Why are we gullible? A book by a psychologist reveals the truth behind it

Why are we easily deceived? A book by a psychologist reveals the truth behind it

If you ask me whether I have ever been scammed, I can honestly say that I have been scammed, and more than once.

A few years ago, when I was shopping online with a website, I clicked on a link sent to me by a seller and had all my money transferred from my balance.

On another occasion, when I listened to a salesman's fancy sales pitch, I paid a lot of money for an item whose price did not match its value, and then had no way to return it, so I had to suffer in silence.

This is not to mention all the scams and losses we have suffered in our daily lives, but of course these experiences may not be enough to qualify as a scam.

After all, the really big scams are often difficult to detect, meaning that you are not aware that you are being scammed and blame yourself for your bad luck, so you willingly accept your losses.

Why do we get scammed? What is so clever about the deceptions that we fall for? Why do those who cheat us easily fool us?

What is the reason behind this?

The American psychologist Konnikova has written a book entitled "Why Are We Fooled?

She has done a fascinating study and review of the world-famous masters of deception and their elaborate stories of deception and the human psychological needs that are reflected behind them.

In this book, we will understand three things through Connie Kova's narrative.

The 1st thing, why we are prone to believe, the big pie that strangers paint for us.

The second, why we are blind to the danger signs.

The third thing is why even the so-called highly intelligent, smart people are unstoppable in the face of many low-level scams.

When it comes to stranger scams, many people find it unbelievable how we can be tricked by someone we have never met.

But in real life there are really a lot of such similar deceptions.

One such story happened in the United States.

A man called Peters wanted to travel abroad, but he was short of cash, so he didn't want to take on the high cost of airfare. He thought of a way to buy their miles from some people with a lot of miles and redeem them for free tickets.

But after sending the email, Hansen was nowhere to be found.

With no choice but to find someone else, Peters searched the internet again and found someone called Frank, who communicated with him online and sent a photo of his driver's licence to prove he was not a scammer.

The two men only spoke on the phone once before they started trading. The other person asked Peters, to deposit $700 for a green card, which would buy 100,000 miles.

This green card is a gift card in the United States.

It can be bought in supermarkets and convenience stores.

It can be topped up and everyone who knows the account can use the amount on the card, and transferring money in this way saves the hassle of wire transfers.

When Peters put the $700 through and waited four days for the miles to arrive, Peters began to realise he might have been scammed.

By this time Hansen, the lost pilot, reappeared and explained to Peters that he had no way of receiving emails from abroad, but that his miles were still reserved for Peters, who then only had to make a $650 deposit to be able to purchase 100,000 miles.

Hansen sent him a contract to prove he was honest and reliable, but when the $650 was wired, 10 days passed and the miles still hadn't arrived.

Peters finally got anxious and admitted that he had been scammed, badly enough, twice by the same tactic.

This is a classic case of trusting a stranger and thus falling for a scam.

According to Konnikova, it must be that all these con artists have typical characteristics, and at the same time, the people who fall for the scam, also have typical characteristics, and these contribute to the formation of the scam.

Like Peters' story, it clearly tells us a sign that when we attempt to get something by some cheap means, we are vulnerable to scammers catching a soft spot.

In other words, when we have the mentality of wanting to take advantage and take shortcuts, it is easy for scammers to start with that.

And again, point 2, why do we ignore the red flags that come up multiple times throughout the scamming process.

Like Peters, why did he insist on calling the other person when he had clearly not met them or received a clear message from them that could prove his identity?

And another, why didn't he negotiate with the other party to pay half of the amount up front and then pay the other half when the mileage was 50%, so that he wouldn't get nothing and be completely ripped off.

The red flags came up several times throughout the process, such as when the pilot had sent an email and was nowhere to be found, which is when Peters should have realised that there might be doubts about the identity of the other party.

For example, when he was scammed out of $700 by Frank, he should have stopped looking for sellers online to buy miles immediately.

Unfortunately, these signals that he was being scammed were completely ignored by him.

