This article serves two purposes. If you are a victim of a scam, it allows you to be aware and free yourself. If you are a scammer, it will allow you to be better at your trade.
How I got scammed, almost.
I will begin with this story, which happened to me few years back. I settled in a new country and few months down the line I got a call from internal revenue department. I was a good listener, and I listened to what they said. It started as a friendly discussion about my work and then told me my accounts have been showing fraudulent activity. And suggested my identity was hacked by some criminals for money laundering. And I am at risk of losing all my money and legal actions. And at this point Panic set in, and I did not know what to do.
And they said they would help. Help to safeguard myself and my money. And after a long discussion of how to, I transferred my money to an online app. At this point I did not know what I am doing as emotions had overwhelmed me. However, I had trouble transferring money as I wasn't at all good at doing this. Suddenly the lady on the other end got angry and slightly broke her character. Then it hit me! I am being scammed! It's not about my next-door Neighbour being a criminal and this itself is the scam!
At that point I got help. I had great trouble recovering my money, but after a few days I got everything back. Luckily, I did not complete the full scam. It was emotionally devastating for days.
I have been watching online scamming videos before. I was fully aware of the risk, yet it happened. If it wasn't for the lady who got impatient, I could have lost thousands of pounds that day. I can attribute it to me being not having awareness or, the smartness of scammers to use local numbers with good English accent. Yet there is fundamental to such why that it works. And that is fear.
Secret behind a successful scamming.
Secret behind a successful scamming is making the victim into believing something bad is going to happen. In other words, plant a seed of fear. That was the trap I fell into. Once they plant a seed of fear in your head, it will blind the judgmental ability no matter how smart you are. Once the fear is there it doesn't matter how many scamming videos you have watched. And scamming will easily happen if you are an introvert like me.
Scamming is not a new occupation.
In fact, we were the victims of scams even when we were children. That's how we ate broccoli! Our parents used to implant a seed of fear in our minds of what will happen if we do not eat broccoli. And they became saviors. When grandma told stories of monsters to make us sleep early, grandpa became a hero by creating worriers who are so powerful against dirty monsters.
Scammers are everywhere
Once you know the fundamental tool of scamming is the fear. You will notice some subtle forms of scamming which are underway at this very moment. Turn on the news and look how our politicians talk. They do not only talk about bright positive future that they are going to create, most of the time they talk about what bad shit would happen if the opposition came into power. They create the monster first from their own words so they can be saviors of the crowd. And that is scamming at its best.
How about religion?
I know you will disagree on this. Only until your mindfulness starts to shine. Then you would see it as a truth. First, we learn about hell, where every bad person goes to, and they create a heaven, every good person can go to. We have neither seen the heaven or the hell. Yet when there is fear, we just follow set of guidelines and someone would benefit. I'm not specific about any religion, but this is common to any culture or religion if you are careful enough to consider without prejudice. Not at all means we should go against someone's belief. Simply means, it is a solo journey in silence.
Good cop Bad cop
I am sure this is the tactic used to drag otherwise a neutral public into war. You may see this used in medieval times where public executions were the norm. When fear settles in it is easy to rule. In modern day, interrogation of criminals this is still used. They call it good cop bad cop combination. When one guy plays the role of bad cop and plant seeds of fear, the other guy tries to appear helpful and save you from doom. That way you will be scammed of information, even against yourself!
Box of entertainment or box of Scam?
If you look at in half of tv advertisements, you see this. They talk about germs giving you a stomachache unless you use that clinically proven soap. Or you will suffer without money in future unless you use their platinum retirement plan.
In this blog also, I have used some seeds of fear, to plant a seed of wisdom. Yet I have exposed myself now, hence technically I claim not to be a scammer!
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