Bitcoin Forum

When it would be more profitable to stay legitimate instead?

For example there was Stackcoin. Its dev had an IPO that raised 70 BTC. It had an interesting idea and screenshots were posted showing the concept being developed. Wouldn't it have been more profitable to just develop the coin instead?

Or the Sharexcoin exchange. A lot of development went into that site and the site was a fully functioning exchange which would have been a good long term investment for the site owner. But instead the owner decided to scam its users by closing the site and running off with its users' coins. I think he was later caught trying to sell 24 million QORA on Poloniex which they were able to identify and seize.

It doesn't make any sense. ???

Maybe they find it easy and quick money. Most scammers don't think long term.

It's disgusting, because real people with real lives gave up hours of their work for that 70 BTC total because they wanted to make the world a little bit better... And instead, those seventy coins are now buying drugs for one man.

They probably think that they can get away with it, it is either that they think scamming will result in profit for them or just pure greed. It takes effort to properly develop a coin whereas you don't need much effort to scam.

Because those sick assholes wanna see their victims in despair and regret.

Why does any criminal steal? They want something you have. They don't care who it hurts as long as they get what they want. The reasons they want it may vary could be desperate to pay bills feed family. Or it could be to get more drugs or god knows why. Sadly there has always been thieves and always will. So its up to each of us to protect ourselves and hopefully each other.

Steve

First, the scammers don't usually get caught, so the "cost of scamming" is low.
And, it is true that the projects could be a big success, but they could also be a big failure, and it may take lots of effort and time to make it successful. Scamming, on the other hand, is fast and easy...

cause they are poore and have no money

Hard to explain a sociopath, really. I think there is probably some literature out there on it, though, by psychiatrists and such. I would start there. :)

Why does anybody steal? People are just greedy so they steal because they can.

I think TF aka Free Hugs may enlighten us regarding this discussion ;)

Because we live in anonymous world where greed is controlling our mind

What the hell is that?

Feta Cheese, I would Kill A Man.

Lol it looks like crack (not that I would know). Check his username  ;).

This is benzoylmethylecgonine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine) :D

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e8/Cocaine3DanBS.gif

simple answer: greed

second answer: main (not all) of Bitcoin concept is based on greed.

third answer: this is why you have here a collecting basin of scammers and this kind of people (not so much members but they are very active and you think the most members are scammers).

Well in my opinion because i faced a scammer .. He makes a software for desktop wallet to hack all money he just send the software to the all peoples to open the he get all money when someone opens it dont know how he create it.. but i think they scam because they want money but this is not the way to get money.. well i say dont scam now.. i will tell you how to get about 10 dollars per day easily or bit less or bit high it depends on you.. Then he say i will not scam just tell me .. he promise dont know its promise is real or not.. But i think if we guide scammer a right way to get money easily or just tell him a good way not a wrong way and guide him with ease then they will turn back to a good person from scammer .. :) well here is the link read it all i spot a scammer. .

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=660658.msg7446042#msg7446042

read it all and you know why the trys to scam

why scammers scam? i think its easier to scam then to make a real project with taking the responsibilities and of course because of greed

Looks like some chinese Methylone to me

probably has to do with being a sociopath, imo. ;)

Might be more profitable in the long term. That's not interesting to scammers. Quick cash is king.

Some people are simply opportunistic, and go for the short term score -- even when the idea holds promise. Partly, I'm sure, someone who comes up with a great business idea but has no interest in actually operating it, might be tempted to sell the dream...

It's simple, because they are greedy and lazy doing regural work to make profit.

I think it's a combination of factors:
1.) Relatively easy to get away with it
2.) Extreme short-term memory loss regarding those burned typically (most people know perusing these scams is going to take even more time and resources than they are worth..obviously there are exceptions to this)
3.) Greed
4.) Always new people getting into bitcoin (thus fresh meat for the scammers)

It's a combination of things.

While we work for our income, most scammers, do not, so they have time, to plan elaborate schemes, to con people out of their money. Some are even too lazy to think of their own scams, and copy cat other people.

Why would you work hard, if you can easily scam other people out of their money? Laziness & Greed.

Well and then you get people, who do it for the kick. {Example  -  White hat hackers, do it, to see if it's possible, but they repair and replace what they have done, and get nothing out of it, sometimes they even report the vulnrabilities, but then you get the script kiddies, who write no code, just copy someone else, and then boast about their hack, amongs their fellow script kiddies, to feel important.}

We will always have people who believe in hard work for money, and those who will lie and steal to get to the hard workers money.

