SUSCEPTIBILITY TO INTERNET SCAMS: AN EXPLORATION OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAITS WITH A NOVEL SCAM EXPERIMENT

Abstract

Internet fraud has been increasing crimes rates globally, and especially in Singapore, and yet current studies have yet to find an agreeable process to tackling this issue. Research has explored a myriad of factors, from personality traits, to cognitive process and demographic factors, to discover what predicts susceptibility to internet fraud. This study examined personality traits, gender, and previous scam history and its effects using a novel scam experiment. A total of 264 undergraduate participants completed the study. Although most personality traits were not found to be significant predictors, gender and extraversion appears to have significant associations to clicking on a scam poster. These results, however, are unexpected, with extraversion and gender showing significant relationships with scam susceptibility. The experimental design presents a plausible ethical method to observing what traits may lead to increased scam susceptibility. Whilst most personality traits do not seem to have significant effect, ultimately, this study presents two possible traits that may increase susceptibility to internet fraud, albeit in specifically an undergraduate student demographic.