The Psychology of a Scam

Scammers May Come Across as Morally Twisted and Greed-Driven, But Beneath the Overt Materialistic Motives is a True Mastermind at Work

A Very Real Threat in a Virtual World

We sadly live in a world where there is a sucker born every minute. This is especially unfortunate for gullible folks who frequent the the digital realm of an online scammer.

In our shakey ecenomic state, where everyone wants more money, and people have no time to actually, I don’t know, WORK FOR IT, there has been a visable shift in the route many have justified taking in order to get their slice of the pie.

Scamming has been on the rise in many countries, America included, which is made evident after the report released by the FBI warning American citizens of the dangers lurking closer and closer to home.

In fact, the internet is a virtual candy store for digital dupers, with a plethora of digital paths that lead to victims gallore. Just how many victims are we talking here? Well, to clarify, the FBI reported collective loss of 10.3 billion, (yes, with a b) dollars scammed out from unsuspecting people around the country in 2022.

And that was just the crimes that were reported to authorities. This number is only expected to rise as these web-based thieves find slimier ways to slip in and out of people’s wallets.

Maybe the cyber crooks stalking vulnerable victims on the internet have seen one to many heist movies and fancy themselves a real life version of Danny Ocean, But, you would think with all the time they invest in watching George Clooney fictisiously rob casinos, these greasy guys and gals counldn’t possibly find the time to mastermind a lucrative criminal operation?

And you would be dead wrong.

We will take a closer look at the psychological side of this coin, and try to crawl deep into the criminally-inclined mind of these anonymous philanderers.

What are the Numbers Saying?

Some crimes attract a certain kind of deviant. Our illusive and slippery purveyor of internet sneak-thievery con people because a rush of dopamine brings the thrill of the scam to new hieghts.

Whether it is phishing, which commonly involves impersonating a well-known banking institution via email correspondence, or posing as insurance providers while praying upon victims of recent natural disasters, how low these bottom feeders will go to catch someone in their net is uncertain.

What we do know is that many of these faceless creeps are blind to the pain and suffering they leave in their wake. There are stories from people from all walks of life, all different races, ages, and social classes, who report having their entire life savings wiped out in the blink of an eye.

Recovery of lost funds can be a lengthy and arduous task. However, a reported success rate of around 73% for those who have fallen into traps set by scam artists on the World Wide Web.

ABCnews.com published an article that detailed in the U.S. alone, 2,000 complaints are filed daily and submitted to the FBI Internet Crime Complaints Dept. The report they published for the public is truly stomach wrenching. Over a period of the last five years complaints have nearly quadrupled peaking at over 800,944 in 2022.

The Classified Ads

So, how exactly do these modern-day Madoffs choose their unlucky targets? Well, they have certain criteria that they look for when their net entangles a potential mark.

It’s as simple as trolling places like Facebook, where there are groups dedicated to finding internet companions hoping to score some symbiotic sentiments. A single DM can be copied and pasted for that entire group’s roster and the odds are someone will bite.

These pretend friends will often play to a person’s longing for a meaningful connection with another human being. They will try to sniff out loneliness, sadness, and a general need for a person to interact, be their friend, regardless of the awkard requests for funds.

You would think a request for money would be a huge red flag, however, the need for companionship often blinds truly lonely people from obvious signs of a scam playing out right before their eyes.

Doesn’t hearing that make you want to punch those spineless pukes right in the junk? I have had that urge pop into my head a time or two after reading the internet horror stories about elderly people getting taken for everything they’ve got.

The Lonely Hearts Club

But beyond playing to a need for human interaction and long-distance friendship, there is also the added element of courtship to employ for all the singles ready to mingle on the net.

Romance scams are quickly emerging as sure-fire ways to get paid for many who belong to the community of online predatory species. Fake dating profiles and promises of face-to face meetings abound, the bleeding hearts and die-hard romantics are prime time targets for internet scammers.

