The Peculiar Case of Number Overload in Scam Victims
Because of the Way our Brains Work several things can Overload it!
Primary Category: Psychology of Scams
Author:
• Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. – Anthropologist, Scientist, Director of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc.
About This Article
Number overload plays a significant role in how scam victims experience escalating financial losses and their ability to recover. Humans are equipped with an innate “number sense” that allows for a quick, intuitive understanding of small quantities, but this ability diminishes with larger numbers. When scammers request increasingly higher amounts, the victim’s cognitive clarity weakens, leading to emotional overwhelm.
Victims often become fixated on the total amount lost, viewing it not just as a financial figure but as a symbol of their betrayal, pain, and regret. This fixation intensifies their trauma, causing ongoing feelings of guilt and shame. This emotional attachment to the lost amount can hinder the victim’s recovery, as they struggle to move past the deception and deal with the overwhelming psychological impact.
Number Overload: How Cognitive Overload/Overwhelm in Scam Victims Leads to Escalating Financial Losses and Difficulting Recovering
In our effort to fully understand the Scam Victim Experience we encountered an interesting phenomenon – ‘number overload’ – and it appears to have a significant role in increasing the amounts that scam victims lose!
Humans have an innate sense of numbers, often referred to as “number sense,” which allows us to estimate and compare quantities without relying on formal mathematical reasoning. This ability is believed to be deeply rooted in our evolutionary history and is evident even in very young children and some animals.
However, this number sense does become less precise as the numbers get larger. The human brain is better equipped to handle small numbers (typically under 10) with high accuracy.
For example, if you see a few objects, like 3 or 4, you can immediately recognize the quantity without counting, a phenomenon known as “subitizing.” But as the numbers increase, our ability to precisely perceive and compare them diminishes, and we start relying more on estimation rather than exact counting.
Cognitive Overload with Large Numbers
Approximation and Estimation: When dealing with large numbers, our brain shifts from precise counting to approximation. This is because our cognitive resources are limited when it comes to processing large quantities. For instance, while we might easily distinguish between 5 and 10 objects, distinguishing between 50 and 60 objects at a glance becomes much more challenging, leading us to estimate rather than count.
Weber’s Law: Our perception of numbers follows Weber’s Law, which states that the just-noticeable difference between two stimuli is proportional to the magnitude of the stimuli. In simpler terms, as the numbers grow larger, the difference between them needs to be proportionally larger for us to notice it easily. For example, while the difference between 1 and 2 is immediately obvious, the difference between 101 and 102 is much less so, even though it’s the same numerical difference.
Cognitive Biases with Large Numbers: The “scope insensitivity” bias occurs when our ability to comprehend large numbers diminishes, leading us to undervalue or misunderstand large quantities. This can be observed in various contexts, such as in charitable donations or risk assessment, where the difference between helping 100 people versus 1,000 people may not be as impactful emotionally as it is mathematically.
The “Numerosity” Effect: Research has shown that people can be overwhelmed by large numbers, leading to a phenomenon called “numerosity.” This is when the sheer size of the number leads to a cognitive overload, making it difficult to process and compare large numbers effectively. This is particularly evident in financial contexts, where people might struggle to comprehend the difference between, say, $1 million and $1 billion.
Cognitive Clarity and Large Numbers
When numbers get very large, our cognitive clarity indeed tends to diminish. This can lead to a few specific cognitive issues:
Undervaluation of large numbers: People often struggle to grasp the significance of large numbers, leading to undervaluation or underestimation of their true impact.
Difficulty in making comparisons: When faced with large numbers, it becomes harder to make accurate comparisons or decisions, as our brains are not naturally equipped to handle such magnitudes intuitively.
Over-reliance on heuristics: Due to the difficulty in processing large numbers, people may rely on cognitive shortcuts or heuristics, which can sometimes lead to biased or flawed decision-making.
