Deceptive Tactics Research Articles

Stressful environments favor deceptive alternative mating tactics to become dominant

BackgroundDeceptive alternative mating tactics are commonly maintained at low frequencies within populations because males using them are less competitive and acquire lower fitness than those using dominant tactics. However, the successful invasion of a male deceptive tactic is plausible if deception carries no fitness cost to females. Among populations of the gift-giving spider Paratrechalea ornata, males very often offer females a deceptive worthless gift, rather than a nutritive gift. We tested the degree to which deceptive worthless gifts can occur in natural populations living under divergent environmental conditions (moderate and stressful). We examined the plasticity of morphological and behavioral traits and analyzed the fitness of females in relation to the gift type, also examining the paternity acquired by males offering either gift type.ResultsWe demonstrated that worthless gifts can become dominant under highly stressful environmental conditions (84–100%). Individuals in such environment reach smaller sizes than those in moderate conditions. We suggest that the size reduction probably favors low metabolic demands in both sexes and may reduce the costs associated with receiving deceptive worthless gifts for females. In contrast, males living under moderate conditions varied the use of the deceptive tactic (0–95%), and worthless gifts negatively influenced female fecundity. Furthermore, male size, rather than gift content, positively impacted paternity success in the moderate but not in the stressful environment.ConclusionsOverall, this is the first empirical evidence that a reversible deceptive tactic can become dominant when the environment becomes harsh and mate choice becomes limited.

Exploring Human Traffickers’ Means of Control: What Does Citizenship Got to Do with It?

ABSTRACT Human trafficking is a worldwide problem, affecting millions across the globe. With deepening globalization and widening economic disparities, migration is rising, and research is needed to understand the relationship between human trafficking and migration, and the ways traffickers exploit migrants. This study examines the following two questions: (1) What is the relationship between citizenship and the various means of control used by traffickers in destination countries? (2) Do non-citizen victims experience more coercive and deceptive tactics from the traffickers than victims with citizenship in the countries of exploitation? This exploratory study uses data from the 2017 Counter Trafficking Data Collaborative, which contains 25,064 human trafficking cases from 52 countries, to explore the relationship between 14 different means of control and citizenship. The results indicate that victims reported that traffickers use more means of control on non-citizen victims. Specifically, non-citizen victims are more likely to report being controlled through 12 of the 14 means of control – debt bondage, taking earnings, threats, psychological abuse, physical abuse, false promises, restricting movements, restricting medical care, excessive working hours, threats of law enforcement, withholding necessities, and withholding documents. Victims with citizenship are more likely to report being controlled through sexual abuse and psychoactive substances.

Trends in Cyber Crime in India

Abstract: This research paper explores the trends in Cyber Crime in India, considering the country's rapidly growing digital landscape and the associated risks. The introduction provides an overview of the digital transformation in India and its dual impact, highlighting the alarming increase in Cyber Crime. One prominent trend discussed is the rise of phishing attacks, where cyber criminals employ deceptive tactics to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information. Another concerning trend is the proliferation of Ransomware attacks that target various sectors, causing significant financial losses and operational disruptions. Additionally, cyber fraud targeting financial transactions and digital payment systems has become prevalent. The paper also highlights the risks associated with social media platforms and online marketplaces, including identity theft and the sale of illegal goods and services. To address these escalating cyber threats, the paper emphasises the importance of prioritising cybersecurity measures, raising awareness about safe online practices, and establishing robust legal frameworks. The findings underscore the urgent need for individuals, organisations, and the government in India to work together to combat Cyber Crime effectively and secure the nation's digital future

