Susceptibility to COVID-19 fraud: the role of age, individual difference measures, and fraud-related perceptions

Front.Psychol., December 15, 2021| https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.789883

Commentary

The pandemic of COVID-19 has led to reports of a sharp increase in fraud recorded worldwide.

It will be unclear whether the consequences of these scams will be associated with economic risks among older people at high risk of infection.

Therefore, this study investigated and analyzed age differences in vulnerability to COVID-19 fraud and individual differences in measures of explanation (impulsivity, skepticism, past experience with fraud, etc.).

The sample included 68 young adults (18-40 years old, M = 25.67, SD = 5.93), 79 middle-aged (41-64 years old, M = 49.86, SD = 7.20) 63 older adults (65-84 years old, M = 69.87, SD = 4.50), and through a questionnaire with numerous completed questions online They were recruited.

In a within-subjects design, each participant was asked to respond to five COVID-19 recruitment, psychological measures, and demographic questions.

These findings revealed that older adults were slightly less likely than middle-aged adults to perceive COVID-19 solicitations as genuine. In addition, the study explained that older adults perceive significantly less benefit than young and middle-aged adults, and slightly more risk than young adults.

Therefore, it cannot be shown that older adults are vulnerable to COVID-19 fraud according to the hypothesis.

What this analysis does show is that it is predicted by higher levels of education, marriage, past fraud victimization and higher levels of proactive urgency.