From Rejection to Revenge The pain of rejection may trigger everyday acts of fraud.

Rejection hurts. So much that it may be a significant cause of fraud as an act of revenge.
According to a new study, published in Frontiers in Psychology, the pain of rejection incites acts of fraud, even if the fraud doesn’t lead to a
financial reward. The researchers, based in England and the Netherlands, found that rejection motivates dishonesty, making the rebuffed more likely to lie and cheat as well as to commit fraud.

“Rejection hurts,” says study co-author Sophie Van Der Zee of the University of Cambridge. “By cheating, people want to restore the imbalance caused by the rejection itself.”
The study tested the reaction of participants to the acceptance or denial of mock travel insurance claims, with a real-life monetary payout at stake. The “travelers” were told their pretend insurance claims for stolen baggage were invalid either because their trip exceeded the insured time limit or they mishandled their luggage. A control group had their claims accepted without a hitch.

Measurements of emotional response before and after the claim denial found that participants whose claims were turned down became anxious, angry, and frustrated post-rejection, all signaling their pain.
Given the choice to live with the claim denial or fabricate details that might win the claim, the rejected group opted to cheat. They came up with fake travel details in attempts to refute the claim denial.
Van Der Zee and her co-authors ran additional tests to determine whether financial rewards were motivating the fraud. Even without the potential for benefit, they found, participants still reacted with lies.
“It turns out people are just as emotional and dishonest when they don’t receive any monetary rewards,” Van Der Zee observes. In fact, participants reported feeling more emotional intensity from rejection when there was no money at stake. Their desire to win the claim was revenge-based, the only reward being personal vindication.

The investigators believe that everyday acts of rejection may be exacting a high cost on society. Fraud isn’t committed just by con men and ponzi schemers; it’s also ordinary people seizing the opportunity to bend the truth.
Study co-author Ross Anderson, at the University of Cambridge, says even something as mundane as a denied insurance claim can cause “real distress” emotionally. He notes that unclear guidelines for filing claims can leave insurance company customers feeling hurt after a rejected claim, which can lead to a willingness to follow up with a fraudulent claim.
It may seem small, a slight fudging of the facts here and there, but according to the FBI, insurance fraud adds up to $40 billion yearly. And when insurance companies make big payouts, they bump up the cost of policies across the board. Everyone ends up paying more