How Scammers Use Psychology to Fool Even the Smartest Victims

Like malicious magicians, scammers use distractions and illusions to keep you from figuring out their tricks. They know if they can’t keep up the facade, you’ll realize it’s fishy. Many of the common techniques of scams – like urgency and rushing your decision – are really ways to hijack your decision-making brain and keep you focused on their lies. But by understanding how our brains work and how scammers manipulate it, you can spot their scam methods before they fool you.

See Why We Fall for Scams with Chris Chabris and Dan Simons for a complete transcript of the Easy Prey podcast episode.

Why do people fall for scams? Although you might think that it comes down to scammers having sophisticated technology, there is much more that goes into engineering a scam than just tech. Scammers use their knowledge of human psychology to trick people into falling for scams. 

Dan Simons and Christopher Chabris have jointly authored two books and multiple essays about human decision-making, distraction, and why our brains are vulnerable to scammers’ tricks, including the recent release Nobody’s Fool: Why We Get Taken In and What We Can Do About It. 

Dan is a professor of psychology at the University of Illinois. Most of his research is around visual attention: what we notice, what we miss, and how we focus our attention. He also has a broad interest in how we think about perception and how we think about how our minds work. 

Chris is a cognitive scientist who serves as Professor & Director of Decision Sciences in the Department of Bioethics and Decision Sciences at the Geisinger Research Institute. His work applies ideas from decision science and cognitive psychology to improve people’s decision-making.

Scamming methods that use psychology 

Dan and Chris started thinking about this topic a long time ago. They finished their first book together over a decade ago. For their second book, they started by gathering content and generating ideas of what they wanted to write about. Most of what they came up with had to do with deception in general. It took them a while to find a way to organize all the ideas into a connected, cohesive book.

They found that successful scams in every domain were often directly related to self-deception. Scammers have learned to reply heavily on thought patterns that usually work well, but can be distorted to deceive us. When we encounter appealing information that matches our expectations and beliefs, our thinking can be hijacked, and we can be led down the wrong path. 

[Scams] rely on the same sorts of thought patterns that we tend to use very effectively most of the time, but they get distorted at times by people trying to decieve us.

Dan Simons

How does scamming work? Victims’ stories show the same things 

People love stories about scams. How many Hollywood movies feature the exciting stories of con artists and scammers? You’ve got classic comedies like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, exciting dramas like Catch Me If You Can, and of course the Ocean’s 11 series with all of its tricks and schemes. 

Chances are high that you’ve heard a story about a scam, or at the very least watched a movie featuring one. But very few of these stories focus on why people get fooled.

One of the interesting things Dan and Chris found when trying to structure their book was that all the stories about cons were engaging and entertaining. There are hundreds of news stories, documentaries, podcasts, and more about these types of deceptions.

But why do some scam methods lead really smart, highly-educated people into scams? Why are scammers so successful at tricking people into clicking bad links or sending money to strangers? Stories of these kinds of cons are everywhere. And yet we’re seeing more and more news about scams and cons in all sorts of areas. Why aren’t we learning from all the movies and the true tales that end up in articles or podcasts? Dan and Chris wanted to explore this idea – and try to make us more aware of the risks in our own brains.

Whether that means there’s more and more [scams] happening, or we’re just leaning about more and more of it, it seems to be such an issue of great importance that it is worth diving into.

Chris Chabris

Scam methods in movies vs. reality

The scam methods you see in movies about great cons are only somewhat accurate. The fictional con artists exploit the same kinds of cognitive tendencies that make us vulnerable in real life. Most of the scam methods you see on the screen also work in real life.

What isn’t realistic is the intricacy of the plan and how everything depends on a precise sequence and exact timing. You need that kind of tension to make a compelling movie. And although some scams do run down to the wire to avoid getting caught, such as Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme, most of them are much more flexible and don’t require precise timing.

Even huge cons like Madoff’s scheme, Theranos, and other long-running cons don’t need that level of precision. But they are good examples to think about because they draw on a variety of scam methods to keep going. They exploit the same mental habits and use other techniques available. Smaller scams may only need to rely on one or two scam methods, but for something to last as long as these examples, they need to take advantage of every trick in the book.

Chris and Dan’s shared experience with a scammer

Unlike in the movies, scammers don’t always perform dramatic attempts to scheme and trick their victims. Sometimes, the attempt looks pretty ordinary. 

At one point, Chris and Dan were targeted by the same scammer. This guy didn’t have a large-scale plan to steal millions of dollars from a casino. Rather, he was a small-time scammer who got close to academics and tried to trick them into giving him their rare books so that he could sell them. 

This was nearly twenty years ago. Chris was a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard, and he was contacted out of the blue by a man who seemed to know who Chris was and have a lot of connections in common.

He told Chris about a person who had an interesting neurological problem and wondered if Chris was interested in doing a case study. Chris was interested. They had a number of phone calls back and forth and Chris was working to make the study happen when eventually, contact stopped.

