African traders are not falling for scams anymore

Blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis found out that traders who are trading with crypto are not falling into scammers traps anymore. The firm stated that the percentage of wrongdoings associated with scams is not high anymore in Africa compared to other regions in the world. The trading volume last year was 16$ billion. Scams estimated for 55% of this low level of illegal movement.

So, how did Africa stay so low compared to other regions? Because the traders are educating themselves more and more. They are doing more research and their trading strategies are getting more and more sophisticated. People with extra information and education can recognize the possibilities of scams. Growing crypto education is explaining the lowered scamming in Africa’s continent. A clear example of this education is South Africa, where the financial regulation has separate projects on providing knowledge to anyone who needs it.

This is then highlighted by the number of SA brokers you can trust in the country. Naturally, this knowledge then seeps over to the crypto industry as well, making the local population much more resilient towards scammers. One of the leaders now championing blockchain and crypto culture in Africa was previously a victim of crypto scams herself. Doris Ojuederie established the non-profit institution. She proposed to give guidance to women about blockchain technology and crypto trading individually.

Why so many people fall for scams

All of us once in a while get spams in our mail. You may even get robocalls sometimes. We all get some unwanted messages on a regular basis. We delete most of them, but there are some that catch our attention and that is when we need to be more careful. They all are so-called mass-market scams and the only thing they do is stealing the money from your bank account. There are people who have no idea about the existence of the scams and companies who are trying to lie to them in order to get their bank information, and they are giving every detail to them because scammers are very provocative, manipulative people who are experts in what they are doing. These professional liars are robing individuals, organizations, and even governments. Losses and victims are countless and many of the victims are suffering from depression and illnesses after they are being scammed. In fact, there is no other crime in the world that affects as many people from all the age-gaps as the scams.

Five psychological reasons why people fall for scams:

Principle of reciprocity - If someone does something for us, they want something back. Scammers are using this type of speech. For example, they can offer you an “exclusive” opportunity to invest money, but in reality, it is not doing for you any favor. In return, you feel obligated to simply go with their idea of investment and you continue listening to their sales pitch and you do that destructive signing up for a bogus scheme, that is stealing money from you and not doing anything for you in reality.

Little steps - The people are finding themselves manipulated by the scammers when they say that 80% of people have signed up with them and they are now successful millionaires. But those are fairy tales of course.

“Trivial” questions - The scammers can manipulate your personality traits too. They can ask you very personal questions and then they are trying to somehow be your therapists. After that, you are trusting them more and they take advantage of you. Believing the person you have not seen in your lifetime and you only know their noise is crazy. Why would someone believe that they are happy talking to you and they want nothing from you? Of course, they do, they are going to rob you in several minutes.

“Everybody does that” - We all want to feel like a part of something big. Especially people with some insecurities. We want to be included, to feel included, that is why we say “yes, I will give you my card information” sometimes. We don’t realize how stupid it is until we are left with no penny. People are genuinely worried about missing out on an opportunity, that is why the fear of missing out is a destructive fear of our life. Fears are becoming our limits and then we are doing illogical things to ourselves. “The next big thing” is nothing. It is just a word. The “offer” which will make you a millionaire is a lie. When our freedom to be able to do something is threatened by the feeling that we need to react quickly to something in order to don’t miss out on the “chance”, that is when we are falling into traps. Quote from Alice in Wonderland is true - Curiosity often leads to trouble. Scammers will claim that the offer they are giving you is mindblowing and only valid for the moment and as soon as you will disconnect, the offer will be gone. But it is not true because there is no actual offer. Still, many people feel that they can not miss out on their chance “to get rich”.

They seem so nice! - right? But it is not true. It’s just acting. All are hiding in acting. They can be very nice people in their lives, it is just they need money, and most of them are living in very poor countries, so they can get money in dollars and they are also miserable that they need to do that stuff to the people. But, living in poverty is not simple, so they prefer to lie than to worry about their next meal.

Some of them know that if they will be more like you - you will give them your card information. So, they are mirroring you. They are doing everything and saying everything that you will love to hear at that moment. It is a simple principle of similarity. We tend to trust people more if we think that we are alike. They may even ask you about the zodiac, or birth dates, and they say “oh, I was born on the same day”. And you will eventually feel more connected to them. It is just a way for them for you to like them more and can’t deny their requests.

Be aware of these things and research more. Understanding the main principles in psychology will help you more to stay away from the scammers.