A Laboratory Demonstration of the Fraudulent Telemarketers’ 1‐in‐5 Prize Tactic1

Abstract

Two laboratory experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the 1‐in‐5 prize tactic for perpetrating telemarketing fraud crimes. Across these experiments, the 1‐in‐5 prize tactic (securing acquiescence to a request by misleading a person to believe that he or she has won a valuable prize) resulted in a 5‐fold increase in compliance, including 100% yielding in conditions most similar to those used by fraudulent telemarketers. Possible psychological mechanisms underlying the tactic (including phantom fixation) are discussed.