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Biometric credit cards have entered the marketplace as an enhancement to the chip card technology for authenticating consumers when making a purchase at a credit card terminal. Consumers using a physical credit card have the capability to provide authentication using a pre-registered fingerprint stored on the card that is compared with the fingerprint used at the time of purchase. The success of the biometric advancement will be impacted by marketplace user acceptance. Cyber vulnerabilities on biometrics through similarity-based attacks and other methods are explored in relation to the impact on consumers' data privacy. After making purchases with a test product of a biometric credit card, consumer attitudes and reactions were measured using a survey instrument to determine the acceptance of biometric credit cards in the marketplace. The results of the research indicated that overall, consumers find the biometric credit card to add to the financial security of physical credit card transactions and are not a privacy concern. This research provides a quantitative analysis of user attitudes towards fraud, reaction to biometric credit cards, and predictive analysis of consumer acceptance of biometric cards for identity proofing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The ongoing evolution of the Internet and the subsequent digitalisation of financial services, along with the ever-increasing innovation of financial products, have rendered consumers more vulnerable to a wider range of fraud in the banking sector and, particularly, to consumer financial fraud (CFF). This paper aims to analyse the factors that may contribute to CFF exposure and victimisation among Spaniards, with a special focus on financial literacy. Design/methodology/approach: This paper provides a comprehensive overview of leading publications on the topic, followed by empirical analyses using regression models with a sample of 6,207 Spanish individuals drawn from the Survey of Financial Competences. Findings: Objective and subjective financial knowledge are positively correlated with CFF exposure via email but do not protect against CFF victimisation. Similarly, financial knowledge overconfidence is positively related to the former but fails to constitute a driver of the latter. Financial inclusion, measured by the number of financial products held, not only increases the risk of this exposure but also contributes to its subsequent victimisation. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, no previous paper has analysed the relationship between CFF and financial literacy by differentiating two types of vulnerabilities to fraud (exposure and victimisation) while considering different constructs of financial literacy. Dissecting these two domains may explain why the same financial literacy construct can have different effects at both stages of financial fraud and, furthermore, how different financial literacy constructs may affect the same stage of financial fraud. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Older people are often targeted by fraudsters due to their unique characteristics and vulnerabilities. Being a victim of exploitation can lead to negative emotional and financial consequences. The purpose of this commentary is to present ChatGPT’s potential to provide accessible information and support, helping older consumers protect themselves when confronted with exploitation, address the limitations of ChatGPT and propose solutions to overcome these limitations. Integrating tailored human and technological solutions, such as helplines, AI chatbots, and involving older adults in development, is crucial. By providing adequate training and support, the goal of ensuring accessibility for all users can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Systematic research has been conducted on the relationship between aging and consumer fraud victimization. But few empirical studies examine the reality of judicial dispute resolution in consumer fraud against older people from the perspective of older adults and judges in China. Based on 161 court rulings, this qualitative study explores the perceptions of older adults in litigation about their experiences of being defrauded in China, alongside judges’ responses. Results reveal that common fraud patterns used by business perpetrators render older individuals more susceptible to fraud. Older plaintiffs strategically frame “old age” in litigation, potentially as a tactical maneuver, while also readily emphasizing the importance of procedural justice. Results further show that judges expressed either negative ageism or age-neutral discourse in response to fraud targeting older individuals. Findings highlight the need to enhance consumer education to prevent fraud and address ageist stereotypes among older people. Findings also highlight the need to encourage Chinese courts to consider individual case specifics, leading to fair judgments and the protection of older individuals from fraud while upholding their rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is an editorial published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology. The editorial discusses age differences in trust and fraud. It highlights the conflicting research on whether older adults are more vulnerable to fraud victimization than younger adults. The editorial also mentions some potential factors that may contribute to fraud vulnerability in older adults, such as cognitive declines and personality and social factors. The document includes a collection of articles that explore various aspects of fraud susceptibility, including psychosocial determinants, neural and biological mechanisms, and demographic predictors. Overall, the literature on age differences in fraud victimization does not reach a clear consensus, but there are different neural mechanisms for fraud regulation in younger and older adults. [Extracted from the article]

