Why Technical Knowledge Alone Does Not Protect People From Scams.

[Joy- maker]

This thread came about because of the conversation I had with my friends yesterday. At least one of my friends stated that most people get scammed because they don't know much of technical things.

I can partly agree with him, as indeed, not knowing much, or not knowing about technical things can make it easier to be scammed by someone.  However, there are also many cases where technical skilled individuals still fall victim to fraud.

So, if technical knowledge is not enough what else is needed? Imo, what I think is needed are: critical thinking, emotional control, patient and healthy skepticism, because scammers mostly succeed because they explore human psychology rather than technical weakness. therefore,  greed, trust, fears, urgency and overconfidence are some of the common tools used by scammers.

Understanding how wallet works, and how signature and blockchain transactions work is perfectly ok, but it doesn't prevent you from being manipulated. So, feel free to give your 2 cents on this discussion.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

This thread came about because of the conversation I had with my friends yesterday. At least one of my friends stated that most people get scammed because they don't know much of technical things.

People mostly were scammed because they did not learn anything including fundamentals for beginners, while they're too careless, too greedy which are more than enough to be very vulnerable from scammers.

Understanding how wallet works, and how signature and blockchain transactions work is perfectly ok, but it does stop you from manipulation. So, feel free to give your 2 cents on this discussion.

These things are basic, not too technical like how to open a bank account, use a bank account for digital money transfer, it's for basic use, not for technical. Like with Learnmeabitcoin.com website, there are two many pages for learning, one for beginners, and another one for technical.

For these things you mentioned, it's in beginners page
https://learnmeabitcoin.com/beginners/
https://learnmeabitcoin.com/technical/

[lovesmayfamilis]

It's simple: if someone doesn't understand something, doesn't understand what it's about, then you don't need to have any connections with what interests them until they figure out the details. Example: a fraudulent project promises incredible profits. A greedy person will immediately decide to invest, without having any experience or knowledge of how to understand exactly what a scam project is or isn't. What is his mistake? That, first of all, he is greedy, stupid, and impatient. Anyone who wants to know about something is not in a hurry; he is careful, he is skeptical, and he parts with his money after checking all the red flags several times. Haste is needed when there are lice in the head. In all other cases, it is necessary to check everything carefully, even with technical and non-technical knowledge.

[Charles-Tim]

Differentiate between scammers and hackers. These are two different things entirely.

Having technical knowledge can help you avoid hackers, but experience and common knowledge help you avoid scammers.

Regardless, you do not necessarily need to have technical knowledge to avoid both. Just read about scam, malware and hacks, and how to avoid them and be on a forum like this forum will be helpful a lot.

[Porfirii]

-snip-

So, if technical knowledge is not enough what else is needed? Imo, what I think is needed are: critical thinking, emotional control, patient and healthy skepticism, because scammers mostly succeed because they explore human psychology rather than technical weakness. therefore,  greed, trust, fears, urgency and overconfidence are some of the common tools used by scammers.

Understanding how wallet works, and how signature and blockchain transactions work is perfectly ok, but it doesn't prevent you from being manipulated. So, feel free to give your 2 cents on this discussion.

Social engineering is key for these fraudsters, so even more important than technical knowledge to prevent falling victim of a scam, is to understand how they work. In fact, many scammers lack basic technical skills, all they do is to exploit some weaknesses that most human beings suffer from (greed, fear, fomo...) and by knowing how they work you can maximise your chances of protecting yourself if necessary.

[knowngunman]

So, if technical knowledge is not enough what else is needed?

Information is what you need.

If you are updated with scam tricks, you are a step ahead of scammers. You may have technical knowledge, experience etc but you may still end up being scammed because you're not updated with the latest tricks.

As far as you're updated, you can never fall victim to scammers unless you're too naive and dumb trying to play safe and smart with scammers.

Differentiate between scammers and hackers. These are two different things entirely.

I don't think they're entirely different. Although they operate in different ways but They have the same goal (to steal) but use different strategies. All hackers are scammers but not all scammers are hackers.

[Marvelockg]

I can partly agree with him, as indeed, not knowing much, or not knowing about technical things can make it easier to be scammed by someone.  However, there are also many cases where technical skilled individuals still fall victim to fraud.

The question is, how many average person in the bitcoin ecosystem actually have a good technical knowledge of bitcoin and how many scammers are putting out very technical things that is aimed at stealing from vulnerable people? Most of the scam cases we've been seeing are simple things that an average person can easily relate with but average doesn't suggest that you can still deal with it.

More than just possessing all the knowledge, you've got to act on it because that's what matters most. If you're not capable of acting on information gathered on how scammers operate, your technical knowledge is a total waste.

[Charles-Tim]

All hackers are scammers but not all scammers are hackers.

So if someone's computer was hacked, his wallet compromised and his bitcoin stolen. That means the person has been scammed? That is absolutely not correct.

If someone has been scammed, the scammer tricked the victim to send money to him (the scammer).

