Bosley, Nelson ’24 Publish

Professor Stacie Bosley and Tait Nelson ('24 economics major) recently published an article entitled "Detecting pyramid scheme activity with Google trends data" in the journal Applied Economics Letters. The article assesses the potential for using Google trends data to identify fraud activity at the state level. Using victim data from an actual pyramid scheme paired with internet search activity from each state, Bosley and Nelson find that freely available internet search activity is a useful tool for fraud detection. Regulators can use this detection approach to complement other data sources (e.g., victim complaints) to provide just-in-time consumer protection education and allocate enforcement resources.