Reducing Consumer Fraud and Scam Victimization Through Incubation

Abstract Consumers often struggle to recognize and resist complex scams, leaving them vulnerable to costly fraud. This research introduces incubation—a pause in active information processing—as a promising strategy for improving scam detection. Across three studies, this work demonstrates that incubation reduces consumers’ susceptibility to fraudulent offers. The effect is explained by materialism and varies by relationship status and self-esteem. By extending incubation theory into the domain of consumer fraud, this work sheds light on the psychological factors underlying scam vulnerability and suggests that policy-relevant interventions such as disclosure timing requirements or default delays in financial transactions, may help reduce consumer fraud victimization.