Snake Oil Salesman

We all desire something, whether it be to lose some weight, gain some hair, or to get rich quick, there is no limit to the number of things that ail us. And if someone comes along with a cure-all in the meantime, well, you inherently run a higher risk of becoming a proud new owner of some specially-formulated snake oil that will be 100% pure bs. and 100% a case of you live and you learn.

Sometimesw we have those moments where we reevaluate a situation after it goesw bad and hindsight reveals what we missed in real time.

Bias by Default

DBS.com sites an interesting theory that is meant to reveal yet another tactic that the perpertraitor of poo-poo will often use to deflect suspicion from an an intended victim. That strategy is referred to as “Truth Bias.” This theory closely mirrors that of another classification of the human condition called “Optimism Bias.”

The rationale here is based on an innate human tendency to assume that they are being told the truth. Many will often look at the glass half-full and make an unfounded assumption that the person they are interacting with is, more often than not, a purveyor of truth.

Data pulled from case studies done to analyze this type of victimology would indicate the vast majority of victimized individuals to be more inclined to adopt this reasoning if they are solely focused on cultivating some form of a personal relationship.

This harkens back to an earlier theory we discused where there is a person who is almost obsessivly craving the attention of another person, and are far more invested in filling a void perpetuatede by a chronic state of loneliness.

While seeming like an uneccessary risk to take to someone who has a stable support system to fall back on, a victim who see’s themself as alone in the world and is in search of meaningful connections, will often side-step logical thought to pursue a the prospect of gaining a relationship with a person; even if that person is seen as a potential threat.

This happening is yet another peculurarity that presents itself as a deep-seated need we can write off as a drawback of the very thing that seperates us from the other creatures roaming this earth. We often refer to this as “human nature.”

Notice of Adverse Action

The final tactic we will be looking at is acting as an authority figure or imposing a sense of urgency to act. These types of scam scenarios often include scammers posing as the police, or an employee at a collection agency looking to collect on a substantial debt.

The perps goal here is to convince the intended victim to act under duress or under a hightened state of fear of consequences or irreperable reprocussions.

With any luck the threat of impending doom lurking from an unpaid bill, or goodness forbid, police action resulting in the service of a warrant and subsequent arrest can be enough to prompt immediate and irrational next steps carried out by a confused, yet fearful person.

This sudden and often shocking realization that their entire life could be disrupted, or worse, dissmantled by the law, the bank, or other agency wielding that type of power is ll the convincing some need to jump into action.

And that is exectly what people across the country have done, one ACH transfer at a time. With the popularity of mobile banking apps, transfering the indicated amount of funds directly into the provided PayPal, Zelle, or Whatsapp account is short work. Before the victim can even investigate the claims made in the correspondence they have recieved the transfer is finalized. Game. Set. Match.

By the time they realize they have been taken by a scam conisour, it’s too late and they are now negative 5K and have gained one very bruised ego. Labled a sucker and reduced to submitting a form to the other pile of forms sitting in an inbox at the Internet Crimes Division of the FBI.

Con-Victing Ain’t Easy

Although the success rate for the recovery efforts is higher than we may expect, there is a big but after that statistic we should bear in mind.

Cyber criminals are a dime a dozen these days, and our likelihood of escaping from enevitable interaction with one of the many out there becomes slimmer and slimmer each hour that passes.

The best defense against these creepy crawlies prowling the internet is to stay vigilante, use the protections avaliable, like password protection technology, safegaurding your digital presence, and never willingly handing out our personal info to anyone, regrdless of who they claim to be.

Just like in the tangiable world, the virtual multiverse carries risk and it falls on our shoulders to navigate the digital realm while exercising extreme caution. The crroks on the internest are stealthy, coniving, and plan out their schemes with impecible detail to endure optimal results.

With all the time and effort they put into these con jobs, we should take a page out of their book and put just as much time, effort, resarch, and planning into our own endevours. Acting first and using our brtter judgment after the damage is already done is not recommended.

What I do recommend however is checking out some stellar VPN services to help protect your identity online.

Written by The Socioholic

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Nicole is lifelong student with a love for the written word. She authors content with substance & value on topics from self-reflection to social activism.