Wham, Bam, f#@! you, SCAM!!

Continue reading to get answers around the important questions of scamming :

• How to scam
• Why to scam
• Who to scam
• When to scam

First, from the great philosophers of Smash Mouth :

Why can’t we be friends?

Why can’t we be friends?

Why can’t we be friends?

Why can’t we be friends?

Seriously, though? There are so many smart, talented people who are using their power to take advantage of other people. This causes other people to have to use their smarts and talents to combat those who do harm. What a waste of time and resources! Just think what could happen if we all worked together? (OK, rant over. Departing from my soapbox.)

I suppose I wouldn’t have a career in the CyberSecurity industry if there weren’t some bad people to stop. So, in a way, “Thank you Scammers.” However, <explicative> you.

In today’s constantly connected world, it seems there is no shortage of opportunity to take advantage of people. Although, scams are not new. Taking a quick look at Wikipedia, one of the earliest scammers on their site was William Chaloner, born in 1650. Good ‘ol Billy C (my nickname for him) was involved in “money counterfeiting, coin clipping, and quack doctoring”. He was an avid “confidence trickster” .

According to Wikipedia:

A confidence trick (synonyms include con, confidence game, confidence scheme, ripoff, scam and stratagem) is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their confidence, used in the classical sense of trust. Confidence tricks exploit characteristics of the human psyche, such as credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, and greed.

How to Scam Someone :

Clearly, scams have been going on for hundreds of years. In fact, one might wonder if there was a caveman scam regarding ‘cave-front property next to fire and easy access to hunting grounds’. I digress… However, there was a book written in 1923 called Confessions of a Confidence Man: A handbook for suckers, written by Edward Henry Smith. In it, Smith describes the several stages of a successful con:

Foundation Work

Preparations are made in advance of the game, including the hiring of any assistants required.

Approach

The victim is contacted.

Build-up

The victim is given an opportunity to profit from a scheme. The victim’s greed is encouraged, such that their rational judgment of the situation might be impaired.

Pay-off or Convincer

The victim receives a small payout as a demonstration of the scheme’s effectiveness. This may be a real amount of money, or faked in some way. In a gambling con, the victim is allowed to win several small bets. In a stock market con, the victim is given fake dividends.

The Hurrah

A sudden crisis or change of events forces the victim to act immediately. This is the point at which the con succeeds or fails.

The In-and-In

A conspirator (in on the con, but assumes the role of an interested bystander) puts an amount of money into the same scheme as the victim, to add an appearance of legitimacy to the scheme. This can reassure the victim, and give the con man greater control when the deal has been completed.

In addition, some games require a “corroboration” step, particularly those involving a “rare item”. This usually includes the use of an accomplice who plays the part of an uninvolved (initially skeptical) third party, who later confirms the claims made by the con man.

Isn’t this fascinating? No doubt there is some nuance here. In the steps above, the “build-up” may be more of a threat of legal action, etc. What’s fascinating to me is that for hundreds of years, people have been using the same mechanisms to scam people, and it is still successful to this day! Also interesting, in my opinion, is that now that pervasive technology is involved, the avenues and mediums with which to perpetrate a scam are constantly expanding.

One website I’d encourage you to check out is actually the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) Consumer Information website. Honestly, they had a wealth of information around a variety of topics. One of their blog posts described the common tactics they see scammers use:

Outrageous claims — “You are about to receive a very special guide that reveals how you can make six figures online in the next ninety days or less”

Deceptive testimonials — Videos of members scuba diving, hiking, and lounging by a pool as money poured in on autopilot

High-pressure upselling — “You are leaving $60,000 on the table” by not moving up to the next membership tier

Free trial periods that aren’t as they seem — Ads promising 14-day “test drives,” but fine print giving people just 72 hours to cancel

In some later posts, we’ll break down tactics to specific scams common today. For now, I’ll just sign off with a statement from the FTC:

If someone promises you fast and easy money, you can bet it’s a scam. Slow down. Search the company’s name online with words like “scam” or “complaint.” Share what you know with a friend, and help others by reporting what you’ve spotted to FTC.gov/complaint.

Have you been victim of a scam? Tell us about it below!

#StayVigilant

#StaySafe

#LookOutForEachOther

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