Around the same time, Dan was contacted by the same person claiming to be interested in the work he was doing on visual perception. He was interested in illusions and wanted to find a way to make Dan’s research more well-known. Just like Chris, this man pitched a collaboration. At one point, he asked Dan to help work on his website, which Dan declined. They had multiple calls and emails over several months before contact stopped.

It was only very recently that Dan and Chris learned what happened. The man was a small-scale scammer. With other academics, once he built a relationship with his victims, he would get them to hand over their expensive books so he could sell them. Except he would never give them the money, and after, he would ghost them. 

He affiliated himself with high-profile researchers and universities, and people kept him around thinking everyone else knew him even though nobody really did. 

Why didn’t Chris and Dan realize that they were being targeted for a scam? 

Chris and Dan could have seen through this scammer simply by checking his credentials. He was academic-adjacent but didn’t have the kind of credentials you would expect for someone in a research field. Scammers targeting academics often use scam methods to pass themselves off as wealthy connected patrons, which this scammer did. But he was faking a lot of his resources, too. His main tool was talking his way into things. 

He was more of a recreational or hobbyist scammer than a professional, so he didn’t have convictions to be suspicious. But the credentials would have been a warning sign if Dan or Chris had checked.

They didn’t check because he was taking advantage of what they expected from a colleague. 

How do people get scammed? 4 psychology tricks that scammers use 

Let’s take a look at the four ways that scammers use psychology to exploit our weaknesses and gain access to our money, personal information, and more. 

Scammers take advantage of: 

• The idea of commitments 
• Your focus
• The pressure of time
• The principle of prediction

How scammers exploit your focus 

Humans only have the ability to focus on a select amount of information in front of us. This is what we commonly call “paying attention.” When you’re focusing on something, you can process information more efficiently and get more out of it. But it also means you have less focus for anything else. If you’re focused on what’s on your computer screen, you may not notice things happening elsewhere in the room.

A good scammer will know that if they can get you to focus on one thing, you may not notice something else.

Chris Chabris says, “If a scammer can use their scam methods to get you to focus on what they want, they know you’ll be less likely to notice what they’re doing behind the scenes. It’s like a magic show. The magician directs your attention to what they want you to pay attention to and away from the sleight of hand that makes the effect happen.”

Some examples of this include:

• Distraction theft: A scammer approaches you on the street asking for directions while holding a map. As you focus on the map and give directions, an accomplice pickpockets you without you noticing.
• Phishing emails: A scammer sends an urgent email claiming to be from your bank, focusing your attention on a supposed account issue. While you’re concerned about this, you may not notice red flags like a slightly misspelled sender address.
• Phone scams: A caller claims to be from tech support and directs you to look at certain things on your computer screen. While you’re focused on following their instructions, you may not realize they’re actually accessing your computer remotely.
• Online pop-up scams: A pop-up appears warning about a virus on your computer. As you focus on this alarming message, you may not scrutinize whether the pop-up is legitimate before following its instructions.
• Charity scams: A person posing as a charity worker engages you in conversation about their cause. While you’re focused on their story, you may not think to verify their credentials before donating.
• ATM skimming: A scammer installs a device on an ATM to capture card information. They might place a sign or distraction nearby to focus your attention away from the compromised card slot.

The challenge here is that focus is not a bad thing. The ability to focus on one thing and exclude everything else is really important and helpful in our everyday life. It only becomes a problem when scam artists exploit and manipulate it to their benefit.

How scammers use time pressure to trick victims

One of the most commonly used scam methods is time pressure. It could be an “exploding offer” – something fantastic that will expire in a very short time. Or with IRS scams or other impostor scams, the scammer may claim that the police are on their way to arrest you and will be there in half an hour, but if you can pay your debt before they arrive they’ll call the police off.

Time pressure is a scam method that manipulates your focus. If the scammer can get you stuck in the moment, or in a rush to deal with the situation before the police arrive, it can be hard to step back and consider what you’re actually being told. 

Most of us know that the IRS will never call you and demand gift cards. But if the scammer can get you to focus only on what they’re saying and the time pressure, it may not even occur to you to ask what’s going on or if the request makes sense.

Time pressure is, in a way, a tactic to get you to focus. You don’t have time to consult alternate sources of information or think about what information is missing.

Chris Chabris

Many other scam techniques, like staying on the phone with you while you drive to the store to buy gift cards, are just more attempts to manipulate your focus. They know if they stop talking to you, you might start to think about whether gift cards are actually a reasonable way to pay for this or if it’s normal for the Social Security Administration to threaten you with arrest. Time pressure, rapid-fire talking, and many other scam techniques are meant to keep your focus on the scammer, not what’s really happening.

How scammers use the principle of prediction

You’ve probably heard of confirmation bias before. With confirmation bias, people seek out evidence to confirm their expectations, beliefs, or conclusions about something. The principle of prediction is similar, but it’s also something that scam methods can exploit to swindle us.

