The Assessment of Situational Judgement Questionnaire: A Novel Instrument to Detect Susceptibility to Financial Scamming

Background: Existing measures of scam susceptibility lack ecological validity and situational variability. Evidence suggests that all adults may be susceptible to scams, though a comprehensive fraud victimization theory remains to be explored. Objective: To identify cognitive and sociodemographic variables that differentiate individuals with high scam susceptibility from those less susceptible. This article describes the development and feasibility of the Assessment of Situational Judgment questionnaire (ASJ), a brief tool designed to detect scam susceptibility. Methods: The 17-item ASJ was developed using a combination of existing scams reported by the Florida Division of Consumer Services and legitimate scenarios. Participants were presented with scam and legitimate scenarios and queried regarding their willingness to engage. Response options were offered with instructions on a 7-point Likert scale (extremely unlikely to extremely likely). Pilot data from a development sample provided the foundation for the final version of the ASJ. Results: The final version of the ASJ was administered to 183 online participants. The Scam factor (8 items) explained 50.6% of the variance. The Legit factor (9 items) reported on a 7-point Likert scale explaining 10.6% of the variance. A Scam to Legit ratio provides a proxy for overall scam susceptibility. Cut-off scores of 24 on the Scam factor, 47 on the Legit factor, and 0.62 on the ratio optimize measures of scam susceptibility. Conclusions: The ASJ is a brief, ecologically valid measure of scam susceptibility. There is a need for a sensitive and specific tool to detect scam susceptibility in clinical, community, and financial settings.