Q&A with Which? and Basis, 2024 Groundbreaking Research Project finalist

Editor’s Note: Which? and Basis are a finalist of the 2024 Groundbreaking Research Project award, a category in the Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards. The winners of the awards will be announced on November 19 during a virtual celebration. To find out more about the awards, visit QuirksAwards.com.

Which? teamed up with Basis to understand consumer behavior around authorized push payment (APP) scams. This research project is now one of the finalists for the 2024 Marketing Research and Insight Excellence Awards in the Groundbreaking Research Project category.  

Using innovative qualitative research methods and techniques grounded in psychological theory, the two organizations were able to show how manipulative scammers are. This resulted in legislation in the U.K. that lessened the burden on the victims of APP scams.

“We are really proud of the impact of this work! Which? used the evidence to push the U.K. Parliament to shape legislation, meaning many more scam victims in the U.K. are now reimbursed,” said the Which? and Basis team.

The study was able to reach millions after publication on BBC News Online, which boosted public understanding and helped build pressure on banks and other regulators.

Now Which? is helping financial services apply the findings to their businesses. The research has also been picked up by the EU Parliament and a team at Consumer Action Australia.

“As a result, many more consumers will now get their money back when they fall victim to APP fraud, in the U.K. and beyond,” said the Which? and Basis team.

Learn more about this project by reading the Q&A below with the Which? and Basis team.

Describe the project on U.K. consumers that is up for this award.

U.K. consumers lose over half a billion pounds every year to APP scams, otherwise known as “authorized push payments.” As the U.K.’s independent consumer champion, Which? sought to convince U.K. policymakers to address the glaring gap in consumer protection for this type of fraud.

To help Which? understand consumer behavior around APP scams, Basis designed an innovative qualitative research method, deploying techniques from psychotherapy, grounded in psychological theory. This approach went deep under the surface of the scam experience, in a way that research had not managed before.

The new evidence showed how scammers take advantage of people when they are distracted, and manipulate them into sending money, easily circumventing existing fraud protections. The findings exposed how anyone can fall victim to an APP scam, and why a different attitude to consumer liability was needed.

These new insights challenged the common belief in the U.K. financial services industry that consumers should be responsible for scams. As a result, they helped Which? achieve a breakthrough, driving lasting positive change for consumers across the U.K.

As a result of this work, the regulator has imposed fairer reimbursement requirements, and U.K. banks are taking better action to prevent scams – directly reducing consumer harm. 

What was the most challenging aspect of this project?

Our objective was to uncover why, when and most importantly how consumers fall victim to APP fraud. However, we knew that standard qualitative interviewing techniques would struggle to lift the lid on true experiences. We hypothesized that victims 'lock away' the emotional reality of scams, and that standard qual would help us understand what happened, but not why.

Our approach drew on psychotherapeutic interviewing techniques to unlock victim experiences: revealing victims’ implicit thoughts and feelings about being scammed, and their relationship with and perceptions of the scammer.

One tool we used was 'psycho-drawing' – where we asked people to draw how life felt around the time of the scam and their relationship with the scammer. Another tool was the Geneva Emotion Wheel – a prompt to help people articulate precisely how they felt at different stages of the scam journey.

In our analysis we identified psychological theories and frameworks that helped to explain victims' experiences and scammers' tactics. We met with an independent clinical psychologist to validate these theories.

We showed how:

  • Scams often occur when victims are beyond their emotional window of tolerance - in moments when people are more susceptible to being defrauded.
  • Scammers’ tactics successfully trigger unconscious biases in decision-making, which impair victims’ abilities to detect a scam. Using complex cues and manipulation, scammers push their victims to act too emotionally or too rationally. Thus, causing victims to make worse decisions than if they were using their balanced “wise mind.”
  • Victims push doubts aside because conflicting information – between their doubts and their belief that the scam was legitimate – is psychologically uncomfortable to hold. And because scammers deploy manipulative tactics to keep the spell intact, skillfully invoking scarcity and loss aversion. 

Would you change anything about the project?

Increasing the sample size always has its advantages in research and, in this case, it would have enabled us to capture a broader range of victim experiences and offer more robust case studies to the government.

Having said this, we were satisfied with the methods used in this project. Most importantly, we're pleased that it provided a positive and supportive environment for participants in order for them to address their traumatic experiences.

Striking this balance was crucial, and we wouldn't want to change that.