Scam Simulator / Why it works

Why playing the scammer works

Debunking a lie after it has spread is hard. Prebunking works the other way round: show people a weakened dose of the trick first, so they recognise it later. Psychologists call it inoculation.

The research behind it

This game is inspired by Bad News, a browser game launched in 2018 by researchers at the University of Cambridge with the Dutch media collective DROG. In Bad News, players take the role of a fake news producer.

• In a study of around 15,000 participants, playing the game increased “psychological resistance” to fake news. (University of Cambridge, via ScienceDaily, 2019)
• The perceived reliability of fake news fell by an average of 21% after playing, and by 24% for posts impersonating trusted people. People who were most susceptible at the start benefited most. (TechXplore, 2019)
• Follow-up research found the effect of a single play lasted at least three months when paired with booster tests. (Phys.org, 2020)
• The effect held across countries and languages. (Harvard Kennedy School Misinformation Review, 2020)

What we changed

Bad News is about fake news. Scam Simulator applies the same idea to fraud: the social media tactics used to sell fake investments, impersonate banks and brands, and keep victims believing after the warnings arrive.

Made by Trusterity

Trusterity builds fraud-intelligence tools, including Trust Defender, which watches social networks for impersonation and scam campaigns, and T-Frame, a free browser extension that checks emails and messages for scams.