The Rise of Scams and the Tyranny of Technique

About This Article

Modern scams operate as a technology-enabled system of exploitation shaped by the principle of technique, defined as the pursuit of efficiency above human outcomes. Advances in computers, email, the internet, smartphones, and artificial intelligence have steadily lowered costs for criminals while expanding reach, speed, and psychological precision. These tools enable large-scale theft through ransomware, phishing, romance scams, investment fraud, phone scams, and AI-driven impersonation. The harm is both financial and psychological, involving panic, shame, isolation, and long-term trauma. Gallup data indicating that approximately eight percent of U.S. adults experience scams annually suggests tens of thousands of new victims each day. Effective response requires slowing decision-making, restoring verification, adding friction to financial transfers, and strengthening human support systems rather than relying on individual vigilance alone.

Note: This article is intended for informational purposes and does not replace professional medical advice. If you are experiencing distress, please consult a qualified mental health professional.

Scams and Technique: How Modern Tools Became Engines of Mass Exploitation

An Essay on the Present World by Tim McGuinness, Ph.D.

You live in a world full of scams built on technique and tools. Tools and technique can help you learn, work, connect, heal, and build a life. Tools and technique can also be used to control you, rush you, confuse you, and drain you. Over the last fifty years, the center of gravity has shifted. Many crimes that used to require physical access now require only access to your attention, your trust, and your screens.

This is Not Only a Story About “Bad People Online,” but it is also a Story About Systems

The French philosopher and sociologist Jacques Ellul warned that modern societies can slide into the rule of “technique.” In Ellul’s writing, “technique” is not just machines. It is the push for the most efficient method in every area of life, even when the method becomes more important than the human outcome. When technique becomes the organizing force, it tends to expand, standardize, and automate. It also tends to make moral questions feel “optional,” because the system rewards what works, not what is wise.

This lens matters for scams and scam victims because today’s fraud economy runs on technique. Organized criminal groups and even individual scammers use the fastest, cheapest, most scalable methods to move from first contact to money transfer. Each new wave of technology has lowered its cost, increased its reach, and improved its ability to manipulate emotion at speed.

The result is not abstract. It is harm measured in panic, shame, isolation, debt, grief, betrayal, broken trust, and, almost always, long-term trauma. It is also harm measured in money, because the digital world can move wealth across borders in seconds, often faster than any victim can react, and faster than any institution can reverse.

How big is this problem in the United States? Gallup reported that 8 percent of U.S. adults said they were personally scammed in the past year, translating to roughly 21 million adults in one year. If that many people are harmed in a year, it works out to roughly 60,000 (57,500) people per day. It is a signal that scams are not rare events. They are a high-volume, high-impact crime category that touches everyone in everyday life.

What It Is

This is the technology-enabled transfer of wealth.

It is the steady shift from local, physical theft to remote, psychological theft. In older crimes, a criminal needed proximity. In today’s crimes, a criminal needs access to your communication channel, your identity signals, and your decision-making under stress.

A modern scam typically follows a repeatable pattern:

1. Access: The criminal reaches you through a channel you already use.
2. Trust: The criminal manufactures legitimacy, intimacy, authority, or urgency.
3. Control: The criminal narrows your choices and speeds up your actions.
4. Payment: The criminal pushes you into an irreversible transfer method.
5. Isolation: The criminal discourages you from asking for help or verifying facts.
6. Repeat: The criminal escalates, or hands you off to another actor for “recovery scams.”

This pattern shows up across ransomware, phishing, romance scams, investment scams, phone scams, and AI-powered impersonation. It also shows up in the emotional aftermath. Victims describe the same shock: “How could I have believed this?” The answer is not “because you are weak.” The answer is that the system is designed to work on normal human brains, especially under stress, fatigue, loneliness, grief, or financial pressure.

How It Works

Ellul’s idea of technique helps you see why this keeps accelerating.

Scammers do not need perfect lies. They need efficient lies. They need scripts that convert at scale. They need channels that deliver those scripts to millions of people. They need payment rails that move money fast. They need anonymity tools that protect them. They need feedback loops that help them improve.

The legitimate world built the infrastructure. Criminals adapted it.

You can see this clearly in public reporting. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center reported record losses and hundreds of thousands of complaints in a single year, and it notes how broadly connected digital life expands the “attack surface.” The FTC also reports persistent fraud at massive volume, with large losses tied to impersonation and investment-related scams.

