Are You Being Conned More Often Than You Realise?

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 16 (Bernama) -- The door bell rings and a cheerful and enthusiastic voice follows, "Congratulations! You have just won...." or "Your cooker needs this safety device to prevent gas from leaking out". These are among the "free gimmick" and the "fear sell" tactics most consumers encounter.
The mistake you usually make is to let the sales person in to know more about the prize that you have won. Soon you later discovered how expensive it can be to "win" that prize.
You used to tell yourselves that you would never fall for such a scam. Maybe not a victim of the "free gimmick" or the "fear sell" tactics. But what about other types of con jobs such as the "magic stone", claimed to cure all illnesses or work at home and earn $$$ schemes as well as health schemes?
More so in this Internet world, you also happen to receive award-winning notification letters stating that your e-mail address drew the lucky number which consequently won the lottery sweepstakes.
Hence, you have been approved for a lump sum of cash provided that you deposited a certain amount before the prize money could be remitted to your account.

UNETHICAL PRACTICES
The mere fact is that, every consumer is a potential victim of unethical selling practices and you have probably been duped more often than you realise.
For instance, the expensive health supplement that you are taking, does it contain what it claims and most vital, does it work the wonders that it advertises?
If you are not a pill popper, how about the time you rushed to buy an item advertised at a special low price only to find out that they have all been sold out that very morning and you instead left the supermarket with bags of normal-priced groceries which you had not originally intended to buy.
According to Universiti Putra Malaysia's (UPM) Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Senior Consultant Psychiatrist & Psychotherapist, Professor Dr Azhar Md Zain, people who plan these schemes tend to get away with them because they take advantage of the overwhelming human desires for health or wealth.
He believed the trickster wanted to get something for nothing or hoping to get a lot at the expense of a little and it started by convincing consumers that he has what the consumers want such as "want to make more money, be healthy or feel safe".

TRICKS AND TRICKSTERS
Dr Azhar noted that the trickster took advantage of the consumers' lack of knowledge and discourages them from making any enquiry or comparison about the merchandise.
"The trickster is also well prepared to discredit any unflattering comments you make about the product. The reason why schemers get away with such tricks year after year is because everyone loves a good bargain," he said.
For the "fear sell" tactic, Dr Azhar believed this is where consumers can easily fall prey to scare techniques that play on their insecurities.
As for the health schemes, he said though the old-time roadside medicine man with his "magical" snake oil is a rarity today, medical quackery remains a problem.
"It's just more sophisticated today. Many consumers pay huge sums of money for worthless cures of physical ailments," said Dr Azhar.
He said these health claims range from "special low" introductory prices, losing weight without dieting or exercising, anti-aging lotions, hair-growing tonic and health foods that cure practically every ailment.
Dr Azhar advised consumers to give it a lot of thought before splashing their money on health products.
"It helps if we always keep these in mind such as what are the facts and are they really believable, are the promises or predictions reasonable and is the seller from a reputable company, worthy of your trust?
Dr Azhar said call it greed, gall or gullibility, but the shocking truth is, quick cash is a quick dash for most people where in the past, many unsuspecting Malaysians have been trapped in get-rich-quick schemes.

COGNITIVE THEORY
On the cognitive theory of a conman, Dr Azhar said a conman has an "over-developed" traits such as combativeness, exploitativeness and predacious.
Being combative, he said a conman is inclined to start and win an argument and has the skills to make people submit to them while exploitativeness means, he wanted to gain from or at the expense of someone and being predacious is that living by preying on the unsuspecting victim.
Dr Azhar said a conman also possesses "under-developed" traits such as lacking or no empathy, no reciprocity and no social sensitivity.
"Utmost importance to him is himself. He is a very creative and manipulative person. He thinks he has the right to violate the law by manipulating other people," Dr Azhar said.
"A good conman is a born conman who develops warm character and psychopathic personality," he said, adding that we cannot blame the public as it is a normal human nature to believe someone who is capable of giving convincing ideas.
Dr Azhar said: "In front of us, a conman is like 'pijak semut tak mati' (too feeble even to kill an ant) -- reflecting such an excellent personality but when he wants to do something bad, he does not feel guilty".
He said a conman's system of belief is that "I'm right" and his basic component is "no feeling of guilt" as this is his way of life.
"Be extra wary of these people. If you get something valuable in an easy manner, have a little bit of paranoia. But don't be overly paranoid to the extent that you don't trust all people," he advised.