Table 4 Regression of fraud incidence of COVID-19 spread during days of high- vs. low-fraud awareness.

From: Vulnerability and fraud: evidence from the COVID-19 pandemic

 

Dependent variable: ∆SCAM_CASES

High-fraud awareness days

Low-fraud awareness days

Coef.

p-value

Coef.

p-value

Panel A: Regression results

 LAG∆COVID_ CASES

−0.0086

0.798

0.1984

0.001

 Control variables included

YES

YES

 N

103

105

 Adj. R2

0.2732

0.2823

Panel B: Test for the difference between the coefficients

 Dif. b/w coef. on LAG∆COVID_ CASES

−0.2070

 χ2 (p-value)

17.89 (p-value < 0.001)

  1. This table presents the results of the regressions of fraud increase on COVID-19 case increase during high- vs. low-fraud awareness days. The fraud awareness level is measured as the Google Search index value of three keywords (fraud, scam, and Ponzi scheme) in Google Trends. High- (low) fraud awareness days are defined as those days with fraud awareness levels above (not above) the median of the sample period. Panel A gives the regression results. Panel B gives a comparison of the coefficients on the COVID-19 case increase during high- vs. low-fraud awareness days.
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