The vulnerability of society to financial scams, the psychological mechanisms exploited by criminals, and the legal framework for sanctioning fraud were the main topics addressed in the public debate “Why is society vulnerable to financial scams?”, organized by the IPN Press Agency. The participants in the debate highlighted that online scams are no longer isolated cases, but a complex phenomenon, fueled both by the development of digital technologies and by the criminals’ ability to manipulate the victims’ emotions.
Expert Igor Botan explained that the success of scammers is based on their ability to manipulate people’s reactions and emotions through social engineering techniques.
“Social engineering is a manipulation technique through which cybercriminals deceive people into disclosing confidential information (passwords, bank details) or granting them access to computer systems. This is based on exploiting human psychological weaknesses, such as fear, trust, or curiosity, and not on technical vulnerabilities,” explained the project’s permanent expert, Igor Botan.
The community expert at WatchDog, Alexandru Bot, mentioned that the criminal law penalizes fraud.
“Fraud is defined by Article 190 of the Penal Code as the appropriation of another person’s goods, generated by abuse of trust, inducing or maintaining the person in error. Accordingly, there are also the necessary aggravating factors that lead to a harsher punishment for the swindler who promotes such actions. In the case of online fraud, it is about collective fraud. Now we have a downright criminal phenomenon. Swindlers exploit social networks and mobile telephony,” explained the community expert of WatchDog, Alexandru Bot.
Psychologist Stefan Popov spoke about the factors that have contributed to the expansion of the phenomenon, emphasizing that the development of technologies and the increasing exposure of personal data online have created favorable conditions for the activity of scam groups.
“Swindlers throughout time have understood well the psychological mechanisms that can be used for criminal purposes. With the development of technologies, access to information, the fact that people publish a lot of personal data online, and the development of artificial intelligence, a complex field has been created which determines the extent of this phenomenon,” explained psychologist Stefan Popov.
The public debate “Why is society vulnerable to financial scams?” is the 352nd edition of the “Developing Political Culture in Public Debates” series. The IPN Agency conducts this series with the support of the German Hanns Seidel Foundation.