VARIVM ET MVTABILE SEMPER FEMINA: DIVINE WARNINGS AND HASTY DEPARTURES IN ODYSSEY 15 AND AENEID 4

AbstractIn his second appearance to Aeneas in Aeneid 4 Mercury drives the hero to flee Carthage with a false allegation that Dido is planning an attack, capping his warning with an infamous sententia about the mutability of female emotion. Building on a previous suggestion that Mercury's first speech to Aeneas is modelled on Athena's admonishment of Telemachus at the opening of Odyssey 15, this article proposes that Mercury's second speech as well is modelled on Athena's warning, in which the goddess uses misdirection about Penelope's intentions and a misogynistic gnōmē about the changeability of women's affections to spur Telemachus’ departure from Sparta. After setting out how Virgil divides his imitation of Athena's speech verbally and thematically between Mercury's two speeches, the discussion turns to why both Athena and Mercury adopt these deceptive tactics. The speeches are shown to be culminations of the poets’ similar approaches to creating doubt and foreboding around the queens’ famed capacities for using δόλος. Common features in the ensuing hasty departures of Telemachus and Aeneas further confirm Virgil's use of Odyssey 15 in devising Aeneas’ escape from Carthage.

The Influence of False Evidence Ploy Variants on Perceptions of Coercion and Deception

ABSTRACT During custodial interrogations, law enforcement officers are permitted to use various methods of deception to entice a suspect to give a confession. Two of these commonly used methods include the False Evidence Ploy (FEP), and its less deceptive variant, the bluff tactic. While the bluff may appear to be less deceptive than the FEP, it also influences innocent suspects to confess. In the present study, participants were shown 1 of 6 possible videos that varied the type of deception (control/FEP/bluff) along with interrogation length (1/12 hours). Participants rated how deceptive and coercive the interrogation was and rendered guilt judgments. The results indicates that participants failed to distinguish between the FEP and the bluff in terms of either deceptiveness or coercion, and neither deception type nor interrogation length impacted guilt judgments. Judgments of deception, coercion, and guilt intercorrelated, but participants did not distinguish between the deception tactics in any of these measures. The implications for juror evaluations of videotaped confessions during trial and the potential for wrongful convictions are discussed.

Victims of Fashion: Animal Commodities in Victorian Britain by Helen Louise Cowie

Victims of Fashion takes a heartfelt and engaging look at the role of animal-based commodities in Britain from 1800 to 1914. Its breadth, which spans fashionable goods made from birds’ feathers, seals’ furs, elephants’ ivory, alpacas’ wool, perfumes made from civets and musk deer, ambergris made from sperm whales, and bear grease made from bears’ fat, as well as its focus on the domestication and maintenance of exotic pets, astutely showcases the extent to which empire sourced and commodified other species for Edwardian and Victorian luxuries. The work significantly extends its concerns beyond Eurocentric humans to examine a wide range of issues: the ecological impact that collecting and transporting these commodities had on indigenous populations and their originating landscape; how solutions to these ecological devastations often revolved around domestication or relocation to the Americas, Britain, or other colonies; the role of new technologies in making these commodities more accessible to middle- and working-class populations; and the engendered, imperial, professional, and lay conversations that developed around how, when, and where to regulate and maintain these commodities.Using archival research from newspapers, scientific treatises, and articles in the contemporary press, Cowie traces the connection between science, empire, economy, and fashion, discussing how the growing concerns and discourse of these fields affected people’s relationships with the animal world. Moving beyond the technological advancements of the Industrial Revolution, the chapters focus on Victorians’ multifaceted and shifting attitudes toward nature and sustainability as they began to acknowledge their contribution to the Anthropocene. Including the professional opinion and research of contemporary scientists and engineers in these debates, “Victims of Fashion explores the contribution of science and technology to the production of animal commodities and the subsequent role of science in the preservation of wildlife” (13).The first and last chapter pay crucial attention to suppliers’ deceptive tactics to protect, brand, and market their sales. Chapter 1 is especially illuminating in its quantified attention to the lucrative trade of plumage. Fueled by fashion, many humanitarians decried the slaughter of animals not hunted for consumption. In response, milliners blamed the demand of high society, especially ladies of fashion. Chapter 5 adopts this same focus with perfumers, emphasizing the conflict that many women felt, either to behave as nurturing mothers or to participate in society’s latest fashions. This tension appears throughout Cowie’s work in her relatively unbiased coverage of accountability between consumer and supplier.The middle chapters insightfully reveal the predicament of seals and elephants hunted for their fur and ivory, respectively, as well as the arbitrary parameters placed on their protection. Both species were in drastic decline, resulting in conservation that placed limits on hunters and enforced closed seasons and borders to protect these species enough to recover their numbers. However, Cowie astutely notes that such borders did not cater to migration patterns but to political agendas, often overlooking how easily these species could enter dangerous and unmonitored territories. At their very best, these efforts proved precariously successful, and at their very worst, offered a harsh blow to the local economies that attempted to maintain their position in an increasingly imperial market. Cowie deepens her analysis of this political and racial tension in her discussion of Peruvian and Bolivian alpacas. The decline in these species’ health and the overwhelming fatalities that they incurred while transported overseas was often attributed to the working class who handled them or to the supposedly inferior care provided by indigenous populations. Attempts to refine these animals’ breeding and increase the fertility of British landscapes further showcases the racist and imperial agenda that operated alongside animal exploitation.The last chapter focuses on another contentious exploitation of animals—the cultivation of exotic pets. Threading together the varying degrees of awareness and affection provided by human owners, concerns within the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (rspca), and legislative loopholes, Cowie brings her expansive overview to a close by emphasizing the significance of this multifaceted network of animal commodities in the Edwardian and Victorian Eras and updating the plight of these species. Her ability to trace a network of fashion, economy, empire, class, gender, science, conservation, and legislation makes Victims of Fashion a necessary contribution and a friendly introduction to the intersection of Victorian and Critical Animal Studies.

