By Yuxi Shang , Zhongxian Wu , Xiaoyu Du3, Yanbin Jiang , Beibei Ma , Meihong Chi

Criminals targeting and exploiting older adults in online environments are of great concern. This study systematically retrieved and analyzed articles on the psychological characteristics of older adult victims of online fraud. First, we found that there was no evidence that older adults were more prevalent than other individuals of other ages among online fraud victims, and current researchers have focused more on why older adults are easy targets for fraud (susceptibility to being cheated). Second, research on psychological factors of older adults' susceptibility to online fraud has mainly focused on cognitive function, trust traits, and other personality traits, such as social loneliness, the Big Five personality traits, and self-control. Among them, most researchers claim that the cyber-cheating of older adults may be due to a decline in their cognitive function. However, there has not been a consensus on how cognitive function and physical and mental conditions affect older people who are cheated. Third, techniques (i.e., methods and techniques used by fraudsters) and experience (i.e., familiarity with internet technology or fraud) may be related to the susceptibility of older adults to fraud, and these studies have also not yet generated a consensus supported by reliable data. Based on the above research uncertainties, we propose that fraud prevention and control strategies for older adults should be applied with caution.

Front Psychol. 2022 Sep 5;13:912242. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.912242. PMID: 36132192; PMCID: PMC9484557

  Edited by Masamichi Sasaki  

Trust in Contemporary Society, by well-known trust researchers, deals with conceptual, theoretical and social interaction analyses, historical data on societies, national surveys or cross-national comparative studies, and methodological issues related to trust. The authors illuminate contemporary issues of trust and distrust. Readership: All interested in trust research in psychology, sociology, political science, economics, organizational and management studies, history, comparative study, area studies, survey research.

Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2019. 285p.

Edited by Vincent Buskens, RenseCorten, and Chris Snijders.

Theory, Experiments, and Field Studies. . The book identifies conditions for trust and cooperation. It highlights unintended consequences of individually rational behavior, and shows how trust and cooperation change dependent on social embeddedness. Such analyses inspire experimental tests in lab conditions, but also tests through empirical applications in field studies. The results of this mixed-method approach can in turn be used to inspire further theoretical work.

Berlin; Boston: de Gruyter, 2020. 557p.