Why do people fall for scams?
It’s an interesting question. Many of us are adamant we would never be suckered into a scam – especially online – yet many people every single day fall prey to online predators looking to fleece them of their hard-earned cash.
In this article we will take a brief look at some of the common reasons scams seem to work -, at least for a while.
“Get Rich Quick” Is Intoxicating
It’s just my personal opinion, but I believe this is most likely the #1 reason people fall for scams. We all want and need money in our lives, and no matter what our goals are or our current predicament, none of us want to be struggling financially.
As most people are already working day after day or running a small business, the thought of having to put a lot of work and effort into a new venture can often just sound like too much to bear, so you combine the words “rich” and “quick” and this sounds like the solution to all their problems.
I mean, if we all had a choice of getting rich slowly with loads of hard work or getting rich virtually immediately with very little effort, which option would most of us choose?
The honest answer to that question is most would prefer the second option of getting wealthy rapidly with not much work. That’s the option I would choose without a doubt.
Unfortunately this is really just a fantasy. While there are circumstances that exist where big money can come quickly, it’s a rarity rather than something that happens with any sort of regularity.
The lure of get rich quick and easily is just too tempting an idea to pass up for many people; especially anyone strapped for cash who feels like they don’t have much time to put into a new idea or venture.
Gullibility
It sounds like a harsh word to use, but it’s people’s lack of awareness and experience that often gets them caught in the scammer’s snare.
I personally don’t like the word “gullible”, as it sounds like a derogatory word that many people who have been the victim of scams don’t deserve. Yes, they may have been gullible, but it is the scammer who deserves to be labelled with negative and derogatory terms, not the victims.
People need to be educated about scams, particularly online ones as there are just so many. No one should jump aboard anything they know nothing about without first doing some research on the company or money making system they have come across. If something is a scam, there will be information out there about it. Conversely, if something is legit, then you will also find info to back this up as well.
Scammers Are Smart and Often Professional
Maybe not in all cases, but the majority of scammers prowling the internet run slick and sophisticated operations. They know the online space really well, know how to avoid detection personally and to cover their tracks, and what they are most adept at is being able to push the right emotional buttons on people to get them to part with their money.
Often the same group of people will be running multiple scams at the same time, working as a team and constantly changing the face of their products once they get a bad reputation and re-release the same idea under a new name. These people will even go so far as to create dummy websites of legitimate companies so they look exactly the same as the real website. It’s a very common practice for scammers to emulate the websites of large banks and PayPal.
The point is, while some things we come across just immediately scream SCAM! because of the sheer shoddiness of their websites, many operations look super professional, with heaps of videos (usually performed by actors), loads of testimonials, facts and figures, training courses (often linking the participants to other products the scammers own so they can make even more money), and all kinds of sophisticated tools and landing pages and widgets and what have you. Some scammers go to great lengths and expense to really set up their bogus operations to look like a winning deal.
Why? Because they know if they go to this effort they will sucker in so many people that the payoff will be huge and fast. These guys even go to great expense to arrange official launches and spend a ton of money on promotion of the launch.
Making Emotional Decisions Rather Than Logical Ones
As I’ve mentioned, scammers work by preying on people’s needs, wants and especially their emotions. If you can get someone to make an emotional decision (as in buy into a scam) it is often a poor decision. Scammers know this and they know just how powerful emotions can be; particularly when they are attached to dollar signs.
No matter how desperate someone is for cash and quick money, they should always just take a step back and allow their emotions to settle so that logic can prevail. Only then will they be able to accurately assess the “opportunity” before them for what it is.
Selling the Dream is a Powerful Lure
Scammers are experts at selling the dream lifestyle, that’s why many of their websites have photos of people living the high life; travelling around on yachts and private jets, sipping expensive champagne on the French Riviera while nibbling on crackers and caviar. Pictures of stacks of cash are also often employed.
We all want this and these images push those emotional buttons of desire for this kind of life.
Now there is nothing wrong with any of us wanting and aspiring to a dream life (we should want it), but we have to be careful to keep our emotional dreams in check and always evaluate an opportunity thoroughly before committing to it. There are legitimate ways to achieve a dream lifestyle.
What’s More Powerful? Greed or Logic?
Logic should be, but anyone just has to have been alive for a few years to notice that greed will often overpower logic. Any criminal will attest to this fact if they are honest. It’s what drives many to commit crimes. It’s what drives the scammers of the world. And it’s also what often drives people to buy into a scam in the first place.
That’s not to suggest that everyone who has been fleeced by a scam has the mind of a criminal or is particularly greedy, but greed, even subtly, will often invade the headspace and get people to act in a way that they really should avoid.
Let Me Introduce a Legitimate Opportunity
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The business I’m referring to is affiliate marketing. I’ve been doing it for years now and I get to enjoy the lifestyle freedoms of working from home. I even know and network with many other affiliate marketers, some of them quite successful.
The trick to making money from this business is to learn to do it the right way at the very beginning. I got some proper training as did thousands of other successful marketers.
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Darren Burton
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This is a very interesting article.
I LOVED the picture under the headline. Anyone who is looking for information about scams (and there are a lot of them online), would have no choice but to stop in their tracks when they see that picture, so good job on that!
I enjoy your articles very much. Keep up the good work!
Thanks Oliver. Glad you liked it. Too many scams on the internet for my liking, that’s why I like to help make people aware of them.