Financial Fraud Detection Based on Machine Learning: A Systematic Literature Review

Financial fraud, considered as deceptive tactics for gaining financial benefits, has recently become a widespread menace in companies and organizations. Conventional techniques such as manual verifications and inspections are imprecise, costly, and time consuming for identifying such fraudulent activities. With the advent of artificial intelligence, machine-learning-based approaches can be used intelligently to detect fraudulent transactions by analyzing a large number of financial data. Therefore, this paper attempts to present a systematic literature review (SLR) that systematically reviews and synthesizes the existing literature on machine learning (ML)-based fraud detection. Particularly, the review employed the Kitchenham approach, which uses well-defined protocols to extract and synthesize the relevant articles; it then report the obtained results. Based on the specified search strategies from popular electronic database libraries, several studies have been gathered. After inclusion/exclusion criteria, 93 articles were chosen, synthesized, and analyzed. The review summarizes popular ML techniques used for fraud detection, the most popular fraud type, and evaluation metrics. The reviewed articles showed that support vector machine (SVM) and artificial neural network (ANN) are popular ML algorithms used for fraud detection, and credit card fraud is the most popular fraud type addressed using ML techniques. The paper finally presents main issues, gaps, and limitations in financial fraud detection areas and suggests possible areas for future research.

Could it be proto magic? Deceptive tactics in nonhuman animals resemble magician’s misdirection.

Could it be proto magic? Deceptive tactics in nonhuman animals resemble magician’s misdirection.

Propaganda and the war on truth: examining informational inconsistencies governing South Africa’s Covid-19 policy response

A review of the intellectual and policy environment announces the absence of transparency and rational discourse in assessing the prevailing Covid-19 policy measures. Contextually, propaganda thrives in times of political uncertainty as it serves to either amplify confusion, induce moral dilemmas,or disguise meanings. To this end, this study examines the quality of political communication, underpinning South Africa’s public policy response to the Covid-19 pandemic. It aims to trace the influence of propaganda in informing policy origins and efficacy as it concerns the lethality of Covid-19. Importantly, informational irregularity must be treated with greater accountability and intellectual inquiry as it concerns masking and vaccine hesitancy. Following a qualitative approach and case study research strategy, this study begins by outlining the propagandistic assault on truth and rationality. Next, it confronts the seeming normality, with which the state, media, intellectual and scientific community have nonchalantly dismissed inconvenient truth in the name of misinformation. Of significance is the war on truth and the growing intellectual appetite for ideological realignment that esteems emotional triumph over empirical soundness. Ultimately, the research shows that scientific rationale has been demoted in favor of social solidarity. Finally, propagandist techniques and elements of deception theory entice the analytical appetite by exposing the modus operandi of deceptive operations at work in both masking and vaccine campaigns. The key findings indicate the use of propaganda and deception tactics at play in perception management with a view of influencing public action, corrupting public discourse and delegitimizing the need for factual accountability, concerning compliance with incoherent Covid-19 policy measures.

