Self-study
In each of the last ten years, there have been few complaints to law enforcement agencies of telemarketing fraud. ████ ██ ███ ████ ███ ██████ ██████████ █████████████ ███████ ████ ██████ █ ████ ███ ████ ███████ ████████ ███████ ███████ ███ ██ ████████ ██ ███████ █████████
"Surprising" Phenomenon
Telemarketing scams have become an increasingly serious problem in recent years. So why is it rare for the victims of such scams to report the fraud to law enforcement?
Objective
The correct answer must explain why the victims of these scams often don’t file complaints. The stimulus establishes that fraud is an increasingly prevalent problem, so there must be another explanation for the small number of complaints.
9.
Which one of the following, ██ █████ ████ █████ ██ ███████ ███ ████████ ████████ █████████ ██████
a
Telemarketers convicted of █████ ████ ██ ██ ████████ ████ ████████ ████ █████ ██████ █████████ ██ ██████████ ███████
How fraud is punished is irrelevant; we’re looking to explain why few complaints of fraud are filed. A comparison to other nonviolent crimes is also unhelpful in explaining why so few complaints are filed.
b
Most complaints of █████████████ █████ ████ ███████████ ███████████ ███████ ███ ███ ██ ██████ ██████ █████ █████ ██ █████████ █████████ ███ ███ ███████████ ████████ ██ █████ ████ ███ █████████████
Information about complaints that were filed and investigated is irrelevant, because we're just concerned with the complaint stage. The correct answer needs to explain why complaints are often not filed by victims.
c
Some fraudulent telemarketers ████ █████████ █████ ██████████ ███████ █████ ████ ██ ████████ ████ ███████ ████ ██████ ███ █████ █████ █ ████ ██ ███ █████ ███ █████ ██ █████ ████ █████ █████████ ███ ████ █████
Some fraudsters use this scheme, but we don't know how many. Further, we can’t assume that fraud is less likely to be reported when it’s discovered a year or two late. This still doesn't help resolve the conflict.
d
Fraudulent telemarketers typically ████ █████ ██████████ ███████ ███ █████ ████████████ █████████ ██ ███ ██████ ████ ████████ ██ ████ ████ ██ ██████████ ██ ██████ ███████
There’s no indication that jurisdictional issues have any bearing on whether or not victims are likely to report the fraud. The correct answer must explain why many victims don’t file complaints.
e
The majority of █████ ███ ████ ████ █████████ ██ █████████████ ████ ████ ████████ ███ ██ ████ ███ █████ ███████ ███ ██ █████████████ ██ █████ ██████
This explains why many fraud victims don’t file complaints. If most fraud victims are too embarrassed to file a complaint, then it makes sense why few complaints are filed despite fraud being a serious problem.