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This week, I had an interaction with someone that got me thinking (again) about a few things: consumer fraud, the role of emotion therein, and the hard work of being kind during the pandemic. I'm going to try to connect some dots here. (A thread)
Before the pandemic, I heard anecdotally from people working in personal insolvency & at banks that consumer fraud was a big problem (romance frauds, in particular seemed to be coming up a lot). The pandemic has exacerbated this situation https://www.canada.ca/en/public-safety-canada/campaigns/covid19.html
I had a personal experience a few years ago w/ a scam that got me thinking about the role of emotion in consumer fraud. In my case, it was a social engineering scam where I received an email from a "spoofed" address: it looked like it was coming from my boss, but it wasn't.
The email said my boss needed urgent help. It was early in the morning, I was sleep deprived. I said, of course. Then my boss requested that I send $ to a relative, for whom the boss had forgotten to buy a present. I was really upset by the request. I was unable to think straight
At no point did I consider sending $, but I also didn't initially realize it was a scam. I was too busy feeling angry at the request & scared there might be negative repercussions if I said no. Only after talking it over w/ my partner did I realize it was a scam.
I think that a lot of consumer frauds work because they trigger our strong emotions - especially fear - but also desire, love, shame (to name a few)
(Of course, it's not only frauds that draw on these strong emotions. Eg, my @UAlbertaLaw colleague Shannon O'Byrne co-authored a piece about the role of emotion in mortgage lending & the subprime crisis) https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1766123
Which brings me to this week. I occasionally get phone calls/texts from people asking why I called them. I haven't. I believe scammers are using my # as part of a "neighbour spoofing" scam, where they make it appear as though the call is coming from my number, but it isn't.
I've reported this to the Canada Anti-Fraud Centre. I'm not sure there's much else I can do. The calls/texts don't come frequently enough to be a nuisance. I usually respond & explain what I think is happening. https://www.antifraudcentre-centreantifraude.ca/report-signalez-eng.htm
But I have wondered about these people who call/text me. And if I'm honest, sometimes I feel annoyed by them. Don't we all just assume that if a # has called us & we don't recognize it, that it's the "legal department at CRA calling b/c we've committed a crime" (ie, a scam).
As the pandemic drags on, I find myself getting more irritable. I find that being kind takes more effort. So when I received a text this week from a # I didn't recognize asking why I called, I was finding it very difficult not to be annoyed.
I explained what I think had happened. I offered that my practice was to not answer the phone unless I recognized the #.
This person thanked me for responding. They told me that they have a loved one living on the street. They always try to answer the phone & worry when they miss a call. (I can only imagine they think: What if their person is in trouble? What if their person needs help?)
Academic me got thinking about how this is another case of a strong emotion (love for a family member & concern about their well-being) putting someone at heightened risk of fraud.
Human me was reminded of the importance of kindness. Always. It can feel especially hard right now & I think that's important to acknowledge. But people have to deal with such sadness. And we really don't know what wounds are being carried by the people we interact with.
