Reasons people respond to scams

Everybody has a weakness, and scammers target this weakness. Furthermore people almost always have a low point in their lives, points were they are in need of more money, love, security and the likes. It’s at this point they are most susceptible to 419 scams.
419ers are coming up with new tricks by the day; these tricks of theirs exploit different vulnerabilities in human behaviour while they apply various deceptive and persuasive techniques to accomplish their task. Reasons why this so called “unprofessional scams” are successful are tied to the following;
Greed-
In the early days of 419, this was apparently the needed prerequisite to falling for such scams. Even today that 419 scams has become over 20 years old, greed is still playing a major role in 419 scams such as fund transfer scams, lottery scams, black money scam, embezzlement scam and investment scam, just to name a few. Individuals, companies or even nations in which greed is inherent in its members to a far greater degree are more susceptible to classic 419 scams. People who would like to make huge sums of money without critically considering the conditions of making such goldmine.

Personalized scam-
419 scams are carried out at a personal level in a bid to make the target believe the offer is unique. Scammers take their time to build a relationship with their targets, in this period of gestation; the scammer notes the key weakness and strength of the targets. Having achieved this the scammer now moves to the aggressive phase-419ers ensure that the scams are well adapted to the needs of each of their targets, putting the strength and weakness of the victim into consideration, hence making it very difficult for the victim to escape as the trust built between the target and scammer makes it even more difficult for a third party to make the victim doubt the authenticity of the deals.

Environmental factors-
Just as in the case of the scammer the environment places a very critical role in the vulnerability of victims to some types of scams. As in cases where the victim grows in an environment where they don’t come across such acts of deceptions, such individuals are dazzled by scams such as the famous wash- wash scam (were some sort of so called rare chemical is used to was out dollar bills). Further more such individuals don’t have any idea about the dexterity of 419ers, failing to note that there are only very few with 6 million dollars in West Africa. Persons who grow up in environments where people are trust worthy and leaders fulfil their promises tend to readily trust others and wouldn’t believe that anyone would want to cheat them.

Cut off principle
Once the scammer has gained the victim’s confidence and has successfully convinced the victim to part with a little money, the scammer would consistently threaten to cut off / call the deal off if the victim doesn’t make a little more payment for phony reason- usually there would be someone to be bribed, some certificates to be acquired, some kind of payments to be made and the list of excuses continues. When the victim is milked dried, the scammer encourages the victim to borrow or use any means necessary to raise the required sum without which the deal wouldn’t sail through. The victim eyes is been focused on the windfall in contrast to the relatively small amount of money they would have to part with, this phenomenon is called “phantom fixation”.
The aim of the scammer is to delude the victim into believing that once the deal sails through, he/she would experience a lifestyle transformation. Having this at the back of one’s mind could lead many a person into commit many crimes in a bid to raise the required “small amounts of money”, which never seizes to end.