Only thing we can do, is to expose them early and then to report them, for everyone too see.

If you find scammers here, report them here --> https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?board=83.0

Well, I guess it boils down to something as simple as this:

Somebody you don't know and who doesn't know you gives you $1,000,000 to hold for him while he attends to other things. He's gonna pay you $1000 for your time and effort.
If there's no way for him to ever find out who you are and you start to think about the difference between 1 mil and 1000, for a lot of people, temptation eventually creeps in.
Sad but true.  :(

Asking why do scammers scam is silly. Why do people steal? Many reasons but greed. I guess maybe some are addicted to it and get a buzz like gambling or something too.

To get easy money,obviously,maybe some just enjoy hurting people,but mostly they do it for money.

yes,easy money and by nature even.

becasue they didn't learn to make money by being legit, they think that they are ultra cool by scamming.

They are too lazy to make their own way.

I think, and this is just imho that a lot of people see $$ and stop thinking with a rational brain, or halt all rational thinking. I've been on both ends, I haven't scammed anyone but I've thought about it. A lot of it for me comes from being desperate and the situation you are in. That's my experience with it, and then there are people who know how gullible a person or people can be, and play on it. It's the human condition, people want to fall for the bleeding heart, I've been watching a lot of X-Factor type shows lately, (I know i'm terrible) and all it seems you have to do is have a sad story and some kind of like weeping and you are in the hearts of millions. I'm not saying a lot of these people don't have legitimate need, but sometimes your thinking gets warped when you are in need.

I know this from experience, never scammed anyone have thought about ways because of all the bad luck I've had in the past couple of years that it would be nice to have some money to actually fall back on.

I don't know that doesn't mean anything I'm doing or have done is out to scam anyone but I definitely have thought about it.

In the long term, yes, it would be more profitable to be honest. However, my best answer to this question is that the nature of scammers is a combination of laziness and greed. They want to make Bitcoin from their couches without doing any work and that's why you still see the Irish lottery showing up in spam boxes everywhere even though most people who have been around the Internet for a while know it's a scam. It doesn't help that there are still a few suckers out there.

One word: Lazy

I think there are a lot of parallels to ponzi schemes throughout the years.  A lot of ponzi schemes start at completely legitimate operations.  And then at some point along the path hardship causes people to dip into the reserves/holdings with the thought they can pay it all back.  But then circumstances arise or markets fall enough to push these past where they can hide and everything gets exposed.  I think some of the things in the BTC are just up front plain old scams.  However, it may be the case in the exchanges that some of them died in a similar manner.  Exchanges are under pressure to grow and handle greater trading demands.  If they don't have enough external funding it would be tempting to use account holder funds to help fund infrastructure expansions with the goal of just paying it back with transactions fees later.  However, it the market swings wildly this can get exposed.  Seeing that the end result is the same one has to just decide whether it was intentional or if it was just incompetence which turned criminal. 

Well he could have alot bigger profit from sharexcoin exchange since exchanges make alot of money on fees indeed.
And scammers scam cuz they just want fast money to spend them now, not for planning future or anything like that.

Short answer:

Because they can.

Or maybe because there's a new sucker born every day?

All the explanations given in this thread basically boil down to one central point:

If people wouldn't fall for scams so easily scammers wouldn't exist.

And why do people fall for scams usually? Because of their own greed.

And yes I am very aware that this is a simplification of matters.

Scamming happens everywhere, both in bitcoin and fiat. And the only reason I can think of is greed...

Very simple, money is all ;D

It's shit because when people come out with genuine plans to do something they are straight away told they are a scam!

I genuinely want to start a bitcoin lottery but no one is willing to give it a go because they don't trust I will pay out.

But I don't blame them cause 90% of people would be trying to scam them!

because too many dumb (and greedy) people in this forum who believe this random coin will huge success  ::)
many scammer try to get profit from altcoin, usually with IPO and premine (or instamine too)
and many "investor" don't learn from previous lesson

"You can't con an honest person".

So most scammers present a very good opportunity, which is almost too good to be true. Greedy people and / or innocents not savvy enough to know better fall for it. Quick cash.

You have to remember, whenever there's real money involved, someone will always try to find the best way to get it without putting too much work in.

