EXPLORING FACTORS THAT PERSUADE YOUTH INVOLVEMENT IN MONEY GAME

Abstract

ABSTRACT Most of the youths may have the mentality of getting rich in an abbreviated period. People with this mentality are more easily to be attracted to involve in an illegal investment scheme such as money game. Money game can be known as a get-rich-quick scheme, pyramid investment scheme or Ponzi scheme. It is well informed that the money game is a fraud. However, there are still many people who are attracted to join them. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to explore the factors that persuade youth to involve themselves in the money game. The data for this research obtained through semi-structured interview using non-probability sampling as the sampling technique where subjects that selected were based on the convenient of accessibility and proximity of the researchers. The informants of this research were the victims of the money game schemes and the range of the age is between 18 to 35 years old regardless of any races and gender. This research found that peers play a significant role in the decision-making process as they are one of the most people had spent more time and having an intense relationship other than family. Besides, they decided to join the money game also because they are having a challenging situation where they really need money to survive and to sustain their life. They believed that by joining the money game, it able to solve their financial issue. Low salary also one of the factors that forced the youths to join the money game. Low salary made them suffer to cover their expenses. The implication of this research shows that many of the youths were lacking in the financial literacy which makes the youths easily to fall into investment fraud. Keywords: youth, money game, persuasive communication, financial literacy, fraud