Why Fraud is Not prevented by Education
Professor Studies Why Phishing Works and concludes that "Education only goes so far, as people will make poor judgments about whether or not a site is legitimate."
This is an important claim, which is similar to the claim that I have been advancing about educating prospective business opportunities, franchisees, or distributors. The claim on this blog has been that the very individuals who need protection from fraud will if given unbiased information but at the wrong time will be pushed to invest in fraudulant schemes, despite knowing in their gut that they should not be doing so. The clever atriculate brain overrides the shrewd but silent stomach. The unbaised information feeds the articulate brain and provides all sorts of "consistent" stories explaining why this is the greatest opportunity since ...
I have commented before on other academics who are skeptical about the effects of disclosure. I am looking forward to reviewing in more detail this academic work, a part of this anti-phishing site.
However, there was one thing about the academic website which struck me as odd: they are handing out logos to affix any website which attests to the site is an "anti-phishing affiliate". Providing any old website with the authority of the academic website strikes me as a very bad idea.
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Comments
Interesting post - I always wonder why people fall for it - but they do!
I'm adding a link to this site on my blog.
Posted by: ed dickson | October 8, 2006 11:11 PM