Why Consumer Protection Programs Fail
In the U.S. and Canada the week of February 5th -11th is celebrated as Consumer Protection Week.
A number of different organizations, including the FTC, with the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the Postal Service's Consumer Advocate, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, PhoneBusters, and Canada's Competition Bureau are promoting this iniative.
These programs while well meaning are largely ineffective in preventing fraud or scams. There is a simple reason for this. The decisions we take combine deliberation with action. There is a natural tension between deliberation and action which has to be managed. So why do these fraud awareness programs fail?
A fraud or scam succeeds when you are pressed into action, despite all the alarm bells ringing in your brain. Action overtakes and overwhelms deliberation. Quick unthinking action is not always bad, but con artists manipulate the tension between action and deliberation in their favour. There are several well known techniques which are used: none of the consumer programs identity these techniques adequately.
The consumer programs simply promote better due diligence, more educations, and a higher degree of awareness: more deliberation. While there is nothing wrong with this, as far as it goes, it is dangerously incomplete. The most savy, educated, and aware consumer can be easily maniuplated so that the urge to action takes overwhelms deliberation.
For more on this topic, see the website influence at work and Cialdini's book: Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion. It is a marvelous and entertaining review how compliance actually works. It is unfortunate that this book is better known in marketing circles than among enforcement officials.
