Just the other day another bro reported falling victim to the all too common Wechat scam where an account that is seemingly a pretty girl is found by the victim when "looking around" and after chatting for a bit "she" mentions that she is in desperate need of money and wants to sell her body (for the very first time). Now, there are certain variations of this scam, but the main idea is the same, "she" always claims to be completely new to the field and never done it before, furthermore, she wants to meet somewhere public (usually a Shoppers Drug Mart but could also be a Starbucks or elsewhere) for safety reasons. When the victim arrives, "she" isn't there, but instead asks that for safety reasons the victim should buy some sort of prepaid gift card and send it to "her" to prove himself a serious client. Sometimes, "she" will ask the victim to provide a phone number for "her male friend" (which is "her" all along) to call him on and make sure the victim is not a cop or anything. The "male friend" will be nice at first but if the victim doesn't obey his instructions to send money, he will become threatening.
Now here's thing. Lots of people know about this scam by now, and when most guys hear about it, they think the scam is so stupid that they would never fall for it, and they often laugh at those who has been fooled for being foolish. Obviously these scams do work, despite years of warnings, there are still many people falling for it on a regular basis (otherwise scammers would have stopped doing it). So why do they work? Thats the key question and it takes a bit of psychoanalysis but hopefully this knowledge will be power to protect some bros who might otherwise become victims down the road. Here's the main psychological technique that the scammers use, and its called ESCALATION OF COMMITMENT.
Escalation of commitment refers to a human behavior pattern in which an individual or group—when faced with increasingly negative outcomes from some decision, action, or investment—continues the same behavior rather than alter course. They maintain actions that are irrational, but align with previous decisions and actions.
Economists and behavioral scientists use a related term, sunk cost fallacy, to describe the justification of increased investment of money, time, lives, etc. in a decision, based on the cumulative prior investment ("sunk costs"); despite new evidence suggesting that the cost, beginning immediately, of continuing the decision outweighs the expected benefit. In the context of military conflicts, sunk costs in terms of money spent and lives lost are often used to justify continued involvement.
In sociology, irrational escalation of commitment or commitment bias describe similar behaviours; and the phenomenon and the sentiment underlying it are reflected in such proverbial images as "Throwing good money after bad" or "In for a penny, in for a pound".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escalation_of_commitment
You see, most bros that hear of these fake MM scams on Wechat will automatically think, "I would never be stupid enough to send money to some stranger on the internet". But thats not how it works. What the scammers do is to induce the victim to make one small investment after another. The initial investments won't even be money, it will merely be the victim's time and effort. Because the scammer doesn't try to aim for the victim's money during the initial phases, the victim thinks "I've got nothing to lose" and is intrigued to delve deeper. After all what straight male isn't intrigued by the hope of fucking a sexy young girl? Morever, the scammer keeps on making promises which they later break.
Investment #1 - TIME
The scammer first gets the victim's attention thru pretty pics. The victim invests his time to chat with "her".
Investment #2 - HOPE
Obviously if the victim knows for sure that its a scam, he would not waste his time continuing to chat. At this point he might suspect its a scam, but he obviously has some degree of hope that maybe, just maybe, he will be the lucky exception. Since it doesn't cost any money to chat, he continues to dig himself deeper without even realizing it.
Investment #3 - MORE HOPE & TRUST
At some point, the scammer either suggests, or thru mind games lures the victim to suggests meeting up. The victim may think he is smart to ask that they meet in person, and that any payment would come after they are finished the deed. The scammer promises the victim that he doesn't have to pay until the end. The victim feels reassured. However, anyone who has hunted at low-end garages or spas know that the keeper (and in this case the scammer) would promise anything to hook the fish in, and all promises will be broken with impunity. At this point the victim begins to lower his guard while his hope is continuing to build up (hope which is very difficult to let go even when reality hits).
Investment #4 - EFFORT
The victim travels to the agreed upon meeting place. At this point he still feels that he has nothing to lose since no money has left his pocket. Often times the scammer would ask the victim to send a photo to prove he has actually arrived. The scammer who isn't even in the country then compares the photo with Google streetview to make sure the victim is there. This step is important since it confirms that the victim has made a substantial investment (even tho non-monetary) and his hope would have risen correspondingly.
Investment #5 - $$$ (MINOR SUM)
Now that the victim has invested so much time/effort/hope, the scammer is prepared to pull the line to hook the fish. Although "she" has promised to show up, "she" now breaks the promise with the excuse that since this is "her" first time "she" is too nervous and scared. "She" asks the victim to buy some sort of gift card and show her a photo of it as sign of good faith. The amount is usually a small one. Small enough that the victim will be tempted to think, "what the hell, its only $10, and i've already spent so much time/effort on this, $10 is really nothing to see her last card". Sometimes the scammer will even bait the victim further by promising (see the pattern here? promise after promise that all get broken) that "she" just wants a photo to confirm the victim really bought the gift card but he doesn't need to send her the PIN code. Of course, after the victim buys the card, the scammer will come up with another excuse to break the promise and ask the victim to send the PIN code for the gift card. "She" will promise with utmost sincerity that this is the final step, as soon as the victim sends it, she will appear. Since the victim has already bought it, and after going thru so much time and effort, he doesn't want to let go of what seems to be almost within his grasp (sex with a fresh young sexy girl for a way below market-value price), so he sends the PIN code for the card. This is the first financial investment made.
Investment #5 and onwards - $$$ (PROGRESSIVELY LARGER SUMS)
As you probably have guessed, the "girl" doesn't show, instead "she" makes further excuses and asks for more money. The sums get progressively larger. First $10, then $50, then $100, $200, $500..... and so on. Its pretty simple now. Each time money is sent, the scammer makes another excuse not to show up yet, but promises that as soon as the next payment is made, she will come. She promises each time that this will be the last time and the last payment the victim will have to pay.
Depending on when victim finally wakes up and refuses to make another payment, the scammer switches gear. "She" now turns into "her male friend" who claims to be a ruthless gangster who will kill the victim's entire family unless he makes a further payment to settle the transaction. If the victim is frightenned to pay up, the scammer will demand "one more" payment (for whatever excuse he can come up with). As you may have guessed as well, each "one last payment" (that the scammer promises will finally bring the matter to a close) will lead to another one.
So what are you thinking of all this? Well for most of you sitting at home reading this right now, you may still think this wouldn't happen to you. And maybe for some of you it wouldn't, but for some others it would. Reason is because right now, you are totally calm and thinking with your big head. No emotions and small head driven hopes to cloud your judgement. But if you were in that situation it would be totally different. Emotion is more powerful than logic. Once you've made the initial investments, it gets harder and harder to pull yourself out.
So bros, hopefully this message helps some of you. When something seems too good to be true, just walk away. When it comes to Wechat MMs, don't even bother. Don't let yourself get intrigued by a couple of pretty pictures because thats how it all starts. Next thing you know, you've fallen into the "I'll just check it out and see, I've got nothing to lose" trap.
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发表于 2017-9-12 02:39:04
