Given the prevalence in the real world of scams and fake ads - is there a danger that hiding them from people just means that they are more likely to fall for them when the inevitable happens.
Any time I hear of a new scam, I tell people about the method so they can look out for it. In the heat of the moment the "IRS tax problem call" or "its me your child I have been in an accident can you send me some money" can be convincing.
> Given the prevalence in the real world of scams and fake ads - is there a danger that hiding them from people just means that they are more likely to fall for them when the inevitable happens.
Strong disagree. Once you've avoided ads for a while, the ads that do slip through seem bizarre and flagrantly manipulative. Ads work best on people who are accustomed to ads, to whom ads are normalized. Once you denormalize ads, they become less effective because their manipulative nature comes across plain as day.
My general advice is "If you didn't initiate the conversation with the party with the intent to take an action or exchange money and they want you to do those things then don't take action or exchange money until you reach back to that party via their official lines of communication or otherwise verify the situation makes sense". In the end it's not the method you use to scam someone that matters it's that you trick them into trusting you really represent something/someone you do not. This also helps with not-exactly-a-scam scams like special offers you didn't seek out but are being sold to you because it gives more time to think if it's really a good deal or think what the downsides would be.
You can give 1,000 examples of how fake urgency is created to make you skip that verification step but past the first one or two to explain the general concept of needing to verify it doesn't matter it just means you'll need 1,001 examples to give the next day.
This isn't bulletproof either but I haven't found anything generally applicable that solves the problem better without making more of a problem than it prevents on average.
The times that one is most exposed is when the circumstances all line up - through luck and the law of large numbers ... you submitted your tax return 2 weeks ago, you did some things you are sure are right on the line, you get the scam tax man phone call - you are primed then to fall for it.
The trust and fake urgency really is the method of the scam (or ad!) - always verify!
> is there a danger that hiding them from people just means that they are more likely to fall for them when the inevitable happens.
Probably, but there's so much variance in human behavior and circumstances that your vulnerability to scams never drops to 0. A call telling you your child is in the hospital and you need to pay them because their check has bounced sounds a lot more convincing during times when you know your child is actually in the hospital.
Exactly, our system for ads and scams works in the same way as the immune system.
Personally I think I have one of those hyperactive immune systems that starts to eat its host alive, having told my actual bank to f off and stop ringing me to try scam me when a payment really didnt go through.
Any time I hear of a new scam, I tell people about the method so they can look out for it. In the heat of the moment the "IRS tax problem call" or "its me your child I have been in an accident can you send me some money" can be convincing.