Thematic Analysis of Consumer Frauds and Scams Against Ethiopian Immigrants in the USA; A Phenomenological Case Study in Washington Seattle

The purpose of this study is to assess electronic consumer frauds and scams against vulnerable Ethiopian immigrants living in Seattle area. The research contributes to understanding the patterns and typologies of consumer frauds and scam specific to immigrants. The study looks at the physical, emotional, mental and economic impact of the fraud on the immigrants interviewed. Employment frauds, romance scam, and grandparent scam were common. The fraudsters and scammers contacted frequently the new entrants to the United States of America through unsolicited texting, fake e-mail, letting them click on unsecured ads link and social media. This study suggests on consumer protection laws and policy. This phenomenological study is based on in-depth interviews by the author with ten migrant victims. The demographic characteristics such as age, sex, level of education, and the form of employment, type, and level of financial knowledge were the leading risk factors of the phenomenon. Consumer product and services frauds and scams such as tax return service fraud, immigration service scam, ‘‘Microsoft tech support'' scam, craigslist car sale scam, and ‘‘journal publish'' scam took the lion share of the prevalence. The sufferers realized the phenomena as frauds and scams understanding activities on their debit card, e-mail, and mail-alert. Most respondents haven't reported and not filed a complaint with the concerned legal bodies due to the determining factors and socio-economic and cultural constraints. Psychologically, they lost their faith and confidence in the world; lost their time and lost personal information privacy. These effects outweighed the material and monetary loss. As a result, the victims planned to use the traditional in-person deal instead of e-commerce businesses