Scammers use a set of psychological tricks to make you trust whatever they are offering.

These’ ‘tricks’ are well-known and used by Marketers and many others.

These include

1. Create a sense of legitimacy
   • Lists of references from satisfied customers
   • ‘Professional’ reviews of the product or service
   • Celebrity endorsements
   • Ride on the back of well respected products
2. Invoke emotion
   • Create excitement around a new release or a ‘first’ of some kind
   • Create fear about missing out on the product or service
   • Create worry about regretting not taking the opportunity
   • Create anger that the product has been kept hidden away from the public until now
3. Create a sense of urgency
   • Fake deadline
   • Only a limited number/amount of the product remains
   • Be the first to get this product or service
4. Use social influence
   • Happy references from members of the public
   • 100,000 people have tried this and recommend it

 

Do think about how the scammer’s message affects you before making any decisions. This also applies to whenever someone is trying to sell you something  or to get you to do something and always applies to unsolicited emails, texts and calls.

Do Share this post on social media – click on the post title then scroll down to the social media share buttons.