Electronic contracts are witnessing rapid growth, becoming a significant portion of both international and domestic trade. This is attributed to the ease and speed of their formation and execution, allowing individuals to access a wide range of options by simply pressing the keyboard of their internet-connected devices. This eliminates the need for physical movement and facilitates constant communication and interaction between the contract parties. Such digital transactions ensure complete freedom for negotiation and discussion of contract terms, akin to traditional face-to-face negotiations conducted in a physical contract assembly. This has led to an increased demand for products and services online, consequently expanding the consumer base in the realm of electronic commerce (Al Marzouki, 2019). The buyer holds a central role in the business process but is in a relatively weaker position compared to the merchant, who is considered the stronger party. Merchants can master the mechanisms of managing electronic business practices professionally on websites, while consumers may approach contracts with only basic familiarity, limited by the technologies available to them. Hence, there arises a need for consumer protection laws designed to shield individuals from deceptive and misleading policies and practices in unfair business transactions (Almehiri, 2015). Therefore, it is imperative to provide special protection for the buyer in electronic contracts. The idea of buyer protection has garnered significant interest in most civilizations worldwide, as it constitutes a right enjoyed by the consumer. This protection shields the consumer from fraud and deception that may be perpetrated by the seller. Consumer protection witnessed a substantial breakthrough in the twentieth century with the enactment of numerous laws supporting consumer rights. Additionally, both local and international entities have shown interest in educating consumers across various fields to ensure they are aware of their rights and responsibilities, preserving them within the appropriate legal framework (Abdul Samad, 2016). It is now evident that buyer protection is crucial in electronic contracting. This protection extends beyond the time of contract formation and execution; it is equally essential to safeguard the buyer from the moment they enter the online sphere to search for an e-commerce store to contract with until the contract's execution. The aspects of this protection manifest in the stage of electronic advertising on the store's website on one hand, on the other hand, ensuring consumer protection during the negotiation phase of the contract is a matter that must be carefully considered by the e-commerce store. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers routinely engage in fraudulent behaviors toward companies including returning products under false pretenses, lying when making insurance claims, and committing petty theft. However, research has been relatively limited in examining the psychological mechanisms that contribute to such behavior. Based on dual-processing models of morality, differences in an individual's emotional intelligence and selfishness are predicted to impact the likelihood of committing consumer fraud. In a departure from previous research highlighting the prosocial benefits of emotional intelligence, seven studies show that consumers with higher levels of emotional intelligence and greater selfishness are more likely to commit fraud. Highly selfish and emotionally intelligent consumers possess the motivation and ability to suppress feelings of embarrassment that normally deter consumers from committing various routine, less severe forms of consumer fraud. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Article proposes statutory and regulatory changes to the Electronic Fund Transfer Act; Regulation E; and the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering regulations to protect consumers who use instant payment platforms in the United States (such as Zelle and Venmo) from scam artists and fraudsters. After discussing current fraud scams on these payment platforms, the Article discusses the history and context of the 1978 Electronic Fund Transfer Act and Regulation E, and the definition of unauthorized payments and payments made in error therein. The second part of this Article explores changes to the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering regulations that might make it hard for fraudsters to use the financial system to commit fraud, and might make it easier for financial institutions to identify fraudsters seeking to do so. Finally, this Article provides an update on regulatory, legislative, and judicial activity that took place while this Article was in the process of being published. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore various cultural and behavioral issues associated with the problem of investment fraud in Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach: By examining multiple cases of investment fraud in Indonesia as well as reviewing publicly available government reports, this study highlights several important cultural and behavioral issues associated with the susceptibility of Indonesian financial services consumers to investment fraud to understand better the dynamics of the victimization process. By using multiple cultural and behavioral theories, this study demonstrates how such issues shape the interactions between investment fraudsters and investment fraud victims. Findings: This study demonstrates that multiple cultural and behavioral factors have created and shaped an environment where fraudsters can exploit people's behavioral loopholes for their fraudulent schemes. In particular, the high power distance and high collectivism have been identified by this study as contributing to the high level of materialism in the country, which in turn makes people more susceptible to the temptation of get-rich-quick schemes. Investment fraudsters, being students of human behavior, use their behavioral knowledge to devise various means to deceive their victims. They use