Why Technical Knowledge Alone Does Not Protect People From Scams.

[michellee]

You mention the reason why people getting scams so that happens to them. If they can have all things you says, they will avoids the scams and always be careful and not think that they are superior than others.

The feeling underestimating to simple thing can makes you get on the scam without realize. If they can still humble with their knowledge and aware, they will see clear and will thinks before deciding. They will not make a fast decision without consideration on many things. They are fully aware that on Internet, they can be a target from the scammers.

[Mpamaegbu]

Someone that is giving lectures to people about  hack should know that having two devices is better than one that will be used to access the internet more frequently. Or maybe he is using two devices, but still not following what he is teaching.

You're right on that. Like I noted earlier that two major weapons both scammers and hackers use on their victims were – Greed and Impatience. That's why we ought not to be hasty while executing financial deals. The dude in question felt it was something he could speedily do before getting home to use his other device as the project team gave him the impression that they needed an urgent response from him. Well, he learned the hard way from that experience; and by extension, I also learned too from his sad experience.

I believe a lot more people here will also learn from that.

[tech30338]

People with less knowledge about what is happening in their surroundings will surely be a victim of scam because when they for example invest into something this people will just let them know what is good about it, what will be the profit and they make sure they feed you with positive so that you will not be able to question about what is not good, because you are already flooded with possibility that you forget the risk that is with it.
Even though we have different devices if we don't maximize the advantage for us, it will be useless and we will still be a victim if we are not aware of the positive and negativity of what we are doing, or what is going to happen, meaning we have remove the risk without knowing, and believe the scammers.

[Akbarkoe]

There are too many deceivers in this world, and even the most cautious people are sometimes deceived by themselves who are too sure of what they know and have, feeling the safest from others, when danger is lurking all the time.
I have a small experience where I was very confident that the wallet I had was safe, but at that time it was drained, until now I don't know the reason why and how the thief did it, one thing I suspected was my family, but there was not enough evidence and the amount was not too large and I forgot about it, I may not understand deeply how technical, but at least I understand the fundemental security that is best in blockchain transactions or activities, but one thing I forget is that threats are sometimes not from what we don't realize.

[Cryptohygenic]

The feeling underestimating to simple thing can makes you get on the scam without realize. If they can still humble with their knowledge and aware, they will see clear and will thinks before deciding. They will not make a fast decision without consideration on many things. They are fully aware that on Internet, they can be a target from the scammers.

Therefore, having the technical knowledge alone is not enough to stay free with your funds as Op had implied.
It takes technical knowledge to identify what wallet type is safe, storage systems and knowledge of navigating through your wallet and operations to secure your privacy and funds, but takes another dimension of sensitivity with smart reasoning to stay away from being scammed.
Skepticism and the ability to do research proffers a lot of safety attitudes to keep crypto users and their fund safe from scams victims.

[PVequalNRT]

Therefore, having the technical knowledge alone is not enough to stay free with your funds as Op had implied.
It takes technical knowledge to identify what wallet type is safe, storage systems and knowledge of navigating through your wallet and operations to secure your privacy and funds, but takes another dimension of sensitivity with smart reasoning to stay away from being scammed.
Skepticism and the ability to do research proffers a lot of safety attitudes to keep crypto users and their fund safe from scams victims.

What you need even with the technical knowledge is that common sense to identify scam from far. Been phished doesn't care if you have technical knowledge or not. If people with millions on their account with tight security can lose everything, what more of you that have your coins in between your seed phrase. One small link and you will hand over your coins to a other person.

Secondly, make sure you are not greedy, avoid investments that are too real, if it's too real then there is nothing real about them.

[ImGenius]

Right, I think scammers accomplish their goal by defeating human decision making. Even very skilled software engineers cyber security researchers and crypto currency experts can lose their money because scammers attack wasn't aimed at their technical understanding. Their main target is the emotional, intelligence and attention of the person.

Technical knowledge might help you understand a fake website, spot malicious software but it's not really helpful to identify scammers. While critical thinking will help you ask questions and easily distance yourself from tempting offers.

[Hewlet]

You mention the reason why people getting scams so that happens to them. If they can have all things you says, they will avoids the scams and always be careful and not think that they are superior than others.

To a large extent, how you respond to each scam attempt is even more important than whatever you know in the past because sometimes, the circumstances behind the scam might make you blank even when you know so about security and the kind of scams that are available. one rule i have always adopted is never to rush things as long as it involves my asset. no matter how sweet the proposal looks like, it can always wait while i carry out my due diligence.

If you know so much but have a poor reaction ability, your knowledge would not matter as much because in general, what really count is how you respond to each scam attempt.