While humans do possess an innate number sense, this sense becomes less precise and more prone to errors as numbers get larger. Our cognitive systems are not naturally equipped to handle large quantities with the same clarity and accuracy as smaller numbers, leading to a range of cognitive challenges and biases when dealing with large figures.
Number Overload in Scam Victims
The concept of cognitive overload with large numbers can indeed be impactful for scam victims and can explain why scammers often use escalating amounts when asking for more money.
Impact on Scam Victims
Initial Small Requests: Scammers often start with relatively small requests for money, which are easier for the victim to process and agree to. These smaller amounts do not trigger significant cognitive or emotional alarm, making it easier for the victim to comply. The initial compliance creates a sense of commitment, making the victim more likely to continue engaging with the scammer.
Gradual Escalation: As the scam progresses, the amounts requested often escalate. This gradual increase leverages the victim’s sunk cost fallacy, where they feel compelled to continue sending money because they have already invested a certain amount. The escalation also takes advantage of the victim’s diminishing cognitive clarity as the numbers grow larger. The victim may find it harder to fully comprehend the difference between $1,000 and $10,000, especially if the escalation happens gradually.
Overwhelm and Compliance: When the requested amounts become significantly larger, the victim may experience cognitive overload, leading to confusion and reduced critical thinking. This can cause them to comply with requests that they might otherwise refuse if the full implications were clear. The sheer size of the requested amount can overwhelm the victim, making them more likely to act on emotional impulses rather than rational analysis.
Desensitization: The escalation of amounts also serves to desensitize the victim to larger sums of money. As the amounts increase, the victim may become less sensitive to the significance of each new request, especially if they have already complied with previous large requests. This desensitization can make it easier for the scammer to ask for increasingly outrageous sums.
Psychological Pressure: Scammers may also use the cognitive overwhelm caused by large numbers to apply psychological pressure, framing the situation as urgent or dire. In such cases, the victim’s ability to critically assess the situation is further diminished, making them more susceptible to the scammer’s manipulative tactics.
Scammers are likely aware, whether intuitively or through experience, that increasing the amount of money requested can overwhelm a victim’s cognitive ability to assess the situation critically. This exploitation of cognitive overload, combined with the psychological tactics of desensitization and gradual escalation, can make victims more likely to comply with increasingly larger financial demands. Understanding this dynamic is crucial for both prevention and recovery efforts in helping scam victims recognize and resist these manipulative tactics.
Impact After the Scam is Over
The awareness of cognitive overload after a scam is over can significantly contribute to psychological trauma in scam victims. This awareness often emerges during the post-scam recovery process when victims reflect on their experience and realize how they were manipulated.
Contribution to Psychological Trauma
Realization of Manipulation: When victims understand that they were overwhelmed by escalating amounts of money requests and that this cognitive overload played a role in their victimization, it can lead to a deep sense of betrayal and self-blame. They may feel that they should have recognized the manipulation tactics, which can exacerbate feelings of shame and guilt.
Hindsight Bias: The realization that they were unable to process the situation clearly due to cognitive overload might lead victims to believe that they could have or should have seen the signs earlier. This hindsight bias can intensify the trauma by making them feel as though they were complicit in their own victimization, even though the manipulation they experienced was deliberate and sophisticated.
Erosion of Self-Trust: Understanding that their cognitive abilities were compromised can erode a victim’s trust in their own judgment. This erosion of self-trust can have long-lasting effects, making it difficult for them to make decisions in the future or to trust others, further contributing to social isolation and anxiety.
Intensification of Emotional Pain: The knowledge that they were cognitively overwhelmed and manipulated into making decisions that caused significant financial or emotional harm can intensify the emotional pain of the experience. This awareness can lead to rumination, where the victim continually replays the events in their mind, deepening feelings of distress and helplessness.
