (n=15)
• Sample drawn by public health from known (?) scam victims
• Initial findings are emerging
EXAMPLES OF SCAMS IN OUR STUDY
• Fake prize draws
• Fake lotteries
• Premium rate telephone prize
• Miracle health cures
• Inheritance fraud
• Advance fee fraud
• Clairvoyant/psychic mailing
FINDINGS – TYPOLOGY OF VICTIM
• Gender
• Living arrangements
• Relationship status
• Risk taking behaviour
• Cohort effect – gender role?
PSYCHO-SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES
• Family tensions “My sister knows nothing about it. I won’t
tell her, she’d go mad.” “Have you never spoken to your
sister about the post?” “No. No I wouldn’t, she’d go mad…”
• Shame/embarrassment “ I’ve got to admit, to my
embarrassment, I did get conned about 3 years ago.”
• Mental health issues “It really does affect your mind, believe
me it does...while this has been going on I’ve just lost
enthusiasm (for hobbies) it does really affect you and I never
thought it would”
et al…
• Fear of future loss “Because I’m getting older and you get
to think “my mind is starting to go” so I think (laughs) that I
might get sort of conned”.
• Fear of falling “The phone calls are the worst, because we
have to get up and answer the phone and with (name) as
unsteady as she is, it’s not good.”
• Financial problems – inability to pay fuel and housing bills
HOWEVER ….
• Gives structure to the day
• Social connectivity
• Infrequent success! (intermittent reward, Skinner 1936)
• Identity (Continuity Theory, Atchley 1989)
ABSENTED AGENCY?
Agency
Social Structures
Phone
companies
Postal
service
Banks
Mail order
companies
Public health intervention
LONG-SERVING BRITISH POPPY-SELLER DIED
AFTER BEING ‘TORMENTED’ BY COLD-CALLERS
(THE GUARDIAN 14.5.2015)
“VENEERED LEGITIMISATION”
• Moral panic
• Deserving/undeserving victim
• Government legislation – minimum response,
utility?
POLICY IMPLICATIONS
• Continuing research & dissemination
• Legitimation through the lens of sociology of
health
• Curricula design
• Pressure groups
• Legislation