Wacana English Edition: Scammers are sociopaths, they lack empathy, experts say

SHAH ALAM - Scammers today can be classified as sociopaths, as they do not care about the consequences of their actions as long as they get rewarded for them.

In saying this, Universiti Malaya Senior Lecturer and Criminologist, Dr Haezreena Begum said fraudsters are usually normal people with good education qualifications.

"These scammers can be anybody; some of them have PhDs, are students, and come from all walks of life, and they told me this fraudulent activity involves brain work," Haezreena, who used to be a lawyer representing scammers, said.

Taking love scammers for example, they admitted that although there are emotional attachments to the victim, but they usually leave them cheated. For them, it is all about the money for these scammers, she added.

"These scammers usually justify themselves by stating that they have invested time, effort, and emotions to actually speak with and accompany their victims.

"Believe it or not, these scammers look and behave like normal people. And when they chat with their victims, they form attachments.

"However nice they relationship maybe, but their main priority is only the money," she said.

Haezreen said scammers lack empathy and couldn’t care less as long as they get their money from the person they are cheating.

Echoing similar sentiments, Crime Prevention Specialist Dr Shamir Rajadurai agreed that these scammers lack empathy.

"Another technical factor is that they were not physically hurting you.

"You can still survive and you can earn your money back, that is their thought process," he said.

Hazreen and Shamir were guest speakers in the Wacana English Edition, "Scammer Alert, Don’t Fall for It," along with Bank Rakyat's Senior Vice President Fraud and Corporate Integrity, Mohd Azril Fadzli Azmi.