My post is not about a matter of argument, it is about how scam and hack are different just like how trading and gambling are different.

[Audrey Simmons]

Understanding how wallet works, and how signature and blockchain transactions work is perfectly ok, but it doesn't prevent you from being manipulated. So, feel free to give your 2 cents on this discussion.

Wallet and blockchain transactions are not technical side of Bitcoin, those are the basics.

Victims to scam lack awareness, awareness in the sense that you are offered massive returns with very low capital investment, having financial discussions with strangers and no clue why personal informations are requested, aside from not able to control greed, they refused to learn the basics, for every investment has its guidelines.

[Hatchy]

Understanding how wallet works, and how signature and blockchain transactions work is perfectly ok, but it doesn't prevent you from being manipulated. So, feel free to give your 2 cents on this discussion.

Every one can become a victim of scam. Your level of knowledge doesn't determine if you will be scammed or not. It only differentiates you from a regular individual who only understands how to keep his keys safe. And I think that's the basics knowledge everyone should have as a bitcoin investor. The idea now drops down to does today investors have even the basic knowledge on how to store their keys? Toll now, alot of people still don't back up their wallets. Some back them up using emails or photos and that's because they have little to no know of the usefulness of keeping their keys safe. Technical knowledge is a little bit too advanced for an investor who just wants to hold. If you know how to protect your funds, then you are good to go...

[SeriouslyGiveaway]

Differentiate between scammers and hackers. These are two different things entirely.

Having technical knowledge can help you avoid hackers, but experience and common knowledge help you avoid scammers.

Regardless, you do not necessarily need to have technical knowledge to avoid both. Just read about scam, malware and hacks, and how to avoid them and be on a forum like this forum will be helpful a lot.

Sometimes hackers and scammers overlap each other. Like if scammers use their scam smart contracts to access your wallet, they need technical things to do both scam you and hack your wallets, steal your cryptocurrency.

With scammers who only try to use things like Ponzi scam method, they don't need to do technical things, and they're not hackers.

I don't agree that hackers can not be scammers, and scammers can not be hackers, it's case by case.

[Zaguru12]

Every one can become a victim of scam. Your level of knowledge doesn't determine if you will be scammed or not. It only differentiates you from a regular individual who only understands how to keep his keys safe. And I think that's the basics knowledge everyone should have as a bitcoin investor.

This is entirely true, I think sometime ago we heard the reports of bybit getting compromised was actually as a result of their IT or engineers been tricked and this is not even the only case where top companies Devs or IT departments were tricked with the commonest scam trick which is phishing scam. This alone means that your knowledge doesn’t makes you immune to been hacked you just need to actually be careful still but a knowledgeable person is definitely ahead of one who isn’t in terms of keeping their wallets secured.

All hackers are scammers but not all scammers are hackers.

So if someone's computer was hacked, his wallet compromised and his bitcoin stolen. That means the person has been scammed? That is absolutely not correct.

If someone has been scammed, the scammer tricked the victim to send money to him (the scammer).

My post is not about a matter of argument, it is about how scam and hack are different just like how trading and gambling are different.

I think the focal point in this context is both are trying to steal users funds which is same as trading and gambling as both are trying to predict a future occurrence but are definitely different

[Joy- maker]

Understanding how wallet works, and how signature and blockchain transactions work is perfectly ok, but it doesn't prevent you from being manipulated. So, feel free to give your 2 cents on this discussion.

Wallet and blockchain transactions are not technical side of Bitcoin, those are the basics.

I believe you are referring to knowing how to use a wallet as  basic knowledge rather than technical knowledge. Yes anyone without technical knowledge can use a Bitcoin wallet.

However, I never said that knowing how to use a wallet,  I was specifically referring to understanding how wallets work behind the scenes, which is part of Bitcoin technical side .

I am also aware that most people do not consider this part as advance technical knowledge, they see it as basic technical knowledge. Therefore, there is a difference between using a wallet and understanding how it works.

[pawanjain]

This thread came about because of the conversation I had with my friends yesterday. At least one of my friends stated that most people get scammed because they don't know much of technical things.

I can partly agree with him, as indeed, not knowing much, or not knowing about technical things can make it easier to be scammed by someone.  However, there are also many cases where technical skilled individuals still fall victim to fraud.

So, if technical knowledge is not enough what else is needed? Imo, what I think is needed are: critical thinking, emotional control, patient and healthy skepticism, because scammers mostly succeed because they explore human psychology rather than technical weakness. therefore,  greed, trust, fears, urgency and overconfidence are some of the common tools used by scammers.

Understanding how wallet works, and how signature and blockchain transactions work is perfectly ok, but it doesn't prevent you from being manipulated. So, feel free to give your 2 cents on this discussion.

Technical knowledge alone is not sufficient to prevent scams but we need to be aware of the different type of scams too.
Keeping ourself aware of the latest scams is one way to avoid getting scammed.
Besides that, as you say, we also need to control our emotions as scammers target psychological behavior as well and lure victims into sending money to their addresses.
So I think, one needs to understand the basics of everything to be on the safer side.

