Anatomy of a scam: Understanding Social Engineering, Emotional Manipulation, and Victim Behaviour in fraud offences, 25 June 2026
Provides a unique insight into the psychology of fraud offences from Dr Nicola Harding, one of the UK’s leading criminologists and financial crime experts.
Focuses on scams not as isolated incidents, but as deliberately engineered psychological processes.
Looks at the mechanics of social engineering to understand how ordinary people are guided, step by step, into decisions they would never make under normal conditions.
Rather than asking ‘why didn’t they spot it?’, the session reframes scams as designed experiences that manipulate attention, emotion, trust, and timing.
This approach is particularly relevant for investigators working in fraud prevention, customer protection, investigations, and frontline response roles.
AGENDA - BST
9.40am-9.50am: Welcome and introduction, Carol Jenkins, The Investigator
9.50am-10.40am: Session One: Why Social Engineering Works
Establishes social engineering as a form of behavioural design with malicious intent.
Explores how scammers exploit predictable human responses to fear, urgency, authority, and loss, and why stress and emotional pressure reliably override analytical thinking.
Introduces the idea of the victim’s emotional journey, showing how attention narrows and cognitive capacity shifts long before any money moves and establishes social engineering as a form of behavioural design with malicious intent.
We will explore how scammers exploit predictable human responses to fear, urgency, authority, and loss, and why stress and emotional pressure override analytical thinking.
10.40am-10.50am: Questions
10.50am-11.10am: Break
11.10am-Noon: Session Two: The CREATE Framework: How Scams Move People from Attention to Action
Introduces the CREATE framework (Cue, Reaction, Evaluation, Ability, Timing, Experience) as a structured way to understand how scams unfold in real time. Participants examine how scammers trigger emotional reactions, shape judgement, simplify action, and isolate victims from support. The framework provides a shared analytical lens for identifying where a scam is “working” and where it might be interrupted.
Noon-12.10pm: Questions
12.10pm-12.30pm: Break
12.30pm-1.20pm: Session Three: Breaking the Spell – Intervention, Response, and Harm Reduction
Focuses on what happens after suspicion arises and explores why many scams continue even after bank contact, warnings, or financial loss -particularly in long-term frauds such as romance and investment scams.
Reframes financial institutions and professionals as psychological first responders, whose language, tone, and timing can either disrupt manipulation or unintentionally reinforce it. Emphasis is placed on empathy, behavioural insight, and intelligence-gathering rather than confrontation or blame.
1.20pm-1.40pm: Questions and discussions
1.40pm: Workshop finishes
HOW TO BOOK
Cost: £219 + VAT (GBP) per delegate per workshop (LEA and Government Agency rate). £259.50 + VAT (Industry rate), per delegate
Booking: Please send the delegates name(s), email address(es) and purchase order (made out to The Investigator) to booking@the-investigator.co.uk or telephone +44(0)844 660 8707 for further information.
Payment can be made by PayPal/debit/credit card. The meeting link will be sent out 7 days before the event.