Scams in modern societies: how does China differ from the world?

Abstract

We study a set of high-profile scams that were well engineered and have hit people hard in China in recent years. We propose a simple but novel theoretical framework to examine psychological, situational and social fabric factors that have played a role in these scams. We also use this framework as a tool to explore scam countermeasures. In so doing, we identify how these Chinese scams differ from their Western counterparts.