ABSTRACT
Fraud is now part of our daily lives. Scammers gather around our activities, carefully crafting frauds that are sometimes difficult to tell apart from genuine offers and emails because they mimic credible sources. Additionally, many scams employ persuasion and scam techniques, which can be very convincing and encourage the potential victim to comply. Personal circumstances and individual characteristics, such as behaviours and beliefs, may also contribute to fraud compliance, which means that the scam victimisation can be a complex experience. It can also be a frustrating experience, leading to long-lasting self-blame, anger, financial and psychological consequences, and eternal quest for justice, which may never be attained. This short chapter introduces the anatomy of the scam experience, identifying three distinct stages a potential victim may go through while being defrauded and possible factors that influence each stage.