[Zoomic]

Differentiate between scammers and hackers. These are two different things entirely.

I don't think they're entirely different. Although they operate in different ways but They have the same goal (to steal) but use different strategies. All hackers are scammers but not all scammers are hackers.

@knowngunman, your insinuation is not correct.
Hacker=/ Scammer!

Have you heard of ethical hackers or white hackers. Not every hacker get access to your device in order to steal.
Some do so to save you or to audit your device before dealings.

All hackers are not scammers, but it is correct to say hacking is a means to steal and scammers use the method.

According to Charles-Tim, scam is very distinct from hacking.

[PX-Z]

This thread came about because of the conversation I had with my friends yesterday. At least one of my friends stated that most people get scammed because they don't know much of technical things.
...

You don't need technical knowledge to avoid scams. What's more important is learning how scammers operate, the common tactics they use, who their usual targets are, and the platforms where they are most active.

Understanding those basics will already help a lot. The more familiar you are with common scam methods and warning signs, the easier it becomes to spot and avoid them before becoming a victim.

Have you heard of ethical hackers or white hackers...

It's white hat hackers to be precise.

[Rockstarguy]

This thread came about because of the conversation I had with my friends yesterday. At least one of my friends stated that most people get scammed because they don't know much of technical things.

I can partly agree with him, as indeed, not knowing much, or not knowing about technical things can make it easier to be scammed by someone.  However, there are also many cases where technical skilled individuals still fall victim to fraud.

Understanding how wallet works, and how signature and blockchain transactions work is perfectly ok, but it doesn't prevent you from being manipulated. So, feel free to give your 2 cents on this discussion.

There are so many people who don’t understand the technical aspect of Bitcoin, but have never been victims of scammers and will never be victims because they understand how scammers operate. You can only be a victim of scammers if you give details of your wallet, which scammers need to scam you. It is good to have technical knowledge of Bitcoin and wallets, but don’t make it seem as if without this technical knowledge, one is exposed to scams.

The most important things if you don’t want to be a victim of scams:

- You need a non-custodial wallet for your Bitcoin.
- Keep your private keys secure and should not be exposed to anyone.
- Never expect to get free Bitcoin from anyone, and always treat every stranger as a suspect of scams.
- Seeking knowledge all the time will do you more good and help you avoid falling for their targets because most victims fall as a result of ignorance.

[Creeper0]

The biggest knowledge to avoid fraud is practical common sense. Someone is asking you for OTP or asking you to enter a link by luring you with some money, you are giving OTP or entering the link as he says. What problem can you see here? Technical knowledge or practical common sense?

Has money become so cheap in the world that someone will offer you money without any interest by calling or sending a message? Money is not so cheap in the world and people are not so good either. So practical common sense is needed to detect fraud here. Even online or on the streets, sometimes we see such fraudulent activities, which are very funny. Still, people are falling into the trap of this ridiculous fraud, some out of greed or out of fear of being shown by the fraudster.

There are even more fraudulent activities that can be avoided through caution, if we can be careful from our place and manage our lives using common sense, then maybe no one can cheat us.

[knowngunman]

All hackers are scammers but not all scammers are hackers.

So if someone's computer was hacked, his wallet compromised and his bitcoin stolen. That means the person has been scammed? That is absolutely not correct.

If someone has been scammed, the scammer tricked the victim to send money to him (the scammer).

My post is not about a matter of argument, it is about how scam and hack are different just like how trading and gambling are different.

I respectfully disagree that they're totally different. Scam and hack operate in different methods but their end result is the same and this make them identical. Whether someone trick you (scam) or break into your system (hack) the goal is to move your coin from your wallet without your real consent. Both scammers and hackers exploit the weakest link in your security chain. For scammers, you're the link but for hackers, the system is the link. In both cases, your coin is gone. Trading and gambling have different expected value math. Although, saying wallet hack is not a scam is technically correct since wallet hack does not automatically mean coin stolen.

[Don Saga]

scammers mostly succeed because they explore human psychology rather than technical weakness. therefore,  greed, trust, fears, urgency and overconfidence are some of the common tools used by scammers.

This is a general human weakness that makes them vulnerable to scams regardless of the level of technical knowledge or expertise. In several occasions,  I have seen so many financial experts get scammed, some people out of greed and the rest based on overconfidence. Also, many of these experts in a particular field might not have the knowledge of how most of these scams work.

Understanding how wallet works, and how signature and blockchain transactions work is perfectly ok, but it doesn't prevent you from being manipulated. So, feel free to give your 2 cents on this discussion.

There are new developments to this scams and most of them look so authentic that you could not call them fake. There was a recent post I saw where people sell fake USDT Tether to vendors and many fell victim of this scam. So its does not end with knowing about blockchains and the rest, there are other knowledge worth acquiring to learn security and watch out for scams.