IPB University Academic: Empathy Must Be Balanced with Caution to Avoid Falling Victim to Ride Sharing Scams
A recent viral scam involving requests for rides serves as a reminder that compassion for others must be balanced with caution.
Agung Minto Wahyu, SM, SPsi, MSi, a lecturer in the Family and Consumer Sciences Program at the Faculty of Social and Human Ecology (FISEMA) at IPB University, emphasized that the decision to help should take into account both empathy and the potential risks involved.
“In situations that evoke pity, risk assessment can become suboptimal, especially when decisions must be made quickly and information about the person being helped is very limited,” he said.
Requests for help made in person can also create psychological pressure, causing a person to feel reluctant to refuse, worried about being seen as uncaring, or guilty if they do not help. As a result, decisions are often based more on emotional impulses than on careful consideration.
“Empathy isn’t something wrong or something to be avoided. The problem arises when empathy isn’t accompanied by adequate caution and risk assessment,” he said.
Healthy Empathy
Agung explained that healthy empathy doesn’t always mean fulfilling every request for help. A person can still show concern without neglecting their own safety or their ability to assess the situation rationally.
He distinguished between two forms of empathetic response, which are empathic concern and personal distress. “Healthy empathy reflects empathic concern, that is, compassion that is accompanied by the ability to manage emotions, assess risks, and set boundaries for assistance,” he explained.
In contrast, personal distress causes a person to rush to help solely to alleviate feelings of guilt or emotional discomfort.
Agung also reminded the public not to judge someone solely based on their appearance, age, gender, or the way they dress.
“Caution should not be based on a person’s appearance because that cannot indicate whether someone has good or bad intentions. What’s more important is to pay attention to the level of uncertainty in the situation,” he said.
Ensure These Three Things Before Offering Help
Before deciding to offer a ride, he advised the public to clearly verify three things: the person’s identity, the reason for asking for help, and the destination of the trip. Additionally, it is important to consider whether there are social connections, community ties, or institutions that can serve as references to make the person’s identity easier to verify, as well as to ensure that information is available to help identify or trace the person.
According to him, if verifiable information is very limited, the level of uncertainty becomes high, so vigilance must be increased.
“What you need to be wary of isn’t what the person asking for a ride looks like, but rather how much important information remains unknown and unverifiable. The higher the uncertainty, the stronger the reason to increase vigilance or even refuse to give them a ride,” he emphasized.
Safer Options
Agung added that offering help doesn’t always have to take the form requested. In unclear situations, a person can still provide safer forms of assistance, such as helping to contact family members, arranging official transportation, directing the person to security personnel, or waiting together in a crowded area until other help becomes available.
If you still decide to give a ride, he recommends verifying the passenger’s identity and destination first, notifying family or close friends, sharing your live location, and choosing a route that is well traveled and easily accessible.
“The decision to help must balance the needs of the person asking for help with the risks the helper must bear. Compassion can still be shown without neglecting one’s own safety, because the essence of helping is not the courage to take risks, but the ability to choose a form of assistance that is appropriate, proportionate, and safe,” he concluded. (dh) (IAAS/WSG)