That is technique in motion. The system rewards whatever scales.

Why It Affects You

If you are a scam victim, you did not just lose money, time, or dignity. You were pulled into a high-pressure environment that can change how your brain processes risk, trust, and time.

A scam can create:

• Heightened arousal: Your nervous system stays on alert.
• Cognitive narrowing: You focus on the immediate problem the scammer presents.
• Shame loops: You fear judgment, so you hide the truth and lose support.
• Trust injury: You doubt your own judgment and other people’s motives.
• Trigger sensitivity: Phones, email pings, or certain phrases can activate distress.

These are common trauma responses to betrayal and exploitation. They are also predictable outcomes of being forced to make “urgent” choices while isolated.

The goal in recovery is not to become “paranoid.” The goal is to become grounded, informed, and supported, so you can use technology without letting it use you.

Computers: Viruses, Malware, And Ransomware

Computers made work faster and life easier. They also created a new kind of hostage-taking.

Malware and ransomware are not just “tech problems.” They are business models for criminals. They rely on a simple design:

• Get inside a system, often through a link, attachment, or compromised login.
• Encrypt files or lock systems.
• Demand payment, often in cryptocurrency, for restoration, and sometimes threaten to leak data.

U.S. agencies describe ransomware as a form of malware designed to encrypt files and render systems unusable until a ransom is paid. The FBI’s annual reporting has also highlighted ransomware as a pervasive threat, including impacts on critical infrastructure.

This is “enslavement” in a very literal sense. Your work, your photos, your medical records, or your business operations can be locked until you comply. Even when a victim pays, restoration is not guaranteed. The scam is built on asymmetry. The attacker controls the key and the clock.

Ransomware also creates secondary victimization. When organizations are hit, customers and patients can be harmed through downtime, privacy exposure, delayed care, or downstream fraud using stolen data.

What to watch for:

• Unexpected “security” popups demanding action
• Invoices, shipping notices, or HR documents you did not request
• Pressure to “enable macros,” “allow access,” or “fix a login”
• A sudden inability to access files, paired with a ransom note

What to do next:

Treat a ransomware event as both a technical crisis and a victim-support crisis. If you are an individual, you may need immediate help from trusted IT support, and you may need emotional support at the same time. If you are part of an organization, the response plan should include clear communication, because confusion and silence can amplify panic.

Email: Spam, Phishing, And The Factory Of Trust Theft

Email was designed to be open, fast, and cheap. Those same strengths make it a perfect delivery system for fraud.

Spam is the flood. Phishing is the hook.

The FTC explains that phishing uses email or text messages to trick you into giving personal or financial information. NIST defines phishing as a technique to acquire sensitive data through fraudulent solicitation, often by impersonating a legitimate entity.

This matters because phishing is not only about stealing passwords. It is also about steering your actions:

• Click this link.
• Log in here.
• Pay this invoice.
• Verify this account.
• Download this document.
• Reply with your tax form.
• Send gift cards for an emergency.

Email also supports “business email compromise,” where criminals impersonate a boss, vendor, or partner to redirect payments. The method is simple: the message looks normal enough, and it arrives in a channel you trust.

Ellul’s technique shows up again. Criminals do not need to handcraft every message anymore. They test subject lines, sender names, and timing. They harvest data leaks to personalize details. They automate follow-ups. They refine what converts.

What to watch for:

• A message that creates urgency, fear, or secrecy
• A sender address that is close to real, but slightly off
• A link that looks right, but opens a different domain
• Requests for payment method changes, especially wiring or crypto
• Attachments you did not expect, even from known contacts

What to do next:

Slow the process down. Verify through a second channel you already trust, like calling a known number from a bill or official website. The FTC’s consumer guidance repeatedly stresses not clicking unexpected links and contacting companies using information you know is real.

The Internet: Romance Scams And Investment Scams

The internet created the largest social marketplace in human history. It also created the largest trust marketplace.

Romance scams and investment scams thrive online because the internet can simulate intimacy and expertise at scale. A scammer can appear caring, consistent, patient, and emotionally tuned-in while running ten other targets in parallel. A scammer can also appear like a “professional” with charts, dashboards, and jargon.