multiple psychological principles to stimulate target victims "gullibility to make them more vulnerable to fraudulent persuasion. In many cases, even financially literate people are not immune to fraudsters" deceitful messages. This study highlights gullibility production as a foundation for investment fraudsters to devise their means by which victims are manipulated to accept certain beliefs that depart from facts and evidence. Practical implications: This paper contributes to the innovation in anti-fraud practice by building a better understanding of multiple cultural and behavioral issues associated with investment fraud victimization. Originality/value: This paper brings a new perspective into the field of anti-fraud to stimulate innovation, in particular in investment fraud prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relevance of improving consumer protection legislation is due to many economic and legal factors, starting with the conceptualization of common concepts. Against the background of recent political and legal initiatives in the field of consumer protection, this issue has become particularly important for the Republic of Kazakhstan (RK). In this study, a retrospective analysis of consumer protection regulation was carried out. Global trends in legal regulation of consumer protection in the RK are considered in the light of their implementation in Kazakhstani legislation. The research implies to consider the trends in changing the legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan in the field of consumer rights regulation from the point of view of the reception of world experience. In the study, the analysis of consumer rights protection in the multifaceted system of legal protection models is carried out and their classification is derived. As a result of a comprehensive analysis, it was concluded that it is expedient to implement the norms of international law, European law into the national legislation of Kazakhstan, modernized in 2020, taking into account the proven examples of global legal mechanisms and practices for protecting consumer rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumers are faced with a multitude of hazards that may be present in the foodstuffs they consume. Legislation in the agri-food industry is a set of strict rules to be followed at every step in the process of releasing products. Quality assurance in Algeria is essentially based on legislation framed by the law on fraud repression and consumer protection, together with health law, phytosanitary law and veterinary law. This is in accordance with international standards, such as the Codex Alimentarius, the ISO standards and international legislation, including the Basic General Food Law (EC 178/2002) and the Hygiene Package, as well as HACCP requirements. Public authorities must take all necessary measures to guarantee safe and healthy food products. The State, through its services, is the guarantor of public health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer fraud is a civil violation of a remedial statute not requiring specific intent to deceive. Most consumer fraud statutes define violations as unconscionable, misleading, or deceptive practices irrespective of intent, in derogation of the principle of caveat emptor. They do not apply to business-to-business transactions. Trust plays a central role in businessto- consumer transactions. Because consumers are individuals, there is often an inherent inequality in consumer transactions. Sophisticated marketing techniques--especially target marketing that follows potential customers all over the internet--hound consumers' online lives and manipulate purchasing decisions. The increasing monetization of almost everything exacerbates these effects. This transactionalism itself erodes trust because commercial trust is less robust than interpersonal trust. "Consumers" are not a monolithic category and the effects of consumer fraud depend on one's education, business sophistication, and ethnicity. The neoclassical model of a universal, rational, self-interested, decontextualized individual has numerous limitations, and we now know that rationality is bounded in any event--we are unable to incorporate all relevant information in our decision-making. Further, the neoclassical model does not accurately represent the financial situations and daily realities of most American consumers, who are working to middle class, struggling economically, and lacking in financial literacy. This Essay applies this framework to the phenomenon of home lending fraud, which was the primary cause of the Great Recession and the worldwide financial meltdown of 2008. Home lending fraud of all sorts erodes trust in our system and country. Trust tends to be eroded more in consumers who do not realize the risks taken when entering into these transactions, which is disproportionally the case with lower income consumers. They are hit especially hard because they have fewer resources, and if they own a home, it is generally their only valuable asset. In this Essay, I focus particularly on the example of land contracts--rent-to-own arrangements often accompanied by predatory features--that have looted many millions of dollars of wealth from low- to moderate-income Americans. The Essay finally turns to the post-Great Recession Dodd--Frank Act and its creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Bureau is the first federal agency with the sole mission to regulate consumer financial products. Dodd--Frank regulations and oversight have helped increase trust in consumer financial markets since the last financial crisis. Supervision of lending institutions--some of which were not previously subject to federal regulation--is a critical tool in resisting forces that continue to undermine trust in our system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution revives an autobiographical genre present in law reviews roughly a half-century ago, in which seasoned legal practitioners offered perspective on vital issues. Here, a senior