This post is one I’ve had some trouble writing (which is part of why it took me two weeks). Not because it’s especially emotional or hits some soft spot of mine, but because it’s so huge it’s hard to know what to write about. This is definitely something that’s going to need follow-up, but I decided to go with a basic overview for this post, and I’ll do a deep dive into particular frauds or aspects in their own posts. So, yeah, if there’s an aspect you’d like to see more about, feel free to leave a comment.
There definitely is a kind of false assumption that if a person falls for some type of fraud or 'scam', they are immediately classified as gullible and susceptible and are 'looked-down upon' in a way. Because as an outsider and as someone seeing the final, big picture, people tend to believe that they would never fall for such scams themselves when that is absolutely not the case. As you wrote, specific circumstances can astronomically influence the rate by which anybody accepts anything: you are highly more inclined to consider tolerating harm, such as a criminal shooting you in the foot, when it appears that the only alternative is a more severe consequence, like being shot in the head or the chest, yet you would never accept getting shot in the foot in the first place. You'd also tend to believe that if you were the one who was getting shot, you'd find some elaborate strategy to escape unscathed or defend yourself when this is also probably not true for the average person, provided someone is pointing a gun at you.
This also ties back to falling for a scam being seen as your personal downfall and completely being blamed on you (which makes the victim less likely to report the crime or even talk about it).
It is true that getting scammed is partly the victim's fault because an adult is -supposed to be - entirely responsible for his actions. It is also true that, with more awareness or education, or by simply taking a step back, a person might have been able to recognize the situation that's going on and retreat. However people need to realize that these situations are not usually as simple as they sound, especially in targeted attacks. Responding logically to an emotional situation is very demanding to do when you're in a crisis - like someone promising a magic cure for a dying loved one - as doing this under pressure requires a lot of willpower, control, discipline and experience, especially as scammers tend to brutally play on our emotions and our thoughts once we let our guard down.
Everybody thinks differently, everybody has triggers where no logic or reasoning prevails, everyone has a weakness or a soft spot, and the scammer's job is to find that and exploit it as much as possible. To mitigate this it helps to be aware of your own limitations and weaknesses: what angers you? why does this person push your buttons? why did this movie make you cry? etc.
Privacy and particularly digital minimalism tend to help in these situations by making you proactive instead of reactive. You're not waiting for a scam to land in your inbox for you to flag it, you're making it harder and less likely for one to do so.
Would definitely love to read more about this, would also love to help making it happen, if that's okay with you.
There does seem to be a weird kind of standard at play when people are seen to have free will and control over their actions, even though things are usually more complicated than that. You see it with addicts - "they chose to take the drugs!" despite it almost always being a result of managing the pain of a serious injury or needing to manage existing severe mental illnesses.
The case of fraud victims I think is similar to the case of people who fall into cults - both are groups who are targeted by those who are extremely skilled and practiced at finding your vulnerable times and soft spots and using them against you to enrich them at your expense.
But yes, people seem to enjoy this post, I'd definitely be keen to explore this idea further with you!
Fantastic post Alan! Loved reading it.
There definitely is a kind of false assumption that if a person falls for some type of fraud or 'scam', they are immediately classified as gullible and susceptible and are 'looked-down upon' in a way. Because as an outsider and as someone seeing the final, big picture, people tend to believe that they would never fall for such scams themselves when that is absolutely not the case. As you wrote, specific circumstances can astronomically influence the rate by which anybody accepts anything: you are highly more inclined to consider tolerating harm, such as a criminal shooting you in the foot, when it appears that the only alternative is a more severe consequence, like being shot in the head or the chest, yet you would never accept getting shot in the foot in the first place. You'd also tend to believe that if you were the one who was getting shot, you'd find some elaborate strategy to escape unscathed or defend yourself when this is also probably not true for the average person, provided someone is pointing a gun at you.
This also ties back to falling for a scam being seen as your personal downfall and completely being blamed on you (which makes the victim less likely to report the crime or even talk about it).
It is true that getting scammed is partly the victim's fault because an adult is -supposed to be - entirely responsible for his actions. It is also true that, with more awareness or education, or by simply taking a step back, a person might have been able to recognize the situation that's going on and retreat. However people need to realize that these situations are not usually as simple as they sound, especially in targeted attacks. Responding logically to an emotional situation is very demanding to do when you're in a crisis - like someone promising a magic cure for a dying loved one - as doing this under pressure requires a lot of willpower, control, discipline and experience, especially as scammers tend to brutally play on our emotions and our thoughts once we let our guard down.
Everybody thinks differently, everybody has triggers where no logic or reasoning prevails, everyone has a weakness or a soft spot, and the scammer's job is to find that and exploit it as much as possible. To mitigate this it helps to be aware of your own limitations and weaknesses: what angers you? why does this person push your buttons? why did this movie make you cry? etc.
Privacy and particularly digital minimalism tend to help in these situations by making you proactive instead of reactive. You're not waiting for a scam to land in your inbox for you to flag it, you're making it harder and less likely for one to do so.
Would definitely love to read more about this, would also love to help making it happen, if that's okay with you.
There does seem to be a weird kind of standard at play when people are seen to have free will and control over their actions, even though things are usually more complicated than that. You see it with addicts - "they chose to take the drugs!" despite it almost always being a result of managing the pain of a serious injury or needing to manage existing severe mental illnesses.
The case of fraud victims I think is similar to the case of people who fall into cults - both are groups who are targeted by those who are extremely skilled and practiced at finding your vulnerable times and soft spots and using them against you to enrich them at your expense.
But yes, people seem to enjoy this post, I'd definitely be keen to explore this idea further with you!