The Matthew Principle and Scammers Getting Richer
The Economic ‘Matthew Principle’ Applies to Companies, People, and Strangely to Scammers & Victims Too!
Primary Category: Online Criminology
Author:
• Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. – Anthropologist, Scientist, Director of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc.
About This Article
The Matthew Principle, which describes how “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer,” applies not only to economics, education, and science but also to online scammers and their victims.
Successful scammers, who accumulate resources, knowledge, and connections, become increasingly effective and target larger, more vulnerable victims. As they grow, their operations scale up, making them harder to detect and stop, while victims who have already been scammed are more likely to be targeted again.
Law enforcement can maximize their efforts by focusing on dismantling larger, more organized scam operations, as this disrupts criminal networks, cuts off resources to smaller criminals, and protects more victims. Although targeting high-level scammers is crucial, balancing efforts with smaller scams can help prevent the future growth of large-scale cybercriminals.
The Economic ‘Matthew Principle’ Applies to Companies, People, and Strangely to Scammers & Victims Too!
What is the Matthew Principal?
The “Matthew Principle” (or Matthew Effect) refers to the phenomenon where “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.”
This concept was coined by sociologist Robert K. Merton in 1968, drawing inspiration from a verse in the Gospel of Matthew (Matthew 25:29), which states: “For to everyone who has, more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what they have will be taken away.”
In various fields, the Matthew Principle suggests that advantages tend to accumulate for those who already have them, while disadvantages pile up for those who are already at a disadvantage.
Examples of the Matthew Principle:
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Economics: Wealthy individuals or corporations are more likely to benefit from opportunities that increase their wealth, while those in poverty face difficulties in accessing resources to improve their situation.
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Education: Students who perform well are often given more resources and attention, further boosting their achievements, while struggling students may fall behind.
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Science: Established researchers often receive more recognition and funding, enhancing their ability to make further discoveries, while less-known researchers may struggle for acknowledgment and support.
The principle illustrates how inequality can grow over time, often perpetuating existing disparities.
How does this Apply to Scammers and Victims?
The Matthew Principle can apply to online scammers in several ways, particularly in how success and resources can compound for cybercriminals, leading to more effective and larger-scale scams. Here’s how the principle might manifest:
Resource Accumulation for Successful Scammers:
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More Sophisticated Tools: Scammers who successfully carry out scams and accumulate financial rewards are likely to reinvest in better tools, technology, and techniques, making them even more effective in future scams. This includes purchasing advanced phishing kits, hacking software, or accessing premium databases of potential targets.
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Greater Knowledge and Skills: Successful scammers also gain experience and knowledge, improving their ability to execute more complex and deceptive scams. They might develop better social engineering techniques or become proficient in bypassing security measures, making them more difficult to detect.
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Access to Networks: Successful scammers can form connections within criminal networks, giving them access to shared resources, databases, or tactics that less successful scammers cannot afford. These connections further enhance their reach and effectiveness.
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Exploitation of Larger and More Vulnerable Targets:
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Targeting Wealthier Victims: Scammers who have accumulated resources and experience are more likely to go after high-value targets, including businesses, executives, or individuals with significant assets. Their success allows them to focus on victims with greater potential rewards, perpetuating the “rich get richer” cycle.
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Advanced Scam Tactics: As scammers succeed, they often transition from basic scams (e.g., simple phishing) to more sophisticated schemes like business email compromise (BEC), ransomware attacks, or large-scale identity theft operations. This enables them to extract more money from fewer, but higher-profile victims.
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Weakening of Vulnerable Victims:
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Repeated Targeting of Vulnerable Groups: On the other side, victims who have already been scammed are more likely to be targeted again. Their financial losses and emotional vulnerabilities make them easier targets for follow-up scams, creating a “poor get poorer” scenario. Scammers often resell the contact information of previously victimized individuals, leading to further exploitation.
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Erosion of Trust: Victims who have been scammed may become distrustful and isolated, making it harder for them to recognize legitimate opportunities or seek help. This can lead to further vulnerability, as they may miss out on resources that could protect them in the future.
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Enhanced Credibility and Reach for Established Scammers:
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Reputation Among Criminals: Scammers with a successful track record may build a reputation within criminal networks, attracting more partners or collaborators, and increasing their operational capacity. This credibility helps them scale their operations to more significant levels.
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Access to Black Markets: With success, scammers gain access to exclusive dark web marketplaces where they can buy stolen data, sophisticated tools, or even hire accomplices. These resources enhance their ability to perpetuate scams on a larger scale.
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Perpetuation of Inequality Between Scammers and Victims:
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Greater Impunity: As successful scammers grow more experienced, they learn to evade law enforcement more effectively. This creates a cycle where they become harder to catch and continue to succeed while new or less sophisticated scammers are more likely to be caught or fail.
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Widening the Gap: Just as wealth and resources accumulate for some while others struggle, successful scammers become increasingly sophisticated and insulated from risk, while victims and less successful scammers struggle to keep up. This mirrors the widening gap of advantage and disadvantage seen in the Matthew Principle.
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In summary, the Matthew Principle as applied to online scammers illustrates how success leads to further success, enabling them to scale their operations and increase their effectiveness. Meanwhile, victims who have been scammed are likely to face greater vulnerability, perpetuating the cycle of exploitation. This dynamic exacerbates inequality between well-established scammers and their victims or less successful criminal counterparts.
