The optics of fraud: affiliations that enhance offender credibility

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how a financial fraud practice, known as affinity fraud, relies on building trust with victims based on shared affiliations or characteristics such as age, race, religion, ethnicity or professional designations, for the purpose of exploiting the trust factor for financial advantage. Design/methodology/approach - Sources of information consisted of scholarly articles and articles retrieved from the web. Findings - Findings suggest that these fraud offenders rely on a myriad of persuasion techniques to overcome offender skepticism coupled with victims engaging in a psychological concept known as projection bias to evaluate the credibility of these offenders. These factors create a negative synergy that dilutes the perceived need for due diligence normally required prior to engaging in securities transactions. In addition, these offenders display a predatory quality, debunking the myth that fraud offenders exhibit a homogenous crime group behavioral profile. Practical implications - Social institutions that include both for profit and not for profit should consider evaluating their interactions with those who share similar characteristics and affiliations that attempt to offer goods or services by considering some of the factors contained within this article that may dilute due diligence protocol. Originality/value - This paper serves to alert and educate anti‐fraud professionals, law enforcement and policy makers of a predatory fraud practice that targets organizations exploiting the inherent trust that these organizations rely upon.