Falling For Scams

[VHG]

Article on the BBC web site this morning about people falling for scams.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-32705024

Sometimes on these and other forums people ask why the scammers bother when it seems so obvious it is a scam.

But this couple BOTH fell for a scam, but two different scams.

He lost £25,000 on a property scam, even though his financial advisor told him not to go ahead with it (are people really that stupid !)

And she lost money on a "fake lottery" scam where she had to pay money to release the winnings (again, was she really stupid enough to think she had won a lottery in another country !)

Trouble is you can warn people over and over again about scams, but as long as there are gullible people like this the scammers will carry on.

[1ozzy]

Yep, makes one wonder.

[Baldric]

Be honest, if you had jointly been scammed out of the best part of £30K, would you have your name, occupation and photographs all over the Media? some folks just never learn.
They do say it pays to advertise!

[TWR]

You have to think about vulnerability here, a lot of people out there can not see Scams as they think every one is like them self, honest that is, a lot will not ask for advise as they think, do they think I'm that stupid, I try to advise people I know should they ask, but how many do, I'd like to think the likes of this site is helpful, but it's only helpful if the person wants advise asks, we are not all the same VHG, there are some very cunning people out there, there's also some very Vulnerable also, It's up to the decent public out there to p them if help is needed, & at times we all need help.

[VHG]

TWR, but if your financial adviser tells you not to go ahead with a property deal then surely you have to be pretty stupid to ignore them.

Is it more greed than being gullible (or a mixture of both). After all he does say he thought he was going to get "something for nothing".

btw I do try to help people with scams, I have given hundreds of answers on Answerbank, and other forums, helping people with scams or problems on their computer.

[xud]

Spanish lotteries, NIgerian princes' with trunks full of cash. It is the greed and the thought of getting all that money that blinds the victim. Many, many people fall for it, but there is hope.
if you Google scambaiting, scambusters or words to that efect you will fins all sorts of websites dedicated to wasting the scammers' time. One particular expert at this was "Gilbert Murray" the best anti scammer I have ever come accross. His website: scambuster419.co.uk is not live anymore. But nothing dies on the web. See this link.
http://web.archive.org/web/20090305102437/http://www.scambuster419.co.uk/

[Ken4155]

How anyone can fall for the 'fake lottery win' scam is totally beyond me, unless that person is suffering from some mental impairment. There is a saying, "You have to be in it to win it" which, oh so loudly, rings true in this circumstance. If you haven't bought a ticket, how can you possibly be a winner?