One in five people are particularly vulnerable to becoming the victims of a scam, the trading watchdog has warned.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) said around 20% of the population were vulnerable to scammers, with people who had previously been victims consistently more likely to respond to a scam again.

It added that a good background knowledge of the subject of a scam offer, such as previous investment experience, actually increased people’s risk of being a victim as it made them over confident.

The research into scams, which was carried out by the University of Exeter, also found that the victims were in general not poor decision makers, and often had successful businesses or professional careers. But those who fell victim to frauds tended to be unduly open to persuasion by others and less able to control emotions, such as excitement and greed.

It added that victims often kept their decision to respond to a scam private and avoided speaking about it with family and friends, possibly because at some level, they knew what they were doing was unwise.

Victims of scams also typically spent far more time analysing the content of the scam than non-victims, indicating that they got drawn in by it.

The study found that some victims viewed scams as a long-odds gamble, such as cases where people were asked to hand over a small sum of money in order to release a larger one, often being told they had won on a fictitious lottery, or would be paid a commission for facilitating a money transfer.

It said victims recognised that something was wrong, but went ahead anyway on the off-chance that it would succeed, due to the size of the possible prize they would win relative to the initial outlay.

The research was carried out to help inform the joint OFT and Serious Organised Crime Agency’s national strategy for tackling mass marketed fraud. The groups hope to use the information to develop more effective consumer awareness campaigns to help people recognise and resist scams.

Mike Haley, OFT director of consumer protection, said: “Scams often have a devastating emotional as well as financial impact on victims. This research will help us to develop more effective methods to counter the scammers.”

via Channel4