Scams thrive on ignorance and greed

It takes a lot of courage to acknowledge that we fell for a scam because of our ignorance and greed. Ignorance is not confined to any particular group since victims of dubious get rich quick schemes includes the whole spectrum of society. School children and teenagers might be tempted with the latest gadgets whereas the carrot stick for their parents would be astounding capital growth and profits with an initial "small" investment.

I guess greed does come into the picture whenever we fall for such schemes. Can we help it that such schemes are packaged in such a way that the chances of getting that pot of gold seem so near and it will just take a "small" initial payment? Of course we can say no, but the smooth talking operator with that glib tongue is so persuasive that we start imagining the riches that we'll get in the near future. It might be due to present circumstances when our take home is just enough to see us through the day. An extra windfall would help to alleviate that situation which might also explain why some continue to put a minimum bet on the sweepstakes and other gambling avenues. We are always looking out for any scheme that promise more than the usual legitimate investments available to us, so much so that common sense is set aside.

We are weaklings when given that one in a million chance to get rich even though others might warn us of the dubious nature of the schemes. What do others know, right? They have not participated in the scheme and see where they are now? Safe and sound definitely, but not rich. Here is my chance to show them that I can leap frog over them in terms of wealth with so much less effort. A “small” investment is just what it takes and if you haven't tried it, how would you know it is a scam?

Yes, no one is sure whether it is genuine or not until we get burned.

Image from azatty