Also something they teach in economy classes all over is that high gain comes at high risk. High risk means you'll probably be on the wrong end of the bell curve when it hits the fan, but most people get blinded by the returns and forget the statistics.

There will always be people screaming out "scam" whenever a new proposition surfaces; the problem is there's no way to vouch for that proposition even if it's legit. The biggest advantage of Bitcoin, that it's decentralized, is its biggest problem too, as no one can be vouched for easily.

It's pretty much simple and easy money, for some it might be satisfaction.

I notice a lot of that here more than anywhere else, like dogecoin on reddit. I've told them my story and they immediately embraced me as one of their own. Now here, I mean I legitimately need help. I'm running a campaign, I've got a million personal tragedies and not one person can take the time of day to even notice or think that I'm not running a scam. I'd ask for a long term loan but I'm not sure how I'd even pay it back, unless I kept running my sig campaign. That's all I have right now, and before people say "job" it's not that easy, and I've explained why. But then people are saying all I want is free money and I'm healthy enough to get one, they don't know my situation. It's easy from behind a chair or computer to say these things and I've had them said to me. What's even easier is having a little empathy for a person, but I guess that's absent to people.

Yah I think a lot of the problem is the same one you see with beggers on the streets. You see so many guys on the streets holding up signs that they're washed-up Vietnam veterans when they're obviously too young to be one that you might not believe a real washed-up veteran if you actually saw one. And there are many real washed-up veterans from what I've been hearing. So my advice would be simply to think of some simple easy jobs you can do for money and then hit sites like Fiverr (http://www.fiverr.com/)and/or post your services in the Services forum here. That way you can at least be earning an income instead of people accusing you of scamming when really all you need is a hand up.

Because they want the easy way out of everything else.

Why does a hooker rather suck a dick then get a normal job? cause she can suck a dick for 15 mins and make $100 what a average pay check would make. Again the easy way out, capitalism lol.

Some people just dont want to put the effort, its plain and simple.

Despite fiverr and other great freelance things.

I see so much panhandling on the freeway in california, its so annoying that I give water instead of money.

Put the prize money in escrow then and people will probably trust you then.

Wanted to make the world a little better? Sorry but 99% of those 70 btc were invested by other greedy people who wanted to make more probably, the world isn't such a wonderful place as some may think, at least not when its run anonymously.

The unfortunate thing is I need think of an easy job, I'm not really good at much of anything, and I need the money and that's why sometimes it reverts to sounding like a scam when in actuality it's a human being who actually needs a little support. Anyways fiverr would be great if it wasn't already flooded with people looking for the same thing, or who could do something I can do just a little better. Self doubt is always my biggest enemy.

You got things you around the house you can barter with or sell?

I`d get creative and buy a lego piece and make add the metal keychain then sell it. or re-sell something you can get a hold of for lot less of a price.

Unfortunately no, I've been down that route. I've sold pretty much everything besides the clothes on my back to get some money together to buy ramen. My medicines alone cost well over 600 dollars without insurance and therapy, forget it. I'm in a tight spot, and scammers make people like me look bad because I could pitch that I definitely need help, that I don't leave the house, that I don't get in a car, or drive or do anything. I can't work, I have severe panic and anxiety coupled with depression. I cannot work. I was declared disabled in 2008 legally. I'm fighting to get SSI.

But then we have people like Dank who thinks he can start a commune, and he has thousands of dollars worth of guitar equipment he can sell easily and make money, and he OWES people money and well.

I just can't get angry about this because it just makes it worse.

They are bad people they always want cheat with others.

Scammers are oxygen thiefs as well as crypto thiefs

I am good at finding stuff on the internet & following trails.

If you suspect scammer you should store screengrabs and get as details as you can.
This is because the scammer will try to hide when they know we are looking for them.
Send me the info you have to my email in my profile.
I will look if i  am not too busy.
If you can pay bounty deposit, I will not be too busy.

quick and fast money short term

Very true.
Just check the "gambling" section and see how many ponzi thread there are (and how many people "invested" in them)...

Legitimate business requires hard work and commitment.

Scamming, not so much.

Unintelligent, incapable, no belief in themselves, no morals.