Ο πόλεμος φθοράς και η τακτική της εξαπάτησης και του αιφνιδιασμού στις πολεμικές επιχειρήσεις του Βυζαντίου (11ος -13ος αιώνας)

Theory (as attested by the military manuals) and practice prove that attrition warfare and the associated military tactics of deception and surprise played an important role in the byzantine military history. The paper studies cases of attrition warfare and surprise attacks exercised by the Byzantines from 11th till 13th century. Important military leaders such as Alexios I Komnenos were masters of attrition warfare and used skillfully that strategy whenever an open battle against a strong opponent was very precarious. The Byzantines took advantage of the Balkan and Asia Minor mountainous terrain as well as the recruitment of foreign fast moving troops armed with long range shooting weapons that facilitated the exercise of tactics of deception and surprise. These military tactics were mostly successful against the Latins while were occasionally successful against the Seljuks and the Turkomans. The paper concludes that attrition warfare and the tactics of deception and surprise were more often applied during the 13th century –a period that Byzantium’s military resources and capabilities diminished– thus being a distinctive byzantine method of warfare and gave rise to an active role of the infantry who under special circumstances could threaten the western cavalry.

Leveraging Computational Intelligence Techniques for Defensive Deception: A Review, Recent Advances, Open Problems and Future Directions.

With information systems worldwide being attacked daily, analogies from traditional warfare are apt, and deception tactics have historically proven effective as both a strategy and a technique for Defense. Defensive Deception includes thinking like an attacker and determining the best strategy to counter common attack strategies. Defensive Deception tactics are beneficial at introducing uncertainty for adversaries, increasing their learning costs, and, as a result, lowering the likelihood of successful attacks. In cybersecurity, honeypots and honeytokens and camouflaging and moving target defense commonly employ Defensive Deception tactics. For a variety of purposes, deceptive and anti-deceptive technologies have been created. However, there is a critical need for a broad, comprehensive and quantitative framework that can help us deploy advanced deception technologies. Computational intelligence provides an appropriate set of tools for creating advanced deception frameworks. Computational intelligence comprises two significant families of artificial intelligence technologies: deep learning and machine learning. These strategies can be used in various situations in Defensive Deception technologies. This survey focuses on Defensive Deception tactics deployed using the help of deep learning and machine learning algorithms. Prior work has yielded insights, lessons, and limitations presented in this study. It culminates with a discussion about future directions, which helps address the important gaps in present Defensive Deception research.

Argumentation profiles and the manipulation of common ground. The arguments of populist leaders on Twitter

The detection of hate speech and fake news in political discourse is at the same time a crucial necessity for democratic societies and a challenge for several areas of study. However, most of the studies have focused on what is explicitly stated: false article information, language expressing hatred, derogatory expressions. This paper argues that the explicit dimension of manipulation is only one – and the least problematic – of the risks of political discourse. The language of the unsaid is much more dangerous and incomparably more difficult to detect, hidden in different types of fallacies and inappropriate uses of emotive language. Through coding scheme developed by integrating instruments drawn from argumentation theory and pragmatics, a corpus of argumentative tweets published by 4 politicians (Matteo Salvini, Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro, and Joseph Biden) within 6 months from their taking office is analyzed, detecting the types of argument, the fallacies, and the uses and misuses of “emotive words.” This coding results in the argumentation profiles of the speakers, which are compared statistically to show their different implicit strategies and deceptive tactics.

