Conmen aim at what will let you put your guard down and allow them to gain your "con" fidence. Contrary to what everyone else says, conmen don't just aim for whether you're greedy or stupid.
A conman looks for ANYTHING that will lower your guard instantly and cause you to reveal vital information and/or financial information and/or cause you to pay quickly without suspicions. Most conmen expect payoff to be instant or soon. Some are long-term until the conman gets what he wants. e.g. (Life Insurance schemes)
AIMING AT:
your baser instincts:
- Greed-many
- Free or Big Discount Goodies-Matrix schemes
- Sex-Dialer programs added onto computers that visit sex sites
- Money-many e.g. Lottery
your basic needs:
- Money-Lottery-they tell you to call them at their 1-x00 number to verify thereby giving them $$$ on your huge phone bill
- Work-many work-at-home schemes
- Relationships- Scam or Scam-like Dating Services-"Fall in love for all the right reasons: Matching based on detailed relationship algorithms"; Life Insurance Schemes whereby scammer(s) develop close relationship with insured victim and then kills victim later for life insurance and any possessions/money left by person thru his written will
your kinder nature:
- Devotion to Religion: Reverends Jerry Falwell/ Baker scams
- Generosity: Charity, Help American Soldiers in Iraq schemes, Tsunami Help schemes,
- Willingness to Help Others
your easy acceptance of authority:
- Authority: Police, FBI, your bank, ebay, paypal, Amazon, your boss
your easy acceptance of celebrity:
- Stars, Actors, Actresses, Scientists, Doctors, --TV ads featuring well-known actors selling land or medicine which they promise you will make you more wealthier or healthier
your close relationships:
- Friends-Matrix schemes that you are leery of at first until you learn a friend of yours trusts this "plan" and the people attached to it, Multi-Level Marketing schemes
- Family-scammer calls you on the phone and addresses in an "emergency" situation and addresses you in a way that makes you assume it's a family member who tells you to urgently wire money to him
- Pets-Lost & Found pet scams
- School
your fears:
- credit scams demanding payment more than 10 years after a default of payment
- give us your password if you don't want to get locked out of .....
- give $$ or else you'll be reported to INS
- credit repair scams
lowering your suspicions for things that ask for money:
they'll ask for your money at the VERY LAST STAGE of a very long presentation e.g. condo time share schemes, how to be rich buying property scheme
your most vulnerable times:
- you're in a hurry to finish tasks so don't question the email in front of you
- in the bathroom - at the airport bathroom you leave your purse near the door and the scammer swipes it from the top or bottom
- Repair-After-Hurricane home repair scams
- Termites-Scammers introducing termites into your home and then scamming you into termite house cleaning
your target visibility:
- you take obviously high priced or high-priced looking luxury luggage to the airport and so the scammers target you
- you use your CC's for everything such that you "spread" your CC number to sooooo many people and places such that a scammer easily gets hold of your CC info
- give your email to everyone and on websites so that scammers phish & spam your email
- security-you don't use firewalls, anti-virus software, update patches which makes you more visible and vulnerable to scammers
your trusting nature:
- they'll count on you acting the way they want you to act BEFORE you even tell yourself you should be verifying them
- they'll count on your ignorance--the scammer gives you a FAKE phone number to check them up
- lack of knowledge
- to "convince" you of their case, they'll deliberately copy things a legitimate company would do: 100% money back "guarantee", receipt back, professional image, business or personal i.d. cards (which can be copied for cents on the dollar at a kinko's or personal copier), matrix schemes where people in the beginning actually win $$$
- you know someone for less than a few hours, speak with them for a few minutes and they ask you supposedly innocent questions like "how long will your vacation be?" then you answer and they rob your house