“Prediction” refers to the fact that we tend to be much less critical of new information that matches what we expect. Most of us are really good at critical thinking when it comes to things we disagree with. If someone tells us something we absolutely don’t believe, we can tear it apart. But it’s much harder to find flaws in an argument when it’s something we believe or expect. Scammers know this, and they exploit prediction in their scam methods. They give you what you’re expecting or hoping for so it’s harder to counter it.

We’re capable of applying logic really effectively when it’s something we disagree with, but we tend not to apply it as systematically when it’s something we agree with.

Dan Simons

For example, it’s normally a good thing to trust people that you know. The longer you’ve known them, the better you know them, and the better you know them the more you can trust them. That’s how it works normally. But these days we have social media and “online friends.” When those friends spread information to us, our brains view it with a little extra credibility because it came from someone we know. Even if that credibility isn’t warranted – for example, your friend retweeted something from a complete stranger – we still view it as a bit more trustworthy. This creates pathways that scam methods can exploit.

This tendency usually works really well. Most people don’t get scammed or conned all the time. The moment-to-moment risk is pretty low. Most of the time, these “shortcuts” or mental simplifications work really well for us. There’s a tendency to frame them as biases or flaws, but they’re not. We have these tendencies because in most cases, they work. But they can be hijacked for nefarious purposes or lead us astray if we assume they always work. That’s where it becomes a challenge.

These are things that work really, really well most of the time and that can be hijacked for the wrong purposes.

Dan Simons

How scammers take advantage of your commitments and assumptions

In this context, a “commitment” is an assumption that we make and that we hold onto strongly. We often don’t realize we’ve made these commitments or hold them when we’re making a decision. The challenge with commitments is that if we accept them as inherently true, logic can lead us to all kinds of absurd conclusions because we have to rationalize other things to keep believing our commitment.

NXIVM was a multi-level marketing organization, a front for criminal activity, and an arguable cult founded by a guy who got himself in a book of records as the world’s smartest man. One early member wrote in a memoir that she knew he was the world’s smartest man, so whatever he said had to be smart. If you keep in mind that you’re dealing with the world’s smartest man, you could wind up agreeing to a lot of crazy stuff because it’s coming from “the world’s smartest man.”

It’s a simple example, but cults tend to happen because of an idea that someone is infallible, speaks for God, is really a genius, or has some other reason for authority. Once people believe that commitment, they can rationalize all sorts of things from that premise.

Commitments are used in scam methods often. It’s common to build up commitment over time and start with small things that you agree with. Once they get you to buy into the small commitment, it’s easier to build bigger, more unreasonable beliefs on top by convincing you that you’re staying committed to those initial good ideas.

It’s important to remember that people who’ve made commitments usually have internally consistent logic. From the outside, their beliefs and actions may look crazy or disconnected from reality. Or it may seem like they’re intentionally ignoring something that seems very obvious to you. But they’ve built everything around certain commitments. To them, everything seems coherent and logical because it supports those commitments. And it can be very difficult to step back and question those fundamental assumptions.

It might look completely unhinged from reality. But … if they can get you to throw out all the other stuff and accept that one premise, you can be acting completely logically, completely reasonably, given that premise.

Dan Simons

How to avoid these psychological pitfalls & spot scams a mile away

To protect yourself from scams that exploit psychological vulnerabilities, start by cultivating a healthy sense of skepticism. This doesn’t mean becoming paranoid, but rather developing a habit of questioning things that seem too good to be true or unusually urgent. Make it a practice to pause and ask yourself if a situation makes sense before acting on any request or offer, especially those involving money or personal information.

Combat time pressure tactics by intentionally slowing down when faced with urgent requests. Give yourself permission to step back and think. Tell the person you need time to consider or verify the information. Legitimate organizations will understand and respect this need for caution.

To counter the principle of prediction, make a conscious effort to question information that aligns with your beliefs or expectations. We’re often most vulnerable to deception when information confirms what we already believe or want to be true. Always verify claims and credentials independently, using official websites, phone numbers, or email addresses.

Recognize your cognitive limitations and be extra cautious when multitasking or in distracting environments. Building a network of trusted advisors can provide valuable external perspectives when you’re unsure about a situation.

Stay informed about current scam trends by regularly checking reputable sources like consumer protection websites or law enforcement bulletins. (The What Is My IP Address? blog is great for this, too!) Remember, the goal isn’t to never trust anyone. It’s to trust wisely, verify thoroughly, and always be prepared to step back and reconsider when something doesn’t feel quite right.

By implementing these strategies and remaining vigilant, you can significantly reduce your vulnerability to scams without becoming overly paranoid or distrustful.

Having somebody else look at it who might have different motivations, different desires, might see through it and say, “Okay, wait. That’s too good to be true,” and force you to think about it for a second.

Dan Simons

You can find Dan Simons and Chris Chabris on their websites – Dan at dansimons.com and Chris at chabris.com. You can also find their book Nobody’s Fool on the “Book” page of Dan’s website or wherever you get your books. Find Dan on LinkedIn and on Twitter/X @profsimons, and find Chris on LinkedIn and on Twitter/X @cfchabris.