[Somegory]

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.

You are right, if I don't know about others I am very sure about that urgency part, I know there is more but lack of patience simply because you are in rush will cost you even though you are very skilled person.

If people want to make transactions they must first get things around them done so that they won't be in any form of hurry later, this can cause distractions that will make them to send coins to the wrong address.

Lack of patience can make you do the wrong things when trading or withdrawing funds online.

[BlackBoss_]

You are right, if I don't know about others I am very sure about that urgency part, I know there is more but lack of patience simply because you are in rush will cost you even though you are very skilled person.

If people want to make transactions they must first get things around them done so that they won't be in any form of hurry later, this can cause distractions that will make them to send coins to the wrong address.

Lack of patience can make you do the wrong things when trading or withdrawing funds online.

Making/ broadcasting a Bitcoin transaction is not too much time-consuming. It takes time but it's not like people have to spend 15 minutes or an hour for a transaction broadcasting. It can be done within one minute or only several minutes, not too much longer time than that.

I agree that keeping you free from noise, annoying things around when your broadcast your Bitcoin transaction is a careful practice that reduces possibility of making mistakes. I believe people surely can manage to do that well because it does not need a lot of time and several minutes are very possible to organize well.

Especially it can help people broadcasting their transactions carefully, check, double check and avoid unnecessary expensive mistakes.

[Peanutswar]

If you wanted to start an engagement with the cryptocurrency I guess thats the time you need to feed up yourself a knowledge related into technicalities, but does not mean you need to become a programmer, cyber security, etc related just to understand this deeply having a prior understanding is enough. At the first glance there is a chance that you might overwhelmed but having an awareness is an advantage with these attacks, having a knowledge in different attacks, how does it works and whats the possible impact is a must. By that you can secure now your wallet and yourself even your devices on someone wanted to stole to you. Personally having AV is one of the security layer i have seen plus avoiding links and unwanted messages came from unknown sources.

[Alonso_]

I don’t need technical knowledge to know something that is associated with scam, most of the scam people fall into is because of negligence, they neglect and avoids the most important things, they can even be seeing the truth in front of them but there is nothing they can do about it, but in a situation like this, you can recognize scam when you see one when you are smart, sometimes desperation is a huge problem and a challenge which is why you should be very vigilant to be very careful to identify foul play.

[Cookdata]

Right, I think scammers accomplish their goal by defeating human decision making. Even very skilled software engineers cyber security researchers and crypto currency experts can lose their money because scammers attack wasn't aimed at their technical understanding. Their main target is the emotional, intelligence and attention of the person.

Technical knowledge might help you understand a fake website, spot malicious software but it's not really helpful to identify scammers. While critical thinking will help you ask questions and easily distance yourself from tempting offers.

Emotional attached in what way? I don't think a typical scammer can get away with a knowledgeable person's coins even with a common hot wallet as long as you know what you are doing. Some scammers are too obvious unless you are not that technical. What's even the most popular scam to think of in crypto if not for wallet drain and most often, this are as a result of wallet permission and when you interact with fake smart contract but if you are knowledgeable, it's avoidable.

You can't run someone with simple scams when it comes to Bitcoin especially when it involves a hardware wallet. The chance of emotionally or whatever strategies you mentioned, the chance is absolutely zero but if you are not knowledgeable to differentiate fake software wallet, then your chance of making mistakes can contribute to the scam. May be I'm the one overreacting, I have not been approached by a scammer before, I have tons of messages and phishing links but I don't give a damn about them. You want to contact me, ring my phone number and I will only pick if I have your mobile number, privacy has been helping alot.

[ColdLava40]

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.

Even with all the knowledge some people have, they still get scammed with the smallest known means, it doesn't make them any different. Their knowledge only makes them confident in ways they can't be scammed but they may still be vulnerable.

Emotional attached in what way? I don't think a typical scammer can get away with a knowledgeable person's coins even with a common hot wallet as long as you know what you are doing. Some scammers are too obvious unless you are not that technical. What's even the most popular scam to think of in crypto if not for wallet drain and most often, this are as a result of wallet permission and when you interact with fake smart contract but if you are knowledgeable, it's avoidable.

those should be on technical type of scam. For some regular scam where victims have to be convinced I still think scammers can get away with people even when they have knowledge.

You can't run someone with simple scams when it comes to Bitcoin especially when it involves a hardware wallet. The chance of emotionally or whatever strategies you mentioned, the chance is absolutely zero but if you are not knowledgeable to differentiate fake software wallet, then your chance of making mistakes can contribute to the scam. May be I'm the one overreacting, I have not been approached by a scammer before, I have tons of messages and phishing links but I don't give a damn about them. You want to contact me, ring my phone number and I will only pick if I have your mobile number, privacy has been helping alot.