The Role of Deception in a Game of ‘Hide and Seek’

This paper introduces the problem of active deception into the literature on search theory. We consider a game of ‘hide and seek’ in which a hider chooses to hide in one of many cells. Our hider also wishes to remain active which runs the risk of signaling his location. The searcher can look in any cell within the hider’s feasible operating environment but must prioritize his search. To do so, he looks for and has the option of following any indicator of the hider’s possible whereabouts. In conducting his search, however, he also risks signaling where he is about to look next. This gives the hider an opportunity to evade. Each player can employ ‘deceptive signals’, at some cost, to improve their respective chances of success. We examine the nature of the tradeoffs involved in deciding whether or not to use deceptive tactics under different assumptions about the nature of the players’ common operating environment.

Detecting Parental Deception in the Child Safeguarding Context

Amid a scarce body of literature examining the ability of practitioners to distinguish between truthful and deceptive behaviours by parents, this qualitative study evaluated how social workers, healthcare professionals and police officers identified parental deception in child safeguarding contexts. Using constructivist grounded theory, primary data were obtained through interviews and observations with multiagency child safeguarding professionals from three local authorities in England. Results indicate that multiagency practitioners identify and respond differently to features of parental deception. Social workers and healthcare practitioners distinguish between malicious and benign parental deception, and do not acknowledge benign untruths told by parents as lies. All practitioners in the police, social work and healthcare are familiar with various parental deception tactics in their practices, and they rely on their intuition and practice wisdom in detecting deception.‘This qualitative study evaluated how social workers, healthcare professionals and police officers identified parental deception in child safeguarding contexts’Key Practitioner Messages Child safeguarding multiagency practitioners identify and respond differently to features of parental deception. Multiagency professionals identify falsification, omission, evasion and distraction as important behaviour characteristics of parental deception. Deception tactics are deployed selectively by parents with different multiagency practitioners: avoidance, intimidation and refusal to engage are indicators of possible lies in social care; parents are ‘sticking together’ in police practice; and tactics such as aggression, parents exaggerating symptoms and having no explanation for children's injuries are present in healthcare settings.

The Truth of the Illusion: Efraim Frisch’s Imposter Novel Zenobi (1927)1

One the most remarkable descendants of the pícaro is the impostor. A societal outsider like his predecessor, the impostor uses lies to gain a higher social rank, a better professional position, or a larger fortune. And to embellish his life story he employs all kinds of narrative techniques. In his novel Zenobi (1927), the Galician-born Jewish writer and founder of the journal Der Neue Merkur Efraim Frisch (1873-1942) depicts a sympathetic impostor who appears unaware of his deceptions. Only by chance does the protagonist Zenobi discover his talent for slipping into various roles and playing other people, a skill grounded in his capacity for unconscious mimicry. Thus can he become a secret diplomat in the service of the monarchy, a highly respected neurologist, and an English lord. With the help of false titles and aristocratic appearance he acquires the favor of beautiful women and gains access to prestigious homes and societies. However, he does not perceive himself as a swindler, as he identifies completely with his roles and is therefore incapable of deliberate deception. This article explores the extent to which Zenobi’s story follows the traditional patterns of the picaresque novel, and how he transforms or parodies this genre. Ultimately, the aim is to reveal the connection between Zenobi's peculiar psychology and his deceptive tactics.

Deceptive Tactics Used in Online Shopping

The debate on deceptive advertising is getting more critical alongside the proliferation of the Internet and global e-commerce. This study aims to portray the nature and variances of deceptive tactics employed in online shopping sites by utilising an original database and a content analysis. Findings verified that the use of online deceptive advertising practices is common among Turkish online-shopping sites. First and foremost, the study displayed the high propensity of advertisers to omit or obscure information within the online ad content. The findings also provided empirical evidence on the correlational nature of involvement level and price with the deception levels.

Dark Patterns: Social Media, Gaming, and E-Commerce

Dark Patterns are defined as “tricks used in websites and apps that make you do things that you didn’t mean to” (Bringull, 2017). They are implemented to manipulate users with deceptive design tactics using studies on human behavior, and are coined as “anti-user”, since the marginal benefit of corporations are being prioritized over users. This proceeding specifically studies the prevalent dark patterns in the fields of Social Media, Gaming, and E-Commerce platforms. Though Grey et al. initially characterized dark patterns into 12 types of dark patterns (Gray et al., 2018), there are plenty of studies where more categorizations of dark patterns are found in different fields. Finally, this paper sheds light on what could be the next steps for the stakeholders, such as designers, engineers and the overall socio technical system, to better regulate dark patterns in order to minimize user concerns, as well as reduce unethical design practices.

