Vulnerabilities to Crypto Currency Scams and Online Persuasion Strategies (2025)

Luoma-aho, V., Botha, J., & Hautala, M. (2025).

As deepfakes and scams online become more common, many individuals, organizations and nation-states struggle to maintain trust and remain credible sources for their stakeholders. Increasingly algorithms shape the digital information landscape, choosing what content is displayed and deepening the individual silos of information seeking. Recently it has been suggested that the best efforts to combat misinformation are not to try to stop its spread but through understanding the vulnerabilities on which it lands in the individual receiving the false information. There is an urgent need to investigate the mechanisms and extent of deception in online environments, as little is known about these specific vulnerabilities that then cause individuals to become victims for online scams. In the digital environment, different vulnerabilities exist yet they result from siloed studies in specific contexts. This paper starts by categorizing the different levels on which digital communication may be vulnerable. Further, this research asks how these vulnerabilities are utilized and what persuasion tactics are at use when crypto scams are concerned. Building on the persuasion principles, this paper analyzes three recent highly successful online scams. The findings conclude that social proof and scarcity were most used influence mechanisms, suggesting that scam prevention needs to understanding the vulnerabilities on which these influence mechanisms build.

Keywords: Digital vulnerabilities, Misinformation, Persuasion tactics, Crypto currency, Scams

Vulnerabilities to Crypto Currency Scams and Online Persuasion Strategies. In S. J. Blackmon, & S. Karahan (Eds.), Vol. 20 No. 1 (2025) : Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security, ICCWS 2025 (pp. 194-203). Academic Conferences International Ltd. The Proceedings of the … International Conference on Cyber Warfare and Security, 20.