How criminals use normal human decision-making to influence our choices—and what we can do about it. A 7-part series about why urgency, fear, authority, trust, scarcity, and emotional connection can derail good decision-making—and why understanding the psychology of scams matters. Part 6: Emotional connection: “You know me. You care about me.” Some scams operate in seconds but others are accomplished over weeks or months where emotional connection is built over time and becom

How criminals use normal human decision-making to influence our choices—and what we can do about it. A 7-part series about why urgency, fear, authority, trust, scarcity, and emotional connection can derail good decision-making—and why understanding the psychology of scams matters. Part 5 - Scarcity: “This opportunity won't last.” Fear focuses our attention on what we could lose. Scarcity can do something slightly different: it makes something appear limited. Only a short time

How criminals use normal human decision-making to influence our choices—and what we can do about it. A 7-part series about why urgency, fear, authority, trust, scarcity, and emotional connection can derail good decision-making—and why understanding the psychology of scams matters. Part 4 - Trust: “This looks familiar.” Trust and authority overlap, but they aren't quite the same thing. Authority says, I have a position you recognize. Trust says, This feels legitimate. That fee

How criminals use normal human decision-making to influence our choices—and what we can do about it. A 7-part series about why urgency, fear, authority, trust, scarcity, and emotional connection can derail good decision-making—and why understanding the psychology of scams matters. Part 3: Fear - "Something bad is about to happen." Urgency becomes even more powerful when it is paired with emotion. Scammers may create fear around losing money, losing access to an account, faci

How criminals use normal human decision-making to influence our choices—and what we can do about it. A 7-part series about why urgency, fear, authority, trust, scarcity, and emotional connection can derail good decision-making—and why understanding the psychology of scams matters. Part 2 - Authority: “You can trust me because of who I am.” Most of us respond to legitimate authority every day. We trust communications from banks, employers, government agencies, doctors, law enf

How criminals use normal human decision-making to influence our choices—and what we can do about it. A 7-part series about why urgency, fear, authority, trust, scarcity, and emotional connection can derail good decision-making—and why understanding the psychology of scams matters. Part 1: Urgency - "You need to act now." Urgency is one of the easiest manipulation techniques to recognize once you know to look for it. Something is wrong with your account. A payment needs immed

How criminals use normal human decision-making to influence our choices—and what we can do about it. A 7-part series about why urgency, fear, authority, trust, scarcity, and emotional connection can derail good decision-making—and why understanding the psychology of scams matters. Introduction When we talk about scams, we often focus on the warning signs people missed: Why did they click the link? Why did they send the money? Why didn’t they realize something was wrong? These