ScammerScammer A Scammer or Fraudster is someone that engages in deception to obtain money or achieve another objective. They are criminals that attempt to deceive a victim into sending more or performing some other activity that benefits the scammer. Manipulation Technique: Gaslighting

A Tool Used In Destroying a Victim’s Sense of Reality

Its purpose is to manipulate (someone) by psychological means to get them to question their own sanity or reality

“Gaslighting” or “GaslightGaslight Gaslight or Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group creates the seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment. It may evoke changes in them such as cognitive dissonance or low self-esteem, rendering the victim additionally dependent on the gaslighter for emotional support and validation. Using denial, misdirection, contradiction, and disinformation, gaslighting involves attempts to destabilize the victim and delegitimize the victim's beliefs. Once in this state the criminal can then more easily control the victim for their own purposes. Instances can range from the denial by a scammer that a scam has occurred, to belittling the victim's emotions and feelings, to the staging of bizarre events by the abuser with the intention of disorienting the victim. The goal of gaslighting is to gradually undermine the victim's confidence in their own ability to distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong, or reality from delusion, thereby rendering the individual or group pathologically dependent on the gaslighter for their thinking and feelings.” is a type of manipulation that we will use throughout the article.

Introduction to “Gaslighting”

Gaslighting is the systematic process of trying to erode another person’s reality by constantly telling them that what they are experiencing is not true. And the gradual abandonment of the reality of it; Or because of that person’s suspension of disbelief!

What Does This Mean In The Context Of A ScamScam A Scam is a confidence trick - a crime -  is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust through deception. Scams or confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, or greed and exploiting that. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men' - criminals) at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". A scam is a crime even if no money was lost.?

The scammer will try to isolate the victim by Gaslighting them. Claiming that they are not a scammer, and having the victim avoid contact with family and friends so that the victim cannot be influenced to see reality.

• Don’t let anyone “Gaslight” you!
• Don’t suspend disbelief with scammers!

Gaslighting – What Is It?

Gaslighting is a form of manipulation that seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a specific individual or members of a specific group, in the hope of making them question their own memory, perception, and sanity. Using persistent denialDenial Denial is a refusal or unwillingness to accept something or to accept reality. Refusal to admit the truth or reality of something, refusal to acknowledge something unpleasant; And as a term of Psychology: denial is a defense mechanism in which confrontation with a personal problem or with reality is avoided by denying the existence of the problem or reality., misdirection, contradiction, and lies, the scammer attempts to destabilize the target victim and delegitimize the victim’s beliefs.

Cases can range from denial by an abuser that previous abusive incidents have not occurred to staging bizarre events by the abuser with the intent to mislead the victim. The term has been used in the clinical and research literature, as well as in political commentary:

The term was made famous by the 1944 movie “Gaslight” with Ingrid Bergman.

Origin Of The Term

The term originates from the systematic psychological manipulation of a victim by her husband in the 1938 play “Gas Light”, known as Angel Street in the United States, and the film adaptations released in 1940 and 1944. In the story, a husband tries to convince his wife and others that she is crazy by manipulating small elements of his environment and insisting that she is wrong, remembering things incorrectly, or being delusional when he points out these changes. The original title comes from the dimming of the gas lights in the house that occurred when the husband was using the gas lights upstairs while searching for the jewelry of a woman that he had murdered. The wife correctly notices the dimming lights and discusses it with her husband, but he insists that she simply imagined a change in the lighting level.

The term “gaslighting” has been used since the 1960s to describe efforts to manipulate someone’s perception of reality or what they know as truth.

It is something the the media and politicians use constantly to lead the public by the nose into voting specific ways. Most notably, it is a cornerstone of communist/marxist/socialist/fundmentalist manipulation techniques adopted by distaorial leaders worldwide.

Use Of or Reinforcement by Scammers

Sociopaths and narcissists frequently use gaslighting tactics. Sociopaths are constantly transgressing social mores, breaking laws, and exploiting others, but they are also often very convincing, sometimes they are charming liars, constantly denying their wrongdoing. Therefore, some who have been victimized by sociopaths may doubt their own perceptions. Some physically abusive spouses may criticize their partners by outright denying that they have been violent or that the abused partner was responsible for their behaviorBehavior   Behavior / Behavioral Actions Otherwise known as habits, behavior or behavioral actions are strategies to help prevent online exploitation that target behavior, such as social engineering of victims. Changing your behavior is the ONLY effective means to reduce or prevent scams.. Gaslighting can occur in parent-child relationships, as one parent, child, or both lie to each other and try to undermine perceptions.

This is also a fundamental technique used by scammers and con artists to prevent their victims from recognizing inconsistencies and errors in their false stories used to manipulate their victims. Each victim can look back on her experience and see those moments of manipulation that they could not see as they occurred.

The ultimate goal of a scammer is to make his victim guess at each of her choices and question her sanity or perception of reality or the truth, making her more dependent on the scammer.

Another tactic that further degrades a victim’s self-esteem is for the scammer to engage in cycles of: ignore, then be attentive, and then ignore the victim again, and again so that the victim lowers her personal level of what constitutes affection and perceives herself as less worthy. of affection.

There are Two Main Characteristics of Gaslighting:

• The abuser wants total control of the victim’s feelings, thoughts, or actions.
• The abuser quietly emotionally abuses the victim in a hostile, abusive, or coercive manner

A victim needs to understand the warning signs of Gaslighting to fully begin the healing process.