deputy attorney general, a former federal prosecutor, a corporate defense attorney, and a legal aid lawyer each draw on their career experience to explore what they see as significant problems related to the law of consumer and investor fraud and the nature of consumer and investor trust. Their reflections emphasize the significance of law in action--how key actors seek to deploy legal mechanisms related to fraud and adjust their strategies in light of institutional changes, with powerful implications for legal culture and the practical workings of the legal system. They also offer sometimes conflicting recommendations for how American law might better respond to the enduring, thorny problem of deception in marketplaces. The practitioners all agree about the importance of leveraging data analytics to focus attention on the most problematic practices and firms, as well as the need to design disclosure rules that take behavioral realities into account. But there is instructive disagreement about the extent to which current rules appropriately balance the capacity of individuals who have experienced fraud-related harms to gain redress, against the imperative of shielding innocent firms from abusive allegations of wrongdoing. A brief analytical introduction emphasizes the advantages of an ethnographic approach as a means of understanding both positive and normative dimensions of fraud law. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Al- Mouhakiq Al-Hilly Journal for Legal & Political Science is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Short-video-based social media platforms (short-video-based [SVB] platforms) are becoming a common tool for an increasing number of consumers to safeguard their legitimate interests in China. This article examines how Chinese consumers practice video activism by using short videos on Weibo to construct a consumer sphere for themselves to protect their legal demands. By interviewing 56 interviewees including consumers, media practitioners, public relations department (PR) officials, and relevant government officials in China, we find that short videos are more than a visible vehicle on SVB platforms which makes the voices of consumers being heard, but significantly, these platforms create a "consumer sphere" for the consumers who experienced right infringement to defend their rights. The discussion and sharing of these videos unite the consumers to bring the individual issue to the spotlight of the public. We conclude that as more consumers join the queue to share their encounters, a sphere is constructed by the use of mediated tactics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer fraud reports in North America have been increasing each year along with median fraud losses. Using survey data from 1375 American and Canadian consumers who previously reported a scam to a North American consumer complaint organization, this study examines the correlates of responding to and losing money to four categories of consumer fraud: opportunity‐based scams, threat‐based scams, consumer purchase scams, and phishing scams. Relative to opportunity‐based scams that offer the promise of rewards, consumers were less likely to respond to and report losing money when solicited by threat‐based scams and phishing scams. The odds of victimization were highest for consumer purchase scams. Risk factors, including gender, race, education, income, loneliness, financial fragility, and financial literacy, differed across scam categories, suggesting that victim profiles differ across fraud types. Some of the risk factors associated with responding to the scam solicitation (vs. ignoring it outright) were different from risk factors associated with victimization. Having advance knowledge of fraud prior to being exposed was protective across nearly all scam types. Results suggest that awareness about specific scams helps protect against financial loss. Additional research is needed on how to effectively deliver fraud awareness messages to those who are most susceptible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the enactment of the Federal Trade Commission Act (“FTC Act”) in 1914 and the Wheeler–Lea Act in 1938, Congress sought to establish a brawny federal consumer protection regime to guard against the myriad unfair and deceptive practices that threatened harm to American consumers. But courts in this era interpreted these statutes to confer exclusive enforcement authority in the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), declining to infer a private right of action. For many decades, the resulting enforcement gap in consumer protection law was filled largely by state Unfair and Deceptive Practices Acts (“UDAPs”), which sanction litigation by both public and private enforcers. But while consumer-initiated litigation under UDAPs has traditionally played an important role in achieving consumer justice, recently, private UDAP enforcement is imperiled by powerful corporate opponents who have successfully lobbied for changes that make it more difficult for consumers to sue for relief. Furthermore, these “reform” efforts have led to greater variation between and among UDAPs, rendering multi-state consumer class actions under Rule 23(b)(3) far more difficult to certify. Meanwhile, at the federal level, head-spinning fluctuations of political power and hardening partisanship reveal the weakness of an inconsistent FTC enforcement agenda. In light of growing constraints on state UDAPs and the increasingly erratic, politicized nature of federal enforcement, this Article revisits a simple idea: amending the Federal Trade Commission Act to add an unwaivable private right of action, allowing injured consumers to supplement the FTC’s enforcement activities by bringing legal actions to remedy widespread harm. This application of the private attorney general is grounded in the reality that while politics may ebb and flow, citizens suffering injuries in the marketplace are a constant. Deploying these citizens to consistently enforce consumer protection laws—no matter the party in power or the Commissioner in charge—generates a more stable administration of laws and better ensures that corporate actors refrain from engaging in widespread misconduct. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In addition to its use as an effective means of communication, the versatility of social media—probably the most salient technological development of recent times—has gradually increased its popularity over the years. But while it has been instrumental in the emergence of numerous new cultures, the use of social media has also posed a number of threats to individuals, societies, countries, and the world as a whole. It has been revealed through various literature reviews that no specific research has been done before on social media regarding its ability to simultaneously create new cultures and new threats. Therefore, the current research was conducted among university-level students in Bangladesh keeping this issue in mind. The study was designed in light of an appropriate theoretical framework, and as part of the quantitative method, an online survey was carried out to collect data from 217 university students who are studying at different public and private universities in the country. Besides, case studies were administered to 20 students for in-depth understanding. Findings uncovered that most romantic relationships formed through social media are problematic and many people have had bad experiences with such relationships. Most participants are victims of cyberstalking and varied forms of harassment and social stigma. In spite of being an epoch-making medium for education, its use is also responsible for the poor academic performance of many students, and despite its emergence as a new platform for journalism, social media has boosted yellow journalism as well. While its use in product marketing has grown exponentially and shown considerable positive impact, consumer fraud has also become common. Furthermore, although the number of social media entrepreneurs is constantly increasing and many are succeeding, the number of failures is not insignificant. It is evident from the research that the negative impact of social media use is expanding day by day in new directions, and it is urgent to ensure its proper use for the greater good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South African legislation regulates the classification/labelling and compositional specifications of raw beef patties, to combat processed meat fraud and to protect the consumer. A near-infrared hyperspectral imaging (NIR-HSI) system was investigated as an alternative authentication technique to the current destructive, time-consuming, labour-intensive and expensive methods. Eight hundred beef patties (ca. 100 g) were made and analysed to assess the potential of NIR-HSI to distinguish between the four patty categories (200 patties per category): premium 'ground patty'; regular 'burger patty'; 'value-burger/patty' and the 'econo-burger'/'budget'. Hyperspectral images were acquired with a HySpex SWIR-384 (short-wave infrared) imaging system using the Breeze® acquisition software, in the wavelength range of 952–2517 nm, after which the data was analysed using image analysis, multivariate techniques and machine learning algorithms. It was possible to distinguish between the four patty categories with accuracies ≥97%, indicating that NIR-HSI offers an accurate and reliable solution for the rapid identification and authentication of processed beef patties. Furthermore, this study has the potential of providing an alternative to the current authentication methods, thus contributing to the authenticity and fair-trade of processed meat products locally and internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer vulnerability is gaining increasing attention from researchers and practitioners as a social phenomenon in modern consumption‐driven societies. In an attempt to conduct a comprehensive review using credible published research materials on the topic, this study applies a big data analytics approach to analyze scholarly research with a pool of 859 articles covering the last 25 years of post‐modern marketing practices that have been a precursor to market‐driven vulnerability. This paper identifies the most influential articles, as well as the top contributing journals and authors, along with their affiliations. In addition, this study reveals four major themes of research in consumer vulnerability, namely marketing, fraud and consumers, consumer vulnerability and well‐being, ethics and vulnerable consumers, and consumption, disability and gender. These integrative perspectives will serve as a critical starting point to encourage focused theme‐based exploration in the field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents a study on how Czech news consumers adapted to the personalization of news. Our study is the first one that tries to deepen the existing knowledge about Czech internet users’ reflections of the algorithmic news contents’ personalization. The goal of the research was to gain insight into consumers' perceptions of news personalization and to identify the needs and competencies they require to protect their personal data. The research is based on three focus groups consisting of 27 participants, two of which were ordinary users from the Czech Republic, and one consisting of experts from the same country. The qualitative analysis reveals that respondents see news personalization as a loss of control over search mechanisms and information delivery. They express doubts about the credibility of personalization and describe the respective algorithms as a "black box." The study outlines defensive tactics used by users to resist personalization algorithms, and the data indicates that readers view the process of algorithmic news personalization as a threat to the management of their personal data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ten chapters of the book present Raggetti's typology of medieval Arabo-Islamic tricks and experiments. Raggetti's introduction persuasively argues that premodern Arabic texts containing instructions for technical trickery are representative examples of a direct and continuous tradition of street performance and illusionary trickery that flourished from antiquity until the early nineteenth century. One of Raggetti's principal arguments is that technical illusions were a common experience with various and diverse applications in medieval Islamic society. [Extracted from the article]

