A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and Center for Economic and Social Research (CESR) research initiative determined consistent exposure to online educational interventions reduces investment fraud susceptibility among adults.
The study, “Can Educational Interventions Reduce Susceptibility to Financial Fraud?,” emphasizes the need for effective and ongoing fraud prevention education, with researchers indicating educational interventions can increase consumers’ ability to recognize fraudulent investment opportunities and increase investment fraud awareness.
“Practitioners working in this space have been forced to rely on anecdotal evidence when justifying their efforts because until now, very little published research has examined whether educational interventions can meaningfully reduce individuals’ susceptibility to financial fraud, whether they discourage investing in general, and whether any positive effects might persist over time,” FINRA Foundation President Gerri Walsh said. “These findings underscore the need for repeated exposure to educational resources that enable individuals to make informed choices and help them to recognize, avoid and report financial fraud.”
The scope of the analysis was formed via a sample of 2,000 adults drawn from the Understanding America Study, with participants randomly placed into three groups.
“Our research suggests that short, easily scalable online education programs can meaningfully reduce adults’ susceptibility to investment fraud—and that these effects can persist with repeated exposure,” CESR researcher Jeremy Burke said.
The work revealed educational interventions have immediate positive impacts; interventions have lasting effects when coupled with repeated exposure; interventions did not affect participants’ willingness to invest in legitimate investment opportunities; and the effectiveness of educational interventions varies by consumer characteristics.