The rising phenomenon of financial scams: evidence from Japan

Yoshihiko Kadoya, Mostafa Saidur Rahim Khan and Tomomi Yamane

Journal of Financial Crime, 2020, vol. 27, issue 2, 387-396

Abstract: Purpose - This study aims to examine the demographic, socio-economic and personality determinants of financial scams. Design/methodology/approach - This study uses data on scams collected in Hiroshima prefecture in Japan for the analysis and analyzes using the logit regression model. Findings - The results show that the current level of financial dissatisfaction increases the probability of being a victim of a financial scam. No other demographic or socio-economic factor is related to incidents of financial scams. Using the “big five personality traits,” this study finds that lower conscientiousness is the only personality trait that increases the probability of being a victim of a financial scam. Research limitations/implications - Overall, the results suggest that people with low conscientiousness could be easy targets of financial scams and financially dissatisfied people could engage in potentially risky and fraudulent projects. Originality/value - Financial scams are a long-standing concern for Japan. Every year, an increasing number of financial scams are being reported, though there are very few empirical studies examining victims’ profiles and other determining factors.

Keywords: Japan; Personality traits; Socio-economic factors; Financial scam (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:jfcpps:jfc-05-2019-0057

DOI: 10.1108/JFC-05-2019-0057

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Financial Crime is currently edited by Dr Li Hong Xing and Prof Barry Rider

More articles in Journal of Financial Crime from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().