It’s so easy to fall victim to a scam. We generally want to believe the best in people or find ourselves in a situation where things make sense but mask a hidden reality. I fell victim to the Netflix scam myself, quite easily. When scammers know enough about you, human psychology and common scenarios, its easy to get scammed.
Scams are often packaged to match a certain discourse of believability. That is why they work. It’s hard to be sceptical about everything and everyone, it’s challenging to live that way. Similarly, abuse often comes from people we trust. Sociopaths and psychopaths are particularly gifted in gaslighting and deceiving people.
I read recently about ‘the blessing scam’ (https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn5zn1l6g5yo). An elaborate set up based on the nature of belief in a certain cultural group. Scammers do their homework and know a great deal about cultural beliefs. This is why they are so successful.
This is also why there’s so many cons and scams in safety.
It is so easy to play into the desire for everyone to be safe. It’s so easy to make a pitch to an industry that is so poorly educated and naïve about human psychology. Just throw out 3 or 5 catchy slogans, tell a few entertaining stories, called it a familiar appealing name and in they will come. Make sure the scam matches the expectations that match the propaganda of the industry.
There are so many cons and scams in safety. It would be challenging to name them all (https://safetyrisk.net/the-aihs-phs-con/). They are even more convincing when they are endorsed by an association or some academic. The command to authority often forms the hook for believability. It’s the same with enticing people into a cult.
There’s no place like safety for a good con (https://safetyrisk.net/theres-no-other-place-like-safety-for-a-good-con/). This is assisted by a shallow curriculum with no expertise in critical thinking skills. Such a rich environment to sell snake oil (https://safetyrisk.net/risk-psychometrics-spin-and-snake-oil/ ). There is no greater con in safety than zero. The ideology of zero demonstrates just how easy it is to sell a con in safety. How amazing to sell zero to fallible people!
How easy to sell ‘safety is a choice you make, ‘all accidents are preventable’ and ‘blame fixes nothing’. It’s so easy. Find the myth that Safety wants to believe in, target it with a slogan and bingo, charge a fortune for the spin doctor to fly in.
The first step in spotting a con is to look for an openly declared ethic. Of course, there is none. Neither is there an articulated methodology or method. If there is no clear methodology and just 5 slogans, you are following a con. You are in a blessing scam.
After the slogans are found to be empty and the hidden methodology comes to the surface, it’s a pretty quick return to traditional safety. The reality is, there never was anything ‘different’. It’s just another ‘blessing scam’ targeting the fear of death and injury with a slick sales pitch to empty your bank account with empty promises.
Do you have any thoughts? Please share them below