Recently, I was with some relatives that are in the prime demographic for scammers (65+ Senior Citizens). They get about 3-6 calls from scam numbers a day, but they ignore all of them, because they were scammed before.
If any of you guys remember the Facebook account hacking scam, where a fake account poses as a Facebook friend in a second account and says that they were hacked and you need to click a link where they hack you, it was that scam that they fell for. Nothing was lost, nothing was stolen, only a request to admins and a new account.
I was wondering how this correlates to the fact that there are other scams that pry on those scammed before. Is there any correlation between victims of previous unrelated scams being aware of scams, or is a scammed victim more likely to be scammed again?
The simple answer is if a victim is aware they were scammed, they are more likely to be alert and less likely to fall victims again. Some scams rely on their victims feeling like they “got something” for their money and are more prone to being victimized again. It really depends on the scam if a victim will fall for another scam. The computer scams with fake tech support or antivirus install victims are the ones who will most likely fall for it again, especially if they pay a subscription and get a refund scam call.
That’s what I was thinking. Screw them for double dipping on vulnerable people.
I think that would be common sense that, once scammed, someone would be less likely to be scammed again.
HOWEVER, scammers love lead lists that include previous victims, so there must be a reason for that.
Also, as someone who often has an opportunity to talk to scam victims myself, I can tell you that most people I speak with have been a victim more than once.