The Accidental Scammer

Can an internet scammer be so, accidentally?

I wrestled with this question in an attempt to reconcile the delta between how businesses behave and what businesses believe. Of those who appear to be scammers, “Surely, they know what they’re doing?”

Some know what they’re doing

Of course, some know precisely what they’re doing.

They’re intimately aware of the psychological marketing tools available to us, many of which can be used to manipulate and coerce resources out of the hands of others.

And so they do.

The resource matters more than the reputation. The money, more than the moral justification for finding a better way.

Some don’t know what they’re doing

You may be – or may have been at a point in time – in this category.

The ‘accidental scammers’ don’t know that they’re in this category.

The businesses who found their product or service to be undesirable in the market, or those who found a modicum of success but are struggling to increase their numbers.

These folks, in an act of well-meaning ignorance, sometimes start trying every trick in the book to get you to do the thing they want you to do.

They begun inadvertently setting traps for those they claim to have a heart to serve, succumbing to the sensational, baseless falsehoods of pop-marketing in an attempt to move the needle. All with good intentions, but without realising the damage they’re doing to their reputations along the way.

Some wake to the idea of showing up for those they wish to serve, and serving them. Of helping people in order to help them.

Others remain trapped in a web of ‘low-stock’ eBooks and unrelenting pop-ups.

Each of us makes the choice. Do we look for ways to serve and make a real difference, or force short-term sales at the expense of a long-term vision?

You can always get money back, service back, opportunity back, strategic advantage back… but it’s much harder to get reputation back.