Reporter CHANG,HUNG-I / Reporting from Taipei
2025-01-30 19:00:00
In recent years, fraud techniques have become increasingly sophisticated, among which the “trap and kill” model is particularly common. According to statistics from the “Anti-Fraud Dashboard” of the Police Department of the Ministry of the Interior, from August to December last year (2024), the amount of financial losses suffered by domestic fraud reached 62.93 billion, with the largest number of investment fraud cases.
Scholars point out that scammers often use financial management groups as a cover. They initially gain the trust of victims by sharing the “sweetness” of investments, and then gradually guide them to participate in courses or investments, eventually defrauding large amounts of money.
Last December, in the murder case of a mother and daughter in Neihu, Taipei City, the victim’s mother, surnamed Ning, was defrauded of more than 12 million yuan, and she and her daughter were on the road to death. Before his death, he revealed that he mistakenly believed that he had made profits in the early stages of the investment scam, and eventually invested his life savings in it. There is no way to ask for compensation. Wang Po-Chi, associate professor at the Department of Criminal Justice at Ming Chuan University , said that this case shows that scammers use trust, gradual induction, and the promise of high returns to guide victims to spend all their savings or even borrow money to invest, which ultimately leads to tragedy.
Wang Po-Chi analyzed the following four methods of defrauding groups and making good use of human weaknesses:
📍Psychological suggestion and induction of vulnerable periods
Scammers usually seize on victims when they are confused or vulnerable, and use information such as “make quick money” to create hope and give psychological hints, so that the victims gradually let down their guard.
📍Herd effect and group belonging
People are group animals, and scammers use group dynamics to make victims feel recognized, and at the same time use the group atmosphere to strengthen trust. Using the rhetoric of “everyone makes money” increases the victim’s herd mentality and makes them fall into a psychological whirlpool of collective action.
📍Group pressure and blind obedience
The so-called “peer pressure” often occurs in groups. When most people claim to have invested and made profits, the victims find it difficult to resist the pressure and follow suit. Scammers take advantage of this psychological mechanism to induce victims to invest more money.
📍Avoid cognitive dissonance
When victims notice abnormal investment but find it difficult to admit that they have been deceived, they will choose to convince themselves to believe the words of the “mentor” to avoid inner conflicts. This state of mind further reinforces the victim’s dependence on the scammer.
Wang Po-Chi also provides five strategies for prevention and escape, including using a checklist to increase alertness, fully understanding the investment field, recognizing logic and thinking traps, stopping losses and seeking help in a timely manner, and enhancing legal and financial knowledge. Wang Boqi believes that although the government has strengthened its crackdown on fraud, the key lies in the mentality of the people. He said that the Ministry of Digital Development and financial management agencies should be more active in dealing with fraud schemes so that they can build firewalls and minimize losses after people are defrauded.