Signs of Gaslighting Include:

1. Withholding information from the victim – in the case of scammers, this is the way they spoon-feed the story, every time there is a problem, the scammer provides new information.
2. Countering the information to fit the perspective of the scammer – this may include tailoring the story to better fit the victim’s familiar comforts and wishes.
3. Discount information – this discounts any negative issues the victim may raise and emphasize other information that supports the scammer’s objectives.
4. Verbal abuse, usually in the form of jokes – while this rarely occurs in a romantic scam, we see it in moments of angerAnger Anger, also known as wrath or rage, is an intense emotional state involving a strong uncomfortable and non-cooperative response to a perceived provocation, trigger, hurt or threat. About one-third of scam victims become trapped in anger for extended periods of time following a scam. A person experiencing anger will often experience physical effects, such as increased heart rate, elevated blood pressure, and increased levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline. Some view anger as an emotion that triggers a part of the fight or flight response. Anger becomes the predominant feeling behaviorally, cognitively, and physiologically. Anger can have many physical and mental consequences. While most of those who experience anger explain its arousal as a result of "what has happened to them", psychologists point out that an angry person can very well be mistaken because anger causes a loss in self-monitoring capacity and objective observability. on the part of the scammer when there is an expression of concern or mistrust on the part of the victim. It also shows when the victim confronts the scammer with the reality of the scam.
5. BlockBlock Blocking is a technical action usually on social media or messaging platforms that restricts or bans another profile from seeing or communicating with your profile. To block someone on social media, you can usually go to their profile and select it from a list of options - often labeled or identified with three dots ••• and divert the victim’s attention from outside sources – this is where the scammer will try to isolate the victim from family and friends, to prevent them from exposing the scam and the scammer.
6. Trivialize the victim’s worth (both to the scammer and self-worth) – the scammer has one desire: the victim’s money. When victims express concerns about their own well-being, the scammer emphasizes their need and dependence on the victim, and also the victim’s ability to pay.
7. Undermining the victim by gradually weakening them and their thought processes – scammers use a number of different stories, but also use sleep deprivation (by communicating at all hours of the day and night) and emotional distress to further capture victims by strategically inventing new crisis after crisis to keep the victim in a state of semi-panic.

The Three Most Common Gaslighting Methods are:

• Hide: The abuser can hide things from the victim and cover up what she has done. Instead of feeling ashamed, the abuser can convince the victim to doubt his own beliefs about the situation and blameBlame Blame or Blaming is the act of censuring, holding responsible, making negative statements about an individual or group that their action or actions are socially or morally irresponsible, the opposite of praise. When someone is morally responsible for doing something wrong, their action is blameworthy. By contrast, when someone is morally responsible for doing something right, we may say that his or her action is praiseworthy. Blame imparts responsibility for an action or act, as in that they made a choice to perform that act or action. himself.
• Change: The abuser feels the need to change something about the victim. Whether it’s the way the victim dresses or acts, they want the victim to conform to her fantasy. If the victim does not comply, the abuser can convince the victim that he is, in fact, not good enough.
• Control: The abuser may want to completely control and have power over the victim. By doing so, the abuser will try to isolate you from other friends and family where only they can influence the thoughts and actions of the victim.

It Cant Happen

A true romance scam cannot happen without two fundamental forces:

• Gaslighting to control the victim
• The Amygdala HijackAmygdala Hijack Amygdala Hijack An amygdala hijack refers to a personal, emotional response that is immediate, overwhelming, and out of measure (proportion) with the actual stimulus because it has triggered a much more significant emotional threat or hormonal response. This can include: Anger, Sadness, Love, Desire, etc. for the victim to work emotionally against themselves

There are other important manipulation techniques but these two are the essentials that every scammer employs.

Learn more

• SCARS article: What is the Purpose of Gaslighting?
• More information: http://www.bbc.com/news/stories-41915425

TAGS: SCARS, Information About Scams, Anti-Scam, Scams, Scammers, Fraudsters, Cybercrime, Crybercriminals, Romance Scams, Scam Victims, Online FraudFraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain (money or other assets), or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compensation) or criminal law (e.g., a fraud perpetrator may be prosecuted and imprisoned by governmental authorities), or it may cause no loss of money, property, or legal right but still be an element of another civil or criminal wrong. The purpose of fraud may be monetary gain or other benefits, for example by obtaining a passport, travel document, or driver's license, or mortgage fraud, where the perpetrator may attempt to qualify for a mortgage by way of false statements. A fraud can also be a hoax, which is a distinct concept that involves deliberate deception without the intention of gain or of materially damaging or depriving a victim., Online Crime Is Real Crime, Scam Avoidance, Discounting information, Gaslight, Gaslighting, Gaslit, GroomingGrooming Grooming is a form of setting up a victim for a scam or other crime by befriending and establishing an emotional connection with the victim, and sometimes the family, to lower the victim's inhibitions with the objective of the scam or criminal activity.  Grooming includes the development of a trust relationship between the criminal and the victim, getting the victims to the point where they can be more completely manipulated.  , Manipulation, perception of reality, Sense Of Reality, Suspend Disbelief, systematic psychological manipulation, Victim Psychology, Withholding information