Consumer fraud is a category that has existed for many years, and is also quite widespread, and includes the false representation of goods or services to potential consumers. Every potential consumer can be a victim of one of the types of fraud, and insufficient awareness of their rights increases the risk of being a victim, while consumer fraud leads to a loss of consumer confidence in products, mistrust in online sales, etc. The purpose of this paper is to increase consumer awareness of the most common types of fraud and how the consumer can protect himself from fraud. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As Muslims continue to settle in this country, there are a number of unique challenges that emerge in the criminal legal system, religious freedom, and much more. But one often overlooked question is that of the dietary rules and requirements that many Muslims adhere to. Many are familiar with the halal carts on street corners in major cities but are unaware of the intricacies of ḥalāl food doctrine and the associated regulatory and monitoring schemes in place. While it may be inconsequential to many, for Muslims, the principles of permissible and impermissible food are essential to understand and practice. However, in a secular nation like the United States, parsing what is or is not religiously compliant can be difficult and may leave room for deception and fraud. With that in mind, this Comment considers the current regulatory framework and identifies its shortcomings, proposing reforms in three distinct areas: inspection, certification, and labeling. These reforms form a quasi-public, quasi-private scheme that mirrors best practices as learned from the Kosher regulatory system, international examples, and state practices. This Comment hopes to begin conversation around halal products and how best to protect consumers through transparency and detection of fraud. As this country continues to add to its rich cultural, ethnic, and religious diversity, these questions become increasingly complex, but the basic principles of consumer protection and integrity in food production, certification, and the labeling process translate to a need for substantive reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fake check scam is one of the most common attacks used to commit fraud against consumers. This fraud is particularly costly for victims because they generally lose thousands of dollars as well as being exposed to judicial proceedings. Currently, there is no existing solution to authenticate checks and detect fake ones instantly. Instead, banks must wait for a period of more than 48 h to detect the scam. In this context, we propose a blockchain-based scheme to authenticate checks and detect fake check scams. Moreover, our approach allows the revocation of used checks. More precisely, our approach helps the banks to share information about provided checks and used ones, without exposing the banks’ customers’ personal data. We demonstrate a proof of concept of our proposed approach using Namecoin and Hyperledger blockchain technologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines consumer fraud at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and provides novel evidence for the opportunity model of predatory victimization. Scammers have taken advantage of the COVID-19 pandemic shock to exploit victims who are already vulnerable and suffering. The number of fraud cases has greatly increased as COVID-19 spread across the U.S., consistent with the vulnerable-to-become-victimization hypothesis based on the opportunity model of predatory victimization. A Google Trends analysis shows that the increase in fraud and scams is attributable to victims' increased vulnerability rather than to their awareness of fraud and increased motivation to report scams. An improvement in financial literacy is associated with the reduction of finance-related fraud and scams. Finally, we provide important policy implications to protect people from fraud victimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mislabelling frozen-thawed fish fillets as fresh is one of the most important fraudulent practices during commercialisation. This study aimed to determine the ability of two portable miniaturised low-cost near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) devices intended for consumers to discriminate between fresh and thawed mackerel (submitted to one or two frozen-thawed cycles) and between different freezing systems. The effect of different fish seasonal characteristics on the performance of the model was also evaluated. The low-cost NIR devices were able to discriminate between fresh and thawed samples with a classification rate of 90.3% and 94.1% and the freezing system to which they were submitted with a classification rate of 91.2% and 89.7%. These findings suggest that low-cost portable NIR spectroscopy can be a valuable tool for detecting mislabeled frozen-thawed products sold as fresh, providing consumers with a rapid and affordable method for fraud detection. • Low-cost NIR sensors can discriminate fresh from thawed mackerel fish. • Scattering and absorbance intensity variation in water peaks allow differentiation. • Models are robust for classification of fish caught in any season. • Freezing system can be identified from different scattering caused by ice crystals. • Low-cost sensors are a feasible tool for consumers to detect fraud. