Analysis of Fraudsters’ Discourse Strategies from a Goal-adaptational Perspective

Abstract

Telecommunications fraud is a pervasive global crime, often carried out by criminal organizations using pre-designed scripts. This research focuses on the discourse strategies used by scammers in telecommunications fraud, specifically examining how they use language to achieve their fraudulent goals. It explores how these strategies adapt to the communicative context across physical, social, and mental dimensions. The study identifies three primary discourse strategies: impersonation, emotional manipulation, and default. These strategies are driven by the central goal of the scam and adapt to specific communicative situations, ultimately leading to the victim being deceived. Analyzing the discourse strategies in telecommunications fraud is highly relevant in practice. This research can help raise public awareness and improve people's ability to identify scams, thereby enhancing society's overall resilience against fraud.