As a result, he was scammed out of a total of $1,350 by strangers he had never met on the other side of the internet.

The essential reason why we ignore all sorts of red flags is that while we are confident that we are not so easily deceived, the truth is that the probability of us discerning a lie is actually about the same as the probability of flipping a coin, which means that there is a 50-50 chance that we will not be able to identify many deceptions.

In her book, Konnikova confirms the idea that human beings are really not very good at recognising lies.

Especially when the deceiver cannot communicate with us face to face, we cannot easily dismantle them by micro-expressions, by outward appearance.

Number 3, why do many highly intelligent people still seem powerless in the face of deception?

Simon Lovell said something to the effect that anyone will fall for a scam if you have the guts to do it.

In 1984, psychologist Joel Bruckner suggested that there was a favourite method used by con artists on the street, called "pennies work".

At the heart of this method is the idea of gaining a great deal by asking for a small amount.

For example, a beggar on the street may only ask you for a penny, but when he asks 10, 100 or 1,000 people for a penny a day, he will make a significant profit in a day.

When he gets a penny he is so satisfied that for us we don't even think he is a fraud, and the same is true for scam organisations.

It must seem to the general public that those who expend a great deal of effort and get very little in return are not the kind of people who cheat.

For by default in our psyche we all feel we are being scammed only when a person is pushing us, or urging us, to pay a huge price.

This is a major reason why many highly intelligent people are powerless in the face of scams.

He fails to realise that some scammers' humble requests for insignificant benefits are in fact scams.

When you take the bait one step at a time, you are conned even more by the con man.

On the other hand, Konnikova also points out in her book that there are all sorts of different tactics used by con artists.

As one con man himself says, the trick is to lead the victim into a fog and then get them to fall for it as quickly and as many times as possible before the fog clears.

The scammer will use a combination of all the tactics before the scam.

For example, he will tell you that it is rare and you need to get it before it is too late, he will also tell you that he is from a legitimate organisation and is someone you can trust, then he will describe your future fortune and paint a picture of the future so that you will start to envy and aspire to achieve that goal yourself.

Finally, he will use the group effect to tell you that everyone else is doing it, so why not you?

With a series of strategies in place, it is difficult for anyone to hold on to their beliefs and remain awake and not fall for the scam.

The core essence of the book Why We Get Fooled is that it concludes with a section that says that con artists, regardless of their level, can teach us something and mean something.

People are deceived because people believe that the stories described by con artists would make our lives better if they actually came true.

The words of the charlatan give us a sense of direction of purpose and value, and this is where the power of faith lies.

Faith gives us hope, and we are willing to take steps to chase it for its sake. If we always doubt everything, always begrudge giving our trust and are not willing to accept the possibilities of good, our lives are in despair.

In order to achieve a better life, we must embrace our faith with an open mind.

This is why con artists have the space to survive and the probability of success in their deception.

At the end of the day, it is the hopes, aspirations and desires of people's hearts that scammers exploit to start their scams.

As long as we have the desire and need to be happier, healthier and richer, to be loved, accepted and recognised, to be younger, better looking and smarter, we have infinite possibilities to be conned.

In other words, all people, by their very nature, need to believe in one thing at heart, the difference being that some beliefs come from within us and others come from the fancy words of others.

Maria Konnikova A graduate of Harvard University and a PhD in psychology from Columbia University, Maria Konnikova is also the author of the New York Times bestseller Sherlock Holmes Thinking and a columnist on psychology.

She has published numerous articles in leading American media and the main theme of her book is to show us that con artists do not all have an ugly face of quick success, but that many master con artists are elegant and charming, with outgoing personalities who speak convincingly and act with trust.

Many classic scams are described in Why We Get Scammed.

Connie Kova exposes the many details of the scams from a psychological perspective, dissecting their commonalities to help us better understand the flaws in the human mind and understand the psychological claims.

Perhaps this book will not ensure that the world will never be free of scams again, but at least it will help us to know ourselves better and learn to satisfy our needs from within, without pinning that hope on those dastardly con artists.