Tackling drop-off and accessibility in USAGov’s “Scams and Fraud” Wizard
GSA—Public Experience Portfolio
Year: 2023-2024
Due to the nature of government work, certain information may be redacted, names changed and/or technical information withheld.
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Consumers reported losing more than $12.5 billion to fraud in 2024.
Scammers are on the rise and fraud attempts increase year over year. Scams are becoming a daily fact of life. Perhaps you can relate if you have seen or heard any of the following within the last year:
- A call from your local police, fire or state department requesting a donation support, all they need is your name, address and banking information.
- A text message from UPS, USPS, or a trusted postal service claiming a package arrived at a customs agency. They suspect contraband has been inserted and are requesting your information to process an investigation and release your package. However, you have not requested any packages in months.
- You received a call from a strange number claiming a family member has been kidnapped. The voice on the phone sounds just like him/her. You call your family member—to your surprise they are safe in the comfort of their home.
- You received a check in the mail and decided to cash it. Now all your savings are gone.
- The IRS sends you a message claiming you owe them money and will arrest you if you do not pay.
Every year, millions of Americans fall victim to scams like these and their variations. From the famous Nigerian prince to the never-ending “can you hear me” calls…we can only expect these attempts to grow as new technologies emerge.
The sad truth: we have all been victims of a scam or fraud attempt.
The Scam Wizard
Origin story
The scam wizard had its origins long before I joined the USAGov team. Originating as a user-facing chatbot, there was an eventual need for creating a more permanent solution with its own landing page and thus becoming a wizard. Historical archives indicate the wizard’s creation around 2022–2023.
When asked regarding the overall impression, many users were very positive about the new experience. Stating that:
- By removing unnecessary wording and creating a clear path, the participants felt calmer and more confident.
- Most participants prefer the scams wizard because it is intuitive, clear, simple, and useful.
The search for answers led to continued improvements.
01 Did users find this page useful?
02 Did people find the right options?
70% of page views on wizard results pages have “other” or “otro” in the URL. This suggests many people aren’t connecting with the specific choices in the questionnaire pages.
03 Is this what users were expecting?
A big audience drop happens on the start page in that about 1/3 don’t make it to the first questionnaire page. Are users confusing scams for complaints? What are they looking for?
Improvements and iterations
Initial changes
I restructured the initial page, offering instead to provide information upfront and reduce initial friction. This required include more information up front and removing an additional step. My aim was to make sure the language clearly defined this wizard as a guide and not a reporting agency.
On the initial page I also needed to address the difference between a scam and a legitimate complain about a company. I made sure to include a guidance and link where users can verify if they are in fact looking to complain about bad business practices or fraudulent activities.
- Since most people who are reaching this page may be distressed or frustrated by the scam, I decided to maintain a similar structure to the content pages—reducing cognitive load and ensuring they do not need to re-learn where things are in this area.
- The previous wizard removed the secondary navigation (sidebar), we noticed some users were confused on how to go back or know where they are in the process. I re-added the sidebar to reinforce additional links to relevant topics and guide users through the current stage of the wizard. Since this is a content scope consideration, this remains inactive until resources are pulled to it.
- Most users were confused regarding the meaning of imposter scam vs identity theft scams. My initial attempt was to add a brief description to help guide users in selecting the appropriate choices. I also extended the descriptions to provide additional context and specifications as to what we are referencing.
- Based on the research, we also noticed people would associate the scams with how they received them—phone, text, email, etc. To accommodate these mental models, I decided to include them as points of entry to help users. This only serves to please the mental model and has no bearing on the outcomes.
- My initial final results pages had a card (or multiple cards) component detailing steps and directions to report the scam. It was presented as options so the user can choose which path they felt most comfortable with.
- Since users felt unsure about the length of the wizard, I also decided to include a step indicator so they could understand where they were in the process and how many steps were left. This was also repeated in the sidebar as navigational steps. This would be based on USWDS component designs and structures.
Adjustments to initial proposal
The initial changes addressed the user needs, but technical and accessibility requirements also changed what was practical and necessary. In addition, there was an ongoing project that aimed to connect the scam to a conversational design framework. The main concern of the initial proposal were regarding the cards and process indicator. Since the initial solution was based on desktop, we also decided to shift focus to how these interact in mobile.
I needed to make the following changes;
- At the time, there was a plan to connect the wizard with a voice user interface (VUI) chatbot. The initial proposal did not address the category “other”. This is a requirement for conversational design.
- Although most results lead to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website, there was no consistent path, making it difficult to place a step indicator. I needed to revisit the information architecture (IA) and reduce the amount of steps that would make this possible.
- Accessibility review revealed there would be some complications creating the cards components. Since most of the cards also pointed to the FTC site, it would be confusing for users to have multiple cards that point to the same location.
- Card sorting and tree-jack tests also revealed that while the descriptions helped, people were still confused on certain terms. Again, the IA would aim to simplify the grouping into two base categories; Organization and Identity Scams.
- In order to simplify the content, I utilized accordions to simplify and group responses
Additional improvements
Once we tested the new solution, we noticed users were still confused on the final results page. Some users felt the page was too long, and others struggled to identify when the accordion would open or close. To enhance this experience, I made the following changes:
- Remove the accordions and have the final results page only answer one solution at a time.
- The step indicator was no longer usable as such, yet we still needed to let users know where they were. I opted to add a process list on the homepage, indicating how long the process should take—approximately 1–2 minutes—and the expected flow. This would be based on USWDS component structures and guidelines.
- Since we removed the step indicator, I opted to add a visual cue to the user on which step they are in the process as a pre-title.
- I also added the additional resources onto the end pages if the user needs more resources on what they should do.
- Since we abandoned the cards in the previous iterations in favor of radio buttons, I noticed many users would click outside of the circle expecting it to select. To address that issue, I added a hover state to the radio buttons. Accessibility confirmed this was possible and a recommended improvement.
After the final changes and testing were done, we received approval and sign-off. The stakeholders were now confident of its use-case and felt we have exceeded expectations. The wizard is expected to receive an increase in traffic during the IRS tax filling season and will serve as a constant reference of where to report scams and frauds on USA.Gov.
Reflection & outcomes
Scams often affect older adults, low-income communities, and minorities the most. While the tool isn’t a reporting platform, it’s often the first place users turn to in stressful situations. That makes designing for clarity essential—using plain language, supportive visuals, and accessibility features to reduce confusion and frustration. Keeping the user’s emotional state in mind helps build trust and guide them toward the next step.
- The government needs to create with everyone in mind, making accessibility a fundamental component of each product. The need to understand this and our users shape the outcome and results. This project led to being much more knowledgeable on how people may interact with our products with assistive technologies or facing a disability.
- I learned that the government moves purposefully involving a lot of testing, reviewing, and confirming hypotheses before implementing change, creating better products in the long-run. Constant iterations and improvements
- Justifying changes in a large enterprise requires a lot of documentation and proof. To a certain extent, this made me a lot more focused on my documentation, ensuring that it is understandable and detailed where needed.
