Office of Fair Trading (2009). The Psychology of Scams: Provoking and Committing Errors of Judgement (OFT1070). Prepared by the University of Exeter School of Psychology: Lea, S. E. G., Fischer, P., &
A report for the UK Office of Fair Trading by a University of Exeter team led by Stephen Lea, combining interviews with 25 victims who lost money, analysis of 583 scam communications, two questionnaire surveys and a simulated prize-draw scam mailed to 10,000 people. Victims often had better than average knowledge of the scam's area, reported putting more effort into analysing scam material, and people who had responded before were more likely to respond again. The expertise finding comes from the interviews and is not quantified.
A report for the UK Office of Fair Trading by a University of Exeter team led by Stephen Lea, combining interviews with 25 victims who lost money, analysis of 583 scam communications, two questionnaire surveys and a simulated prize-draw scam mailed to 10,000 people. Victims often had better than average knowledge of the scam's area, reported putting more effort into analysing scam material, and people who had responded before were more likely to respond again. The expertise finding comes from the interviews and is not quantified.
Written from the full report read 2026-10-11 via the web archive.
What our sources record
Reproduced as it was written when this source was checked, figures and all.
K. M. Full report read 2026-10-11 via the web archive: http://web.archive.org/web/20131018022026/http://www.oft.gov.uk/shared_oft/reports/consumer_protection/oft1070.pdf. Paras 1.8, 1.9, 1.12, 6.21, 10.20.