It different for everyone, scammers used different means to lure their victims. If they notice you are the type that is smart, they may change their tactics to something different.

[Bitcoin Smith]

I don’t need technical knowledge to know something that is associated with scam, most of the scam people fall into is because of negligence, they neglect and avoids the most important things, they can even be seeing the truth in front of them but there is nothing they can do about it, but in a situation like this, you can recognize scam when you see one when you are smart, sometimes desperation is a huge problem and a challenge which is why you should be very vigilant to be very careful to identify foul play.

That is why it is worth mentioning that there is a huge difference between smart and wise. Someone who got all the technical knowledge about bitcoin but when they end up in a life situation that makes them desperate to make some quick money then they eventually fall for it. But those are rare, smart people actually know how not to end up in situation that eliminates the opportunity but there are many who pretend to be smart will be trapped.

[L E G E N D A R Y]

That is why it is worth mentioning that there is a huge difference between smart and wise. Someone who got all the technical knowledge about bitcoin but when they end up in a life situation that makes them desperate to make some quick money then they eventually fall for it. But those are rare, smart people actually know how not to end up in situation that eliminates the opportunity but there are many who pretend to be smart will be trapped.

I don’t know about you guys but trying to be smart doesn’t always favor people all the time. But having the knowledge and knowing exactly how and when to apply those knowledge will always be better than just being smart. The reason it often seems like having knowledge isn’t a big deal is often because some people just have the knowledge but don’t really know how to apply those knowledge in real life situations, but when a person knows just how to apply the knowledge without panicking, then it’ll always be way better than just being smart.

[Pi-network314159]

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.

All you have said here is indeed an undeniable fact, anyone can be manipulated if the lose focus. No one is perfect or above mistake, so for that reason any little wrong decision can leed to scammer getting you. I have seen or heard about crypto expert being hacked. Like you said overconfident is one of the factors which I agree with that. It can make someone make a big mistake by allowing Scammers to use little things that may appear common to hack them. Scammers try new method when the old strategy fail them and for that reason we must try to be always updated to their new tricks otherwise we may be familiar and confident with the old tricks without knowing the new one, and may fall victim if research is not made properly. Being technically inclined does not guarantee you not to be hacked, like I said no one is above mistake and for that reason anything can happen.

[Asuspawer09]

I mean I understand your point here, but the technical knowledge is a huge thing even though you are saying or talking about greed, trust, fear, urgency, overconfident something like that it is all falls down to your knowledge first I mean your not going to fell all of this things if you know what you are doing you will easily know if you know it, that there might be a chance that you are talking to a hacker or scammer, you could easily spot that red flag. The thing here is we mostly forgot the fundamentals and thinking that we already know most of the things, and we started to get careless, or maybe in the beginning you dont really know anything from the start and your just trying to guess everything until you get it. Basically, they could easily get you to fall into a simple trap since you dont really have any idea about it.

For me your not going to be manipulated that easily if you have the knowledge you know that it is better to not engage into it, or dont go into a conversation and only do the things that you know is safe, If some shady emails sent on you like you won something, you know what to do instantly check everything if it's legit or not but the way the email constructed it was obviously or there is always a chance that it is a scam, so your easily going to block that email, your not really going to figure it out and test the link because you already know that there is a high or low chance.

[MyWarLord]

Lack of updates can also make one vulnerable to scammers, the world is changing everyday, new terms are coming up, methods are changing, but whenever we learn a thing we stop there. Scammers are so intelligent they're aware that one of the ways you portray confidence is by knowledge, and in so doing they appear as a genuine one to us. But if we're updated, we know when changes has been applied, we aware of new techniques and methods then we won't appear like a novice.

After learning the technical parts, we should also improve  in it, know what has changed and what's still standing.

[I_Anime]

I don’t need technical knowledge to know something that is associated with scam, most of the scam people fall into is because of negligence, they neglect and avoids the most important things, they can even be seeing the truth in front of them but there is nothing they can do about it, but in a situation like this, you can recognize scam when you see one when you are smart, sometimes desperation is a huge problem and a challenge which is why you should be very vigilant to be very careful to identify foul play.

Most scammers don’t even need technical knowledge with just marketing skill they are good to go . but the best  way to avoid any form of scam is through staying updated by researching thoroughly, many are too lazy to research that’s they kept fallen as victim of scams there where times when I was victim of money scams especially Ponzi scheme, but now the chances of me falling for such is low , due to the knowledge I’ve acquired in the past few years then I was to lazy to even to my own research.