Shifting the Focus to Larger Organized Crime
focusing on larger and more successful scammers and online criminals could indeed be more effective for law enforcement, given the compounding nature of their success as described by the Matthew Principle. Here’s why this approach might yield better results:
Disrupting Organized Crime Networks:
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Impact on Large Operations: Targeting successful scammers who operate large-scale operations can disrupt entire networks of criminal activity. These scammers often manage or collaborate with multiple smaller criminals, and taking them down could have a ripple effect, weakening the infrastructure that supports widespread cybercrime.
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Breaking Supply Chains: Successful scammers typically have access to advanced tools, resources, and black markets. Disrupting their operations can cut off access to critical resources for less successful criminals, potentially crippling their ability to carry out crimes.
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Maximizing Law Enforcement Resources:
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Greater Return on Investment: Large, well-resourced scam operations tend to generate significant financial returns. Law enforcement’s focus on these groups could result in the recovery of more stolen funds, the dismantling of more sophisticated fraud networks, and a reduction in large-scale criminal operations that affect many victims.
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Deterrence Effect: By prioritizing the prosecution of high-profile cybercriminals, law enforcement sends a clear message that even the most successful scammers are not untouchable. This could deter other would-be scammers or those climbing the ranks in criminal networks from pursuing large-scale operations.
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Preventing Future Crimes:
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Scaling Down Future Threats: Successful scammers often reinvest their profits into expanding their criminal operations, becoming more difficult to stop over time. Focusing on these high-level criminals can prevent them from further scaling their activities, reducing future risks for a greater number of potential victims.
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Eliminating Resources for Small Scammers: Successful scammers often act as suppliers or mentors for smaller, less experienced criminals. By removing key figures, law enforcement can potentially deprive smaller scammers of critical knowledge, resources, and networks that allow them to continue their activities.
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Reducing Recidivism Among Criminals:
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Persistent Threats: Large and successful scammers are often repeat offenders with highly effective operations. They tend to adapt quickly to legal or security measures and continue their scams if left unchecked. Focusing on these persistent offenders helps remove ongoing threats from the system, reducing the number of repeat incidents.
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Protecting More Victims:
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Wider Victim Impact: Larger scammers typically target a wider pool of victims, including businesses, governments, and individuals. Shutting down a major operation could protect far more people than addressing smaller, isolated incidents. This could include preventing large-scale financial fraud, identity theft, and even high-profile attacks like ransomware.
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Enabling Strategic Partnerships:
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Collaboration with Cybersecurity and Intelligence Experts: Investigations into large-scale cybercriminals often require collaboration between law enforcement, cybersecurity firms, and even international authorities. Focusing on larger targets provides opportunities for joint operations and intelligence sharing, leading to more comprehensive takedowns and better resource allocation.
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However, while prioritizing larger and more successful scammers may yield the most immediate impact, law enforcement should still balance this with measures to address smaller-scale scams, which are often gateways for criminals moving into larger operations. Combating smaller scams can help prevent the growth of future high-level criminals.
Conclusion
For maximum effectiveness, law enforcement should focus much of their efforts on dismantling larger and more successful scam operations. These criminals present the greatest threat due to their reach, resources, and ability to perpetuate cybercrime on a large scale. Targeting these key players can prevent future crimes, protect more victims, and weaken criminal networks, all while sending a strong deterrent message.
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Some of our articles discuss various aspects of victims. This is both about better understanding victims (the science of victimology) and their behaviors and psychology. This helps us to educate victims/survivors about why these crimes happened and to not blame themselves, better develop recovery programs, and to help victims avoid scams in the future. At times this may sound like blaming the victim, but it does not blame scam victims, we are simply explaining the hows and whys of the experience victims have.
These articles, about the Psychology of Scams or Victim Psychology – meaning that all humans have psychological or cognitive characteristics in common that can either be exploited or work against us – help us all to understand the unique challenges victims face before, during, and after scams, fraud, or cybercrimes. These sometimes talk about some of the vulnerabilities the scammers exploit. Victims rarely have control of them or are even aware of them, until something like a scam happens and then they can learn how their mind works and how to overcome these mechanisms.
Articles like these help victims and others understand these processes and how to help prevent them from being exploited again or to help them recover more easily by understanding their post-scam behaviors. Learn more about the Psychology of Scams at www.ScamPsychology.org
SCARS Resources:
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All articles about psychology and the human brain on this website are for information & education only
The information provided in this and other SCARS articles are intended for educational and self-help purposes only and should not be construed as a substitute for professional therapy or counseling.
Note about Mindfulness: Mindfulness practices have the potential to create psychological distress for some individuals. Please consult a mental health professional or experienced meditation instructor for guidance should you encounter difficulties.
While any self-help techniques outlined herein may be beneficial for scam victims seeking to recover from their experience and move towards recovery, it is important to consult with a qualified mental health professional before initiating any course of action. Each individual’s experience and needs are unique, and what works for one person may not be suitable for another.
Additionally, any approach may not be appropriate for individuals with certain pre-existing mental health conditions or trauma histories. It is advisable to seek guidance from a licensed therapist or counselor who can provide personalized support, guidance, and treatment tailored to your specific needs.
If you are experiencing significant distress or emotional difficulties related to a scam or other traumatic event, please consult your doctor or mental health provider for appropriate care and support.
Also read our SCARS Institute Statement about Professional Care for Scam Victims – click here
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