Stephen Lea

Stephen Lea

Psychologist at the University of Exeter who led the team behind the Office of Fair Trading's 2009 report The Psychology of Scams.

Who they are

The report combined interviews with victims, analysis of 583 scam communications, surveys and a mailed simulated scam. Among its counter-intuitive findings: victims often had better than average knowledge of the scam's area, reported more effort analysing scam material, and were more likely to respond again after a first response.

Key papers

Office of Fair Trading (2009). The Psychology of Scams: Provoking and Committing Errors of Judgement (OFT1070). Lea, S. E. G., Fischer, P., & Evans, K. M.

Fischer, P., Lea, S. E. G., & Evans, K. M. (2013). Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 43(10), 2060-2072.

Key ideas

See Fraud Victimisation.

Sources

  1. OFT report read in full via the web archive, 11 October 2026.