Four in five UK consumers now make purchases online at least once a month but the majority have received fraudulent messages in the last year, and the average UK consumer is targeted twice a week. Persuasive language and unusual spelling and grammar are widely recognised as common signs of fraud, but new analysis by researchers from the Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics (AIFL), commissioned by Visa, has for the first time identified the communicative strategies used by fraudsters in short, one-off messages.
Amongst the examples of fraud analysed, which included text messages, emails and social media messages, it was discovered that inviting the recipient to click a link was the most common technique (87%). This was followed by asking the reader to resolve a ‘problem’ (72%), such as rearranging package delivery times or paying a late fee and highlighting unique offers (32%). Supporting these findings, the researchers found ‘click here’, ‘account information’ and ‘gift card’ to be the most commonly used phrases in fraudulent communications.
To better protect customers, Visa has teamed up with researchers from AIFL to analyse the language of fraud and create the upcoming ‘Fraudulese Report’, a collection of the most common words, phrases and tactics used by fraudsters in short, one-off messages.
Dr Marton Petyko, Aston Institute for Forensic Linguistics, said: “Our analysis is the first study of its kind that provides insight into how language…