Finally the most common one IMO: Greed

The income for both examples from the OP would have been passive income had the scammer stayed legitimate. It would have been "greedier" to continue the business rather than shutting it down because the scammer would make more money that way with relatively little effort. Compared to physical businesses like hair salons or bakeries, operating an exchange doesn't require a lot of hard work once all the infrastructure is set up. Developing an altcoin doesn't require a lot of hard work either once the coin has been coded and launched. Writing software is a lot like writing a book. You put ninety percent of the effort into the development phase. Once that is over, you enter the stress-free maintenance phase.

well most of the scammer thoughts that his is the best way to earn money the most easiet way or whatever.. thts why the scam.. and why we say scammer becasue they are scammer that is why the scam :D lol..

They want easy money and unfortunately they often get it :(

well sometimes they do not.. when they trying to scam they say i will return 100 percent back :D lol

For sharexcoin maybe it was the temptation.

Seemed to be on good track, but the balances built up fast.

Somehow I think these gullible people will always be with us, and so will the scams that follow them. And looking at this community sometimes, I feel it is somehow actually getting worse.... :-\

 :)

When I type in my wallet password i cover the keys, my dog always seems to be hanging around, i don't even trust him  ;D

I agree, it is getting worse.

Think of it this way, would you rather have option 1: one million dollars today, or option 2: $2,000 next week, another $2,000 the week after that, and so on?

Not to mention the business could fail by getting hacked or whatever.

Even if you know that you can get more money in the long run by choosing the second option, you can still understand why some people might choose option 1.

Not true at all. Correlation =/= Causation.

Some of the biggest scams have been schemes which were elaborate and took time and good con skills to get set up (ie Madoff ponzi). Madoff spent a lot of time trying to get new investors and hyping up his company which is hard work.

The reality is that scamming simply requires a broken moral compass. That's all the prerequisite is.

GREEDY ! GREEDY ! GREEDY !
Scammers are always finding new ways to trick you, but many scams are based on an existing one, so being aware of the different types of scams is the best way to spot new ones

Indeed, I think a lot of scammers just verge on being sociopaths. It's not so much that it's "easy" to scam, it's more so that they come to view it as a legitimate form of work. Marx called them the Lumpenproletariat. :)

The dog may be on to you, I'd advise you wiretap your house and set up security cams.

That dog thinks he may be so smart.

I don't think that they have the skills to make a successful coin

Are you sure that is really your dog? :D
http://www.pretty-online.jp/blog/%E3%82%8F%E3%81%95%E3%81%8A%E5%A4%A7%E9%98%AACP%20021%E8%BB%BD.jpg

That's true sadly.
I don't really understand why people fall for some obvious scams so easily...

May be they see it as a way of making quick and unstressed cash.I don't know its just my personal opinion.

They probably missed the bitcoin boat and find it unfair so they scam. 

very simple money is everything  ;D
they are too lazy to make their own way and they want to earn money the easy way
GREEDY !

Because they believe they won't get caught.
If someone run a ponzi scam in reality, they will get caught and be put in jail.
But if he run it in the bitcoin world, AFAIK, they usually just get away after scamming.

To get money fast and quick.

they dont want a legit job, its just that simple lol.

The question is - why do people get scammed?  ::)

Lack of patience of a supposedly a sweet deal lol.

For most of the cases (low-level scams such as ponzi and altcoin IPO), it is because they are gullible and greedy.
But some scams are elaborated and it is not so easy to notice them beforehand.

The next level of a scam, is something like pulling a berne madoff, thats level 2,000.

Where most individuals will give a money to a financial investment firm lol.

Money is the root of all evils,those who don't have any skills,knowledge and sense in any field try to make quick money,they see scamming as a quick and easiest way to make some cash.In the long run they end up neither having cash nor any particular skills.The easiest place in this whole world to scam would not be anywhere else other than the internet.

It's money, simple as that. Anyone who can find an easier way than earning or investing into bitcoin will choose that option because it is the easy option no matter what they are taking from people or how much it affects others. I personally despise hackers and scammers but if they know they can get something easy we will always have them around somewhere.

Its just greed or survival, cause thats all they know what to do get $$.

Scamming people can give you much money in a little amount of time, but to be an anonimous scammer you have to be really smart.

Why do scammers scam? Because people like to choose the easy way

Why do scammers scam is a question I ask myself often. I often see people on here attempting to or succeeding in scamming little amounts like $20 worth of bitcoins. I honestly can't see how it was even worth the effort to them. They probably couldve spent their time better on doing something else or earning money legitimately, but no, they have to try and scam it out of people.

