Recipients of 2023 American Council on Consumer Interests Best Paper Awards

• Published date: 01 July 2023
• Author: Brenda J. Cude
• Date: 01 July 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/joca.12546

ANNOUNCEMENT

Recipients of 2023 American Council on

Consumer Interests Best Paper Awards

Brenda J. Cude

Financial Counseling, Housing and Consumer Economics, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

Correspondence

Brenda J. Cude, Financial Counseling, Housing and Consumer Economics, University of Georgia, 205 Dawson Hall,

305 Sanford Drive, Athens, GA, USA.

Email: bcude@uga.edu

Richard L.D. Morse Applied Consumer Economics Award, National Endowment for

Financial Education (NEFE) Paper Award

Enhancing trust in the Social Security Administration

Author(s): Cliff Robb, Professor, University of Wisconsin-Madison; Marti Deliema, Assistant

Professor and Gerontologist, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities; Steve Wendel, Applied

Behavioral Scientist

One of the insidious effects of government imposter scams is the potential erosion of trust

among those who are targeted. Fraud targets may learn to distrust communications and

people who claim to be from the Social Security Administration (SSA) or other federal

agencies. This study analyzes how individuals targeted by government imposter scams

respond to communications from the SSA and how the SSA can reinforce public trust and

willingness to engage. Specifically, the team developed an application to teach individuals

how to identify legitimate communications from the SSA, other government bodies, and

retail companies. Multiple national samples of Americans, in which some participants

were prior victims of scams, were then assigned in randomized trials and their ability to

distinguish between real and fraudulent communications was tested. We find nearly uni-

versal exposure to fraud attempts in the national samples, low prevalence of paying money

to fraud perpetrators in response to those attempts, and a set of personal characteristics

that appear to predict low trust in the SSA and other institutions. We also find evidence

that interactive online training can help people both trust real communications and iden-

tify scams.

Received: 27 May 2023 Accepted: 1 June 2023

DOI: 10.1111/joca.12546

© 2023 American Council on Consumer Interests.

980 J Consum Aff. 2023;57:980–982.

wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/joca