We’re still falling for fake news scams, but scientists finally know why (and offer some striking advice on how to spot it)

Whether you actively browse the world wide web or only use the internet to open your mail: you can hardly avoid online deception and misinformation. Sometimes it’s Nigerian princes who promise you tons of money if you transfer some money yourself first. Other times it’s women who happen to be in your area and are looking for an adventure. ‘Nobody will fall for that’, you might think. But determining whether other people are lying online turns out to be a lot harder than it seems.

“People around the world are losing billions to online scams every year,” say involved researchers Tali Sharot and Sarah Zheng. “This trend has worsened since the corona pandemic and is further amplified by the rise of generative AI.”

Card games

To better arm people against this, the scientists decided to conduct research into this type of online scams and phishing. “Because before we can help people detect online scams, we first have to understand why they fall for it in the first place.”

The researchers then 2024 fresh whatsapp number list conducted three experiments with 310 participants. The subjects participated in an online card game played in pairs. During this game, they were given cards, some of which would result in financial gain, while others would result in losses. The participants were given information about how likely it was that they would receive each card from a deck.

2024 fresh whatsapp number list

Research

In addition, participants could choose to lie about the card they had received, which would allow them to win more money សារៈសំខាន់នៃការប្រើប្រាស់ត្រឹមត្រូវនៃបញ្ញាសិប្បនិម្មិតក្នុងយុទ្ធសាស្រ្តទីផ្សារ at the expense of another player. The participants were free to choose whether or not to do this.

At the end of each game, they had to ar numbers indicate how honest they thought the other player was. Sharot and Zheng: “We then investigated which cues people used to judge the honesty of others. For example, did they think others were lying if the other person reported having a rare card? Or were they more likely to think others were lying if they themselves were lying? Or does it have more to do with winning or losing?”

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