They want that nice quick money.

But why not just work hard for that money legitimately rather than work hard at scamming immorally someone for pittance?

Scamming is always much easier then legitimate work. If not, scammer wouldn't scam..

of course, very easy to get people interested,
just need a website and offers a large profit, many people are got scammed.
Why do scammers scam ? it's simple, because they take advantage of some people who do not think they do  :o

Scams need not be for pittance always. They are plenty of scammers who have gotten rich through scamming.  ;D

If they really care about morality or justice, they won't attempt to scam in the first place...

It's about a thrill as well, not just the money. It's more exciting to scam than work a dull 8 hours a day.

Is it? To successful scam you have to put in usually several hours work, whether that';s building up your rep or actually closing the scam. You could spend that time better building up your account to use for legit purposes like a sig deal or other ways to make money on here.


That's true, but most are. Most of the scams I see here are for like 10-50 dollars. You could earn that on a sig campaign with 50 posts, but not now they've ruined their account by scamming from it.

They just want to make easy money in the little amount of time possible.

Easy. It's much easier to pull of a scam than really work for your money. The amount of work needed to scam people is lower than just staying legit and earning your BTC the hard way. People are greedy, maybe even in dire need of money, and therefore do anything to get access to it. Also all those fancy IPOs and their business models are mostly crap and will never work out to begin with!

They want to get rich fast and dont want to work.

Unfortunately, sometimes, careless people fell for cheap scams.
For example, someone impersonated theymos and sent a few emails out, and scammed 11.95 btc. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=665923.0

becouse they want money very fast and simple

Some people only have the ability to convince others they have an idea worth investing, but not have good ideas and make they come true.

Also the anonimity factor, you can scam using an alt ID while you remain being an honorable member of the Bitcoin comunity. Plus it will be unlikely you'll get arrested or something, because the Bitcoin comunity values anonimity.

Then no social punishment + no law punishiment = scammer's paradise

They want easy quick money, no one likes working hard, specially as boat missers.

Many scams require more work than regular work.

They want to get money while they don't want to work hard.
Sad to see those scammers, I lost some coins in sharex exchange, luckily not much.

Nah, I think scams require less work. Look at the hardware thread, selling fake ASIC.

Simple thinking! They want your money. Scammers always use different and new tricks to gain money. They will give attractive and unbelievable offers and will aim to convince you. If you have a feeling that something is wrong, you're possibly right.

For profit, simple.

What surprises me most is how dumb that scammer must've been trying to sell that many coins at once. He is fully anonymous, no one will be able to track him down, yet he decides to get busted on a small exchange trying to sell millions of coins? lol.. What a dumbass.

I can do the same question , but on the contrary :


 I think the answer is : beacuse scam isn't right . But few people think : scam is right .

What do you think about my question ?

Because working is a scam, so they want to scam other people anyway. Everything is a scam  :'(

It's pretty simple. Time is money. Scammers know this, scammers are low inhibition, and have little morals, so they will do anything that it takes to stick to that motto, aka big money in little time as possible.

I happen to work in a psychiatric hospital. There's sociopaths and psychopaths. Psychopaths are born that way, while sociopaths have personality disorders.

One characteristic they share is the lack of empathy for other people. Sure, they can tell they are hurting others but they don't feel their pain. They will see their victims of deserving to be ripped off because they are stupid. They don't feel bad at all. Without empathy, the biggest crimes that pay the most and are easiest to execute are simply the most efficient way of making money.

Why work if you can steal ? Purely logically and purely selfishly it makes total sense.

These are sick people. Arguing morality with them is completely futile. 

Because its easy to do lol.

Even trying to sell fake things still requires work to fabricate the listing then try successfully scam. Most scams fail several times before they manage a scam that's if they even manage to pull it off. Just think of all that time wasted where they could have been earning some other way.

The OP was talking about big scams, for which a sig deal doesn't make much of a difference.

Even with small scams, why would the scammer care ? Why spend time posting when you can just make a new account and scam again ?

You cannot stop scamming by delving into the scammer's mind, just by being more careful with what you trade.

It appeals to peoples' greed! When people see the chance to gain incredible amounts of money, they're quite willing to take their chance and just fade out the possibility of losing all of their investment! People need to consider a total loss when doing their research!

simple, money is all and for profit

Because all they care about is making quick money and runaway.They don't care about future just a short time.Scammers are shitholes I got scammed many times as a newbie around the internet few years back.

