The subreddit r/scams is a very useful place to see what kinds of scams are happening and how people talk about them. I recently read a research paper that analyzed the posts there: “Is this a scam?”: The Nature and Quality of Reddit Discussion about Scams (https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3719027.3765030). Here are the key takeaways, in plain language:
1. Very few people actually report scams to the government or the Better Business Bureau—only about 4.8% in a 2017 study—because there is usually very little chance of getting their money back.
2. Being a scam victim carries a lot of stigma, so many people don’t want to be publicly known as having fallen for a scam.
3. In sextortion cases, most scammers do not follow through on their threats to share intimate images.
4. Common ways to limit harm from sextortion include tightening privacy settings, turning off tagging on phones and apps, and disabling or deleting social media profiles.
5. Money sent through peer-to-peer payment services like Zelle is usually not recoverable once it’s gone.
6. Many people turn to Reddit for reassurance and emotional support, which shows there is a gap in easy-to-access, formal support systems for scam victims.
7. “Recovery scams” are a real danger—these are scams that target people who have already been scammed and are desperate to recover funds. This highlights a risk of seeking help publicly, even though the reassurance and information from online communities can still be very valuable.
8. Using two-factor authentication and unique passwords for different accounts is strong, practical advice for dealing with the aftermath of scams and improving security going forward.
9. When scam victims themselves participate more in support discussions, it tends to lead to more understanding, less victim-blaming, and comments from people who truly “get” what it feels like to be scammed.
10. Users are aware that posting details like a scammer’s phone number or email address makes that information searchable and discoverable in the future.
11. Generative AI tools could potentially give more tailored, context-specific explanations than standard automated moderator messages.
12. When generative AI tools are used in scam-support contexts, they need to strike the right balance between empathy and clear, accurate information.