Complicated Recovery Process: The awareness of how cognitive overload contributed to the scam can complicate the recovery process. Victims might struggle to move past the incident as they grapple with the implications of having been psychologically manipulated. This can delay healing and increase the risk of developing long-term psychological issues such as depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The awareness of cognitive overload and its role in the scam can contribute to a deeper level of psychological trauma for victims. Understanding how they were manipulated can lead to self-blame, eroded self-trust, and intensified emotional pain, all of which complicate the recovery process. Addressing these feelings through therapy and support groups can be crucial for helping victims heal and regain their sense of self-worth.
After Scam Fixation on the Number Value
The concept of number overload can help explain why scam victims fixate on the amount of money they lost too.
When individuals experience escalating financial losses in a scam, the large sums involved can overwhelm their cognitive processing, making it difficult to view these numbers with clarity. Instead of seeing the loss as just a numeric value, the amount becomes emotionally significant. The monetary loss can take on a symbolic meaning—representing not just the financial damage but also the betrayal, emotional pain, and regret associated with the scam.
This fixation happens because, under cognitive overload, the victim’s mind attaches more emotional weight to the financial loss. The dollar amount becomes a “banner” or “label” for their trauma, a constant reminder of the deception they endured. Rather than viewing it as a discrete financial event, victims may feel defined by the total loss, making it harder for them to move on. This emotional attachment to the lost amount also contributes to feelings of guilt, shame, and obsessive thoughts about how they might recover the money or avoid future scams, deepening their psychological trauma.
Thus, number overload doesn’t just affect decision-making during the scam but continues to impact the victim’s emotional processing and self-perception afterward.
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This is but one component, one piece of the puzzle …
Understanding how the human mind is manipulated and controlled involves recognizing that the tactics employed by deceivers are multifaceted and complex. This information is just one aspect of a broader spectrum of vulnerabilities, tendencies, and techniques that permit us to be influenced and deceived. To grasp the full extent of how our minds can be influenced, it is essential to examine all the various processes and functions of our brains and minds, methods and strategies used the criminals, and our psychological tendencies (such as cognitive biases) that enable deception. Each part contributes to a larger puzzle, revealing how our perceptions and decisions can be subtly swayed. By appreciating the diverse ways in which manipulation occurs, we gain a more comprehensive understanding of the challenges we face in avoiding deception in its many forms.
“Thufir Hawat: Now, remember, the first step in avoiding a *trap* – is knowing of its existence.” — DUNE
“If you can fully understand your own mind, you can avoid any deception!” — Tim McGuinness, Ph.D.
“The essence of bravery is being without self-deception.” — Pema Chödrön
A Note About Labeling!
We often use the term ‘scam victim’ in our articles, but this is a convenience to help those searching for information in search engines like Google. It is just a convenience and has no deeper meaning. If you have come through such an experience, YOU are a Survivor! It was not your fault. You are not alone! Axios!
Statement About Victim Blaming
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:
- Getting Started: ScamVictimsSupport.org
- FREE enrollment in the SCARS Institute training programs for scam victims SCARSeducation.org
- For New Victims of Relationship Scams newvictim.AgainstScams.org
- Subscribe to SCARS Newsletter newsletter.againstscams.org
- Sign up for SCARS professional support & recovery groups, visit support.AgainstScams.org
- Find competent trauma counselors or therapists, visit counseling.AgainstScams.org
- Become a SCARS Member and get free counseling benefits, visit membership.AgainstScams.org
- Report each and every crime, learn how to at reporting.AgainstScams.org
- Learn more about Scams & Scammers at RomanceScamsNOW.com and ScamsNOW.com
- Learn more about the Psychology of Scams and Scam Victims: ScamPsychology.org
- Self-Help Books for Scam Victims are at shop.AgainstScams.org
- Donate to SCARS and help us help others at donate.AgainstScams.org
- Worldwide Crisis Hotlines: International Suicide Hotlines – OpenCounseling : OpenCounseling
- Campaign To End Scam Victim Blaming – 2024 (scamsnow.com)
Psychology Disclaimer:
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.
If you are in crisis, feeling desperate, or in despair please call 988 or your local crisis hotline.
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