Scamming and Trust
I was reading this article from the ConsumerAffairs.Com website on what they think the top ten scams of 2006 are. Having read it, it made me think about why so many people actually fall for scams in the first place. Does the fault fall on the victims of the scam as much as on the scammers themselves?
I guess it depends on the type of person you are. At one end of the spectrum, there are some people who are naturally trusting and would by default believe anything that a stranger says. These people tend to give others the benefit of the doubt and therefore are more vulnerable to scammers who take advantage of this character trait. In the article, it mentioned that elderly people tend to be more affected/targeted by scammers. I guess there is some positive correlation between that and the fact that society perceives old grannies to be weaker and vulnerable.
At the other end of the spectrum, there are those who are naturally skeptical and would by default question anything that a stranger says. These people tend to not accept anything said at face value and would require evidence backing up the statements before accepting it as truth. I’d imagine that a scammer would find it difficult (if not impossible) to get their way with these people, unless they happen to be particularly greedy.
For me, I think I sit in the skeptical side of the spectrum. I tend to question most things and I won’t accept blind statements as fact/truth unless I have enough evidence backing it up. Hence, I consider myself rather immune to scams. I guess my attitude is “if it’s too good to be true, then it probably is (unless I can find evidence to point to the contrary)”.
Where do you, gentle reader, sit in this spectrum and how vulnerable do you think you are to scams? Do you think naturally trusting people who get scammed are themselves as much at fault as the scammers who prey on them?