Link: http://www.spring.org.uk/2010/01/the-7-psychological-principles-of-scams-protect-yourself-by-learning-the-techniques.php

Good hustlers are excellent intuitive psychologists. Just like magicians they understand enough about how the mind works to exploit its vulnerabilities. Our fascination with hustlers is insatiable and, despite being criminals, they are frequently portrayed by Hollywood in a flattering light, in films like The Sting, Catch Me If You Can and the Ocean’s Eleven trilogy.
Of course the reality is nowhere near as romantic, especially if you’ve fallen for one of the cons.

1. DISTRACTION
Attention is like spotlight, which means when it’s pointing in one direction it pretty much ignores everything else.

Except people don’t realise how little information coming in from the outside world we actually process. Naturally you don’t notice what you don’t notice, plus the mind is designed to fill in the gaps for us. But hustlers do know and almost every con uses some kind of distraction.

The classic example is ‘Three-card Monte‘ sometimes called ‘Find the Lady’, a rigged card game in which the aim is to find one card out of three after the hustler shuffles them around.

At the heart of this hustle is the orchestration of a crowd of onlookers who the mark (that’s you and me) thinks are all fellow punters, but who are actually in on the game. Marks are distracted by the situation in the street—the banter, laughter and excitement—and don’t realise the whole thing is a setup: no matter what the mark thinks they know, there is no way to win. The hustler is always one step ahead.


2. SOCIAL COMPLIANCE
The classic study showing how compliant we are, especially when told to do things by an authority figure, was carried out by Stanley Milgram.

Hustlers know all about this and happily exploit our automatic deference to authority figures. People will hand over credit cards to people they think are waiters, car keys to people they think are car park attendants and give access to their house to people they think are from the water board. The best known online example is a ‘phishing attack’ where people give fraudsters their bank details in response to an email that purports to be from their bank.

3. HERD PRINCIPLE
People are sheep: they can’t help following each other.

The classic study on conformity was conducted by Solomon Asch in the 1950s showing that people will deny evidence from their own eyes to fit in with others. In the Three-card Monte con, the crowd of shills around the game creates the herd for the mark to follow.

Online there are all kinds of tricks people can use to make others think there is a herd when actually there is only one person. The practice of ‘astroturfing’ means creating multiple online identities to fake grass-roots support for a politician. In peer-to-peer networks the multiple identities created by people trying to influence them are known as Sybils.

Whether online or offline, though, groups exert an enormous influence over us.

4. DISHONESTY
Fear is the mind-killer.

Hustlers know that people are fearful and play on this fact. Some cons involve selling goods to marks that are used for illegal purposes. For example one scam described by Stajano and Wilson involves selling people ‘cancelled banknotes’, actually just pieces of paper which have been spray-painted, then telling marks they have an amazing gadget which will clean off the ink and make the notes usable again

Marks are discouraged from reporting the scam because they would be implicating themselves and the hustler wins both ways

5. DECEPTION
People are easily tricked, even when they think they are being careful. Hustlers take advantage of the fact that most people go along with their expectations of what will happen in any given situation. If the hustler’s behaviour fits the situation then people will accept what they say.

One classic is ‘van dragging’ where hustlers target a warehouse from which they want to steal the goods being delivered. They hang a sign saying the door is broken and those delivering should call a number. The hustlers, hiding nearby, answer and steal all the goods from the delivery driver, all the while complaining that they’ve called the locksmith and he hasn’t turned up yet. The delivery driver often helps the hustlers load their van.


6. NEED AND GREED
Once hustlers know what people want, even if it doesn’t exist, they are in a position to manipulate them. They will play on people’s desperation; unfortunately the more desperate people are, the easier they are to con.

A classic short-con that works people’s greed is the ‘ring reward rip-off’. A female hustler enters a bar and shows-off a new ring to the barman (the mark) claiming it cost thousands (actually it’s a cheap fake). The female hustler leaves to be replaced by a male accomplice. The female hustler then rings the barman to say she lost her ring. The male hustler then claims to have found it but asks if there’s a reward. Over the telephone the female gives a price but the barman realises he can make a profit so tells the male hustler a much lower price. The barman hands over the money and, of course, neither of the hustlers are seen again.

This con relies on the barman’s greed or it won’t work. In reality it works surprisingly often.


7. TIME PRESSURE
A classic study of how people make decisions under time pressure demonstrates what hustlers already know: when there’s no time to think people rely on short cuts and emotional responses to a situation.

So hustlers make sure the mark is under time pressure so they will respond in a predicable fashion, i.e. by being greedy, or giving in to the herd principle, or by bending to the will of an authority figure.

Okokobioko don't expect me to waste my time reading this fuckery

My father use to tell me, don't give people your money especially females except they've got the job done... jobs can differ...

@Reyginus do any of these sound familiar?

sonOfLucifer:
@Reyginus do any of these sound familiar?

All of them sound familiar.

I remember as a boy on an errand to deliver some money to my elder brother. My mum sent me. I met a man dressed in Lace looking responsible with eye glasses and the swag of our real man. The money was wrapped in a black nylon and I had as a practice to hold in my hand when the money makes my pocket bulky and reduce my little boy swag.

It's easy for anyone to notice it and it's also easy for me to monitor. So he stopped me, pointing north he said: is this the road to Madonna Hospital?. I responded with a yes and left. It was intuition. Where I stay there's a hospital called Maraba Hospital and I figured he figured that Madonna will be a perfect distraction. If I had stayed tried to reason with him I would been scammed but that simple Yes saved me.

I hope muskeeto is not looking at the spiritual angle. I no trust that boy.

Reyginus:

I hope muskeeto is not looking at the spiritual angle. I no trust that boy.

We are one and the same.
Yeah, I was looking at the spiritual angle, especially the 'juju' angle.

sonOfLucifer:

We are one and the same.
Yeah, I was looking at the spiritual angle, especially the 'juju' angle.

One and the same? What do you mean by this? As per the spiritual I can never really tell. I've seen a lot to dismiss it as a trick and I've not seen a lot to portray it as one.

Reyginus:
One and the same? What do you mean by this? As per the spiritual I can never really tell. I've seen a lot to dismiss it as a trick and I've not seen a lot to portray it as one.

I'm muskeeto.

sonOfLucifer:
I'm muskeeto.

Muskeeto? Lol. You are no longer an Atheist?

Reyginus:
Muskeeto? Lol. You are no longer an Atheist?

Lol. Just a troll account.
Muskeeto is Sonoflucifer

sonOfLucifer:

Lol. Just a troll account.
Muskeeto is Sonoflucifer

Okay o. Lucifer abi, no wahala.

Reyginus:
Okay o. Lucifer abi, no wahala.