Logical reasoning PrepTest 115 · Section 4 · Question 9

Incorrect. The outcome of a trial after a police investigation doesn't speak to people's willingness to report that crime to begin with—especially since this answer doesn't establish that people are aware of these outcomes.

Incorrect. While this answer may explain why a lot of telemarketing scam artists aren't prosecuted, it doesn't explain why they're not reported in the first place. At best, this answer would explain the failure to report if people knew that the report was unlikely to lead anywhere, but it fails to do that.

Incorrect. This answer is similar to (B) in that it presents a difficulty in investigating and prosecuting these crimes, but not an impediment to reporting them in the first place.

Incorrect. This answer is about a difficulty in prosecuting these cases, which shouldn't matter to the reporting/investigating phases!

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Facts

Question Type:
Paradox

Stimulus Summary:
People keep falling for telemarketing schemes, but there are barely any complaints about them.

Answer Anticipation:
As with all Paradox questions, we need to clearly define the paradox here.

In this case, the prevalence of telemarketing schemes that are "bilking" victims out of millions of dollars would suggest that there would be a lot of police reports filed over them. However, there have only been a "few" complaints over the past decade! As such, we need a reason that someone could be taken in by a telemarketing scam but not report it.

Any such explanation will serve as a correct answer, but one strong possibility is that people don't report them because they're ashamed of falling for the scam. We can keep an eye out for that answer while also considering other possibilities.

Answer Explanation:
This answer provides a reason that people wouldn't be willing to report the telemarketing scam, so it resolves the discrepancy.

Key Takeaway:
There are actually quite a few Paradox questions that bring up real-world situations to resolve, and they have answers that match the explanation in the real world! If you see a situation that you've heard about before, there's a good chance that the correct answer will reflect your understanding of it. Don't make assumptions based on the real world, but do use it to guide your work.