Fraudsters and the foot in the door technique.

The foot in the door technique is a strategy intended to persuade an individual to carry out a task or adhere to a request. The technique works on the basis that an individual is more likely to agree to a request if they are asked to do something of a smaller nature beforehand.

Freedman & Fraser (1966) first highlighted how effective the foot in the door technique was during a study at Stanford University involving a group of women. The group received an initial request to answer a variety of questions regarding their use of soap products. This was regarded as the small request. Once the questions had been answered they received a larger request. This time the request involved men coming to their homes to take an inventory of the soap products that they owned. Those who had been asked the smaller request first were more likely to agree to the bigger request that followed.

So how are fraudsters using this technique?

Fraudsters are currently utilising this technique in a bid to acquire banking information from the general public. A current tactic being used involves fraudsters cold calling potential victims posing as their bank or the police. In order to get their “foot in the door” they are advised that there is potential fraudulent activity on their bank account in the form of a suspicious overseas transaction and…