Understanding Deception Tactics with the Utilization of Dating Applications

This study investigated the relationship between the utilization of deceptive tactics and dating applications. The Machiavellian IV Scale, Taxonomy of Deceptive Mating Acts, and Tactics Scale were analyzed and used to gather information from participants’ experiences from online dating. An Independent T-test sample test evaluated the statistical differences between gender and the likely use of deception. One-Way ANOVA determined statistical differences between age groups and their relationship to the use of deception. Pearson correlation assessed the correlation between the numbers of dating applications owned by a single individual to their use of deception. The findings of this study encompass the guiding theories of Hyperpersonal Communication Theory and Evolutionary Theory. The null hypothesis stating that there is no relationship between gender and age to the likelihood use of deception, and the level of Machiavellianism was supported. The experimental hypothesis stating that there is a positive correlation in owning multiple dating applications to increased use of deceptive tactics was supported.

The Availability of HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing and Treatment Services at Crisis Pregnancy Centers in the United States.

Crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) are nonprofit organizations that aim to prevent abortion and promote sexual abstinence before marriage only often using misinformation and deceptive tactics. We sought to describe the availability of HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing, treatment, and referral services at CPCs in the United States. We used CPC Map, an online geocoded directory, to identify US CPCs. From December 2018 to August 2019, we assessed HIV/STI services advertised on CPC Web sites and used a standard script to call CPCs about the availability of services. Referrals were not requested but recorded. Of 2400 CPCs (96.3%) with accessible Web sites, 507 (21.1%) advertised STI testing, 291 (12.1%) STI treatment, and 114 (4.8%) HIV testing. Of 2467 (99.0%) CPCs reached by telephone, 552 (22.4%) offered STI testing, 377 (15.3%) STI treatment, and 208 (8.4%) HIV testing. At centers where services were unavailable, 795 (41.5%) proactively referred for STI testing, 170 (8.1%) for STI treatment, and 170 (7.5%) for HIV-related services. Nearly one-quarter (22.8%) of centers that offered STI testing did not offer treatment or provide a referral. A minority but substantial number of CPCs advertised and offered HIV/STI services. People at risk for pregnancy who seek CPC services likely have outstanding need for HIV/STI services.

A Study on the Concept of Using Efficient Lightweight Hash Chain to Improve Authentication in VMF Military Standard

Authentication algorithms in the form of cryptographic schemes, such as the Secure Hash Algorithm 1 (SHA-1) and the digital signature algorithm (DSA), specified in the current variable message format (VMF) military standard have numerous reliability-related limitations when applied to tactical data link (TDL) and multi-TDL networks (MTN). This is because TDL and MTN require maximum tactical security, communication integrity, and low network overhead based on many protocol header bits for rapid communication with limited network resources. The application of such authentication algorithms to TDL and MTN in a rapidly changing battlefield environment without reinforcement measures will lead to functional weaknesses and vulnerabilities when high-level digital-covert activities and deception tactics are implemented. Consequently, the existing VMF authentication scheme must be improved to secure transmission integrity, lower network transaction, and receive authentication tactical information in VMF-based combat network radio (CNR) networks. Therefore, in this study, a tactical wireless ad hoc network topology, similar to that of the existing CNRs, is considered, and a lightweight multi-factor hash chain-based authentication scheme that includes a time-based one-time password (T-OTP) for network overhead reduction and terminal authentication is proposed, coupled with exception handling. The proposed method enhances the confidentiality of tactical message exchanges and reduces unnecessary network transactions and transmission bits for authentication flows between real-time military terminals owned by squads, while ensuring robustness in limited battlefields. Based on these approaches, in the future, we intend to increase the authentication reliability between wireless terminals in the Korean variable message format (KVMF)-based CNR networks based on the Korean Army Corps network scenarios.