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many consumers seek to purchase environmentally friendly products and companies have responded with "green" marketing, which includes claims of environmental benefits and sustainability with respect to what is being sold. Unfortunately, these claims often overstate their impact on the environment or are presented in a way to mislead consumers. This practice is referred to as greenwashing. Not only does it harm consumers, but it potentially harms the reputation of truly eco-friendly companies that are viewed with skepticism or outright distrust due to the deceitfulness of companies that do engage in greenwashing. This Note discusses the lack of legislation that currently exists to properly punish and deter greenwashing through an examination of the Lanham Act, the Better Business Bureau's National Advertising Division, and the Federal Trade Commission's Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims. Furthermore, it argues that the Federal Trade Commission's Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims--while nonbinding--are actually written like legislative rules, and thus should be promulgated as such to make a difference in the fight against greenwashing in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliable analytical methods able to establish wine authenticity and compliance with the origin/variety denomination are essential tools for the safeguarding of consumers from fraud. In this work, we attempted the discrimination of certified monovarietal white wines produced in the Abruzzo region (Central Italy) in 2015 with Trebbiano d'Abruzzo, Pecorino or Passerina grapes, all belonging to the Trebbiano variety. A preliminary sensory analysis revealed a high similarity among the three wines. The aroma profile and polyphenol and organic acid profiles were collected by gas chromatography and ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography, respectively, on 46 samples representing the three wine varieties. Eventually, the concentration of 14 elements in the same samples, determined by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry, was considered. Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis pursued on the individual analytical responses gave unsatisfactory results in terms of varietal discrimination. A data fusion approach, Sequential and Orthogonalized Partial Least Squares Linear Discriminant Analysis, on the other hand, provided better results as it misclassified only three (out of eighteen) external samples. Tartaric acid, malic acid, Cu, Na, Ni, Sr, Ca, Fe, 3-methyl-1-butanol, 2-methyl-1-butanol, ethyl hexanoate, and 2-phenylethyl acetate were found to be the variables relevant in the discrimination of the three monovarietal wines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

E-Mails are commonly used as a medium of communication for personal and pro- fessional purposes. Information shared via mail is also sensitive and private, such as financial information, credit records, login data, and so on. This makes them useful to cyber attackers who can exploit this knowledge for illegal purposes. Phishing is a technique used by fraudsters to gain confidential data from users by alleging to be from known sources. In a phished e-mail, the sender can encourage users to provide private in- formation under false premises. Phishing e-mails have also been frequently used in financial institutions and consumer fraud. This paper discusses an overview of dif- ferent techniques for phishing e-mail detection and protection currently used in e-mail filtering. A comparative analysis and review of these techniques are carried out. This survey provides an understanding of the phishing detection issue, its present space for a solution, and its future directions for study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer fraud in online shopping has become a major problem and severe challenge for online retailers. However, detection lags behind — for academia and practice — and data-driven knowledge about risk indicators in transaction data is still very limited. Thus, this study focuses on the empirical data-based identification of consumer fraud risk indicators and combinations in online shopping transaction data. We demonstrate the use of a decision tree as a data mining technique for analysis of data from one of the world's largest online retailers. Thereby, several patterns of fraud that improve separation of online shopping transactions into fraudulent and legitimate cases are identified. Thus, results can guide the choice of variables and design of fraud prevention actions and systems in future practical and theoretical work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Online consumer fraud is one of the most fast-growing crimes. It corresponds to situations where, for instance, the products that are bought, but are not delivered. The present study (N = 1710) aimed at exploring, on the one hand, the predictors of online fraud victimization and, on the other hand, to examine the reporting to the police. Even though 223 were victims of online consumer fraud, only 20 reported to the police. Moreover, while individual variables were not predictors of victimization, online routines were relevant to its explanation. Finally, monetary loss was the most important predictor of reporting to the police. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, the class action has been in the crosshairs of defense-side procedural warfare. Repeated attacks on the class action by the defense bar, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and other defense-side interest groups have been overwhelmingly successful. None proved more successful than the arbitration revolution, a forty-year campaign to eliminate class actions through forced arbitration provisions in private contracts. The effects of this revolution on civil justice have been profound. Scores of claims vanished from the civil justice landscape--claims concerning civil rights, wage theft, sexual harassment, and consumer fraud. The effects on social justice, racial justice, gender justice, and economic justice have been especially profound, as the legal claims of minorities, women, wage-and-hour workers, and the working poor were systematically and disproportionately foreclosed. Yet now, just when one would expect the defense bar to be taking a victory lap, prominent defendants are abandoning the hard-fought right to disable the class action through arbitration and instead seeking refuge in class-action suits. Why the about-face? A surprising counteroffensive designed to use individual arbitration to the plaintiff's advantage: mass arbitration. This Article presents a foundational analysis of the subject. The Article develops the first and only case study of mass arbitration and provides a taxonomy of the results. What emerges is not a variation on old themes, but instead a new and distinct model of dispute resolution. The investigation reveals significant ways in which the mass-arbitration model challenges conventional wisdom about the economics of individual claims; uncovers important differences between the mass-arbitration model and existing forms of aggregate dispute resolution; recasts long-standing debates in litigation theory and jurisprudence; and provides new perspective on the relationships among private procedural ordering, public procedural reform, and civil justice. Mass arbitration, in other words, is a phenomenon in its own right. More importantly, mass arbitration offers a window into the future of civil justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimates the prevalence of consumer fraud in China and investigates consumer fraud risk factors using a novel two-stage conceptual framework that differentiates fraud exposure from fraud victimization after exposure. Multivariate analyses show that multiple risk factors have opposite effects on the two stages, with older age, lower income, higher debt, lower education, and rural residency associated with a lower risk of fraud exposure but a higher risk of fraud victimization after exposure. Three variables are identified as risk factors in both processes: being a migrant, having a higher level of objective financial knowledge, and having at least one chronic condition. Our conceptual model and empirical results demonstrate the importance of utilizing a two-stage approach in consumer fraud victimization research that may help clarify the many mixed findings in the literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Village chicken is known as a high-quality product perception and sold at high prices. However, the authenticity of village chicken is doubted because colored chicken has been claimed as village chicken to fraud the consumers and to gain high profit. No stringent strategy has been implemented by the local authority on the authenticity of the claimed village chickens. Thus, the study aimed to determine the meat quality of different chicken breeds including village chicken, broiler chicken (Cobb), colored chicken (Hubbard), and layer chicken from genuine suppliers and chickens sold at different local markets based on the physicochemical characterization, textural properties, and sensory evaluation. Chicken breeds were obtained from genuine suppliers and slaughtered at the slaughtering house Universiti Putra Malaysia. Proximate composition, color, and textural properties were evaluated. Minitab-19 and SIMCA-13 software were used to analyze the results, applying analysis of variance and partial least squares discriminant analysis, respectively. The study revealed that some of the market-supplied chickens were not authentic based on the features studied. About 20% of market village chickens had possessed similar results as the control village chicken. It can be shown that 80% of the claimed village chicken sold in the market was not authentic village chicken. This study showed the differentiation in texture composition such as chewiness, hardness, gumminess, cohesiveness, resilience, and springiness, followed by protein content, ash content, and a ∗ and b ∗ values as an indicator to differentiate the authenticity of different chicken breeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Loot boxes are virtual products in video games that provide randomized rewards, and accordingly share structural similarities with gambling. Policymakers around the world are presently considering how best to regulate loot boxes. Current loot box consumer protection measures, such as requiring probability disclosures, have been inspired by similar harm reduction approaches in gambling. However, unlike in many gambling games, most loot boxes' reward structures are arguably too complex for consumers to be meaningfully protected by probability disclosures alone. But promisingly, loot boxes can readily be redesigned to be more ethical because they are digital products. Based on behavioural science principles, this article proposes four reductions to loot box reward complexity. The decisionmaking environment can be simplified by capping (i) the maximum number of loot boxes per game and (ii) the maximum number of potential rewards per loot box, and by (iii) equalizing winning probabilities across rewards. Additionally, (iv) companies can implement "exhaustible" loot boxes that provide the player with every potential reward after a predetermined amount of money has been spent, thereby effectively instituting a maximum spending limit. These ethical game design proposals can credibly reduce financial harms from loot boxes while both maintaining consumer freedom and preserving companies' commercial interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines contemporary U.S. state legislation on sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) and the fight of advocates for the legal protection of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) youth amid constitutional challenges. Topics discussed are origin and evolution of SOCE and the dangers associated with conversion therapy practices, First Amendment challenges to SOCE legislation, SOCE regulation from the perspective of consumer fraud protection, and future of SOCE law.