It makes total sense to me.  There are too many coins to buy into and not enough coins that make any real difference.  Instead of people trying to work together and make something worth while everybody (community and developers) chases the next best thing and then they realize that it's just another pump and dump.  If the community doesn't work together this is all you can expect to happen for a long time until where left with the same failed economy where trying to avoid but with a new face. 

When you support a coin that isn't offering anything real your supporting scams.  When you lose that money then you have just funded a new potential scam or multiple scams.  Watching coins slowly die has been very refreshing feeling I just wish it would happen at a faster rate so people could get the picture and stop wasting money and even more valuable time.

Is it easy?

Prove it. I'd bet half a bitcoin that you can't pull off a major scam without putting hours of effort into it, making it believable. Ponzis MIGHT be an exception as you got an old forum account, although you'd lose the trust rating and your acc is probably worth .45 btc, so unless you made a big profit it'd be useless.

Most of them dont have emphathy, i.e. sociopathic behavior. so, they dont care what they do to their victim. All they care about is themselves. if they can put an extra few bucks in their pocket and screw an innocent victim in the process, well, too bad.. their mind doesn't process it like a normal person does.. they just care about number one...

Why do they scam? Well if they pull it of right, they can "earn" a fair amount of btc in a, lets say, short period of time and that's not just with bitcoins.

Why does any criminal steal? They want something you have. They don't care who it hurts as long as they get what they want. The reasons they want it may vary could be desperate to pay bills feed family. Or it could be to get more drugs or god knows why. Sadly there has always been thieves and always will. So its up to each of us to protect ourselves and hopefully each other.

Is BFL consider a scammer? Well they scam for millions of dollars..

And they are still scamming.

Well, for me, scammers scam initially because of money aaaand s3x.

They scam because they see so many new people here who doesn't know anything about trades.

Umm what? S3x? Sex. You think scammers scam so they can get some sex or something?

People get greedy when they have the chance of getting their hands on money. Also when they see that other people scam a lot and no one is doing jack to stop that, they consider scamming people themselves! This is somewhat of a vicious circle in itself, unfortunately.

Day by day scammer trainning for his son :)

There are some scammers who try to learn scamming as a daily job.

They are degenerates.

But really their are different class of degenerates.

You get the smarter ones with the long con type game... they stay around for a while, perhaps offer a service and usually end up with a big bag of coins when they do a runner.Its happend so many times here you literally can't keep count... and unfortunately they always (except once or twice) got away scot-free with a crap load of coins.

Then you get the tards who try get 0.03 loans... I guess it all adds up if you do it enough times.

BFL scam happened probably because from start there were good intentions. It happened because they failed in many ways. My bet, but i could be wrong ofcourse.

They scam to earn coins in the bad way just because they can't do it in the regular way.

They may have faced some technical difficulty which affected the shipment schedule slightly, but I don't think it is possible to have a year long delay with good intentions.
And even worse, they didn't stop taking pre-orders.

I never understand the tards who scam for petty ammounts like 0.03. That is very lazy. I agree long-conners can be pretty smart but they have to be pretty determined but sadly their determination usually pays off.


Lolwut?

Yea I could see their intentions being good at the start and a mix of technical setbacks, greed and good old fashioned power tripping made it easy to just start scamming a few people here and there.  Now things are a mess and the name is synonymous with scam IMO.

Scammers should be put in a reality show for the rest of their life. :P

hey want easy money and unfortunately they often get it  :(

its because they feel like they have the power to scam anyone..the challenging the scam is the more fun it gets

because the bad guy like to follow the easy path

The newest episode should be focusing on Mark Karpeles, and showing how he is going to launch a new business without getting any consequence from the mysterious mtgox hack and his lies.

Scammers do what they do because they make money off it! Simple as that. As long as people fall for it they will continue to do it. Just look at the amount of spam email telling you about your long lost nigerian uncle, or that spanish lottery that you've won. Theyese guys don't do it just for laughs ;)

This^. Also asking why people scam other is like asking why people are what they are. It is just human nature that some people are just meant to be scumbags. Sometimes there is no reason behind it but mostly it is for the money. Duh.

The best way to understand why anyone would do anything is by first understanding that, "each and every action a person takes, he takes because he thinks it will make him feel better".