Professor of Psychology and Molly Mason Jones Chair in Psychology Stacey Wood spoke to Marketplace about the reasons why Chinese-language robocall scams have successfully targeted so many victims. Wood said that scammers’ use of well-known company names adds a veneer of trustworthiness to their calls. “It’s kind of an essential principle of persuasion research,” she said. “When we see a familiar name, a name that we trust, we tend to find it more credible.”