Men or Women?
As I have discussed before, fraud thrives in an environment where three elements are present: opportunity, need and 
rationalization. The opportunity usually comes in an environment where there is little or no oversite e.g., a long-term employee who has become a “trusted,” almost invisible fixture, or a telemarketer functioning in an atmosphere with virtually no supervision. The need is generally one for cash or power – or both, and rationalization may take on many different forms from anger at a subject to a poor person justifying stealing from a wealthy person.
However, there are numerous subtleties within the scam world that play into our blind spots. Take, for example, gender and roles.
Financial Scams
One thing that is important to establish is that virtually all of us are susceptible to fraud. It is why due-diligence is extremely important. If anything appears too good to be true, it invariably is, and in the case of investment scams, men are far and away more vulnerable than women. Women may get tricked by banking account scams but far and away men fall for investment deals. Sadly, age may also play a role.
The website, Yourmoney.com recently released what they call the Great British Retirement Survey 2020. Make no mistake, when it comes to money matters, the British are every bit as vulnerable to fraudsters as Americans.
According to the website:
“13% of respondents had fallen victim to financial scams, rising to 18% in the 72 to77 age category, and 20% amongst those aged over 77…women are less likely to have experienced a financial scam than men (9% versus 15%).”
In general, about one-third of men have been the victims of investment fraud compared to about twenty-two percent of women.
It was also reported that across the board, risks increase with age. It is why children and grandchildren must be vigilant in safeguarding the accounts of the elderly. However, younger men and women must be aware as well.
Due to traditional gender roles, men generally invest in financial instruments more, and more often than women but that obviously is changing. As women make more investment choices for themselves, I would expect investment fraud by gender will level out. The major blind spot for men is that they believe they can spot a financial scam when they see one – at least 35 percent of them can’t. They get scammed for billions.
Cold Calling Scams
In the U.K., fraudsters are now prohibited from cold calling vulnerable individuals about pension funds. However, fraudsters have gained access to accounts by recommending a transfer of money from pension accounts to a “better investment opportunity.”
Prior to the age of 55 (because it is illegal after), a fraudster may ask someone to “unlock” their pension account to “liberate” the funds. In these cases, not only can fraudsters siphon huge amounts of money to fuel their scheme but it results in huge tax bills. In the U.K. the schemes generally target older men and women.
In the U.S. between 2004 and 2017, social security fraud amounted to $1.3 trillion. About 53 percent of those scammed are elderly. The same dynamic occurs in the U.S. as well as the U.K.
Though just 3 percent of those contacted by spoof IRS robo-calls and emails claim to have lost money, on average the amount of money lost is $1,500 which, according to the IRS is four times the average for all other types of telemarketing scams. The data suggests men are equally as vulnerable, if not more so than women.
When it comes to fraud, the take-away is more often than not, men in the U.S., as well as the U.K., have a financial blind spot. They believe they are savvier than they are. Fraudsters prey on that weakness with great success.
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