The FTC has reported that romance scam losses can reach extraordinary totals, even when the number of reports is smaller than other categories (less than 5%), because victims can be drawn into repeated transfers over time. The FTC also reports massive losses in investment-related scams, with high loss rates among those who report them.

This is where the theft economy becomes a relationship economy.

A romance scam is not only a lie about love. It is a structured grooming process that conditions your brain and nervous system to attach, hope, comply, and hide. Once attachment is in place, money becomes framed as proof of loyalty, rescue, partnership, or destiny.

Investment scams, including crypto-related versions, use the same emotional structure. They offer belonging, certainty, status, and a narrative of “finally being safe.” The scammer does not just sell returns. The scammer sells relief.

What to watch for:

• Fast intimacy, intense future talk, or “soulmate” language early
• Pressure to move to private apps or encrypted channels quickly
• Refusal to video chat, or excuses that repeat and shift
• A “mentor” story tied to wealth, trading, or exclusive opportunities
• Requests to keep the relationship, investment, or “plan” secret
• A push toward crypto transfers, wire transfers, or “verification fees”

What to do next – you need both practical steps and emotional steps:

• Practical: Save evidence, stop payments, contact your bank or platform, and report.
• Emotional: Bring in a safe person to help you think, because shame and isolation are tools scammers use, and they work best when you are alone.

Smartphones: Phone Scams, Smishing, And Being Reachable Anywhere

Smartphones made you reachable at all times. That convenience has a cost.

A phone in your pocket means a criminal can reach you while you are driving, tired, anxious, or distracted. It means a scam can arrive as a call, a voicemail, a text, a social media message, a QR code, or a notification that looks official.

The FTC reported sharp growth in losses tied to scams that start with text messages, showing how mobile-first fraud keeps expanding.

Phone scams are effective because the channel feels personal. Your phone is where family calls. It is where doctors call. It is where banks send alerts. Scammers borrow that emotional authority and push you into fast decisions.

They also exploit the way your brain reacts to interruption. A sudden call that claims fraud, a suspended account, a legal threat, or a loved one in danger can trigger a stress response before you think through the details.

What to watch for:

• Calls that demand immediate payment or secrecy
• Threats of arrest, deportation, license suspension, or fines
• Requests to move money to “protect it”
• Instructions to withdraw cash, buy gift cards, or send crypto
• Texts with links claiming delivery problems, refunds, or security alerts

What to do next:

Let calls go to voicemail when you are unsure. If a message claims to be from your bank, call back using the number on your card or statement. If a message claims a family emergency, contact the person directly through a known number or use a family verification phrase.

AI: The Perfection Of Scammer Tools

Artificial intelligence is not the first technology criminals have used. It is the technology that can make every other scam tool faster and more convincing.

Public warnings have described how criminals use AI to craft more believable voice, video, and written messages, and how AI can reduce the time and effort needed to deceive targets.

This changes the landscape in several ways:

• Language barriers drop. Translation becomes instant.
• Personalization becomes cheap. Messages can be tailored from scraped data.
• Impersonation becomes realistic. Voice cloning and synthetic video raise the stakes.
• Volume increases. Scammers can run more targets at once without hiring more people.
• Quality improves. Grammar, tone, and “professionalism” can be generated on demand.

This is technique accelerating technique.

In older scams, you could sometimes spot weak grammar, awkward phrasing, or cultural mismatch. AI can smooth almost all of those signals. That does not mean AI makes scams unbeatable. It means old heuristics are less reliable. It means ignorance is even more deadly.

You now need new anchors:

• Process over persuasion.
• Verification over vibes.
• Slowness over urgency.
• Second channels over single messages.
• Trusted human support over isolated decision-making.

What to watch for:

• A call that sounds like a loved one but feels “off,” rushed, or scripted
• A video that creates panic and demands money now
• A message that mirrors your writing style or inside details, but makes a strange request
• A sudden push to move to encrypted apps immediately, especially after a short contact

What to do next:

Assume that audio and video can be faked. That does not mean you distrust everyone. It means you verify identity before you move money, share codes, or give access.

Ellul’s Warning and the Scam Economy’s Logic

Ellul argued that when technique becomes dominant, it tends to reorganize society around efficiency, not meaning. That is not a prediction you need to accept as fate. It is a warning you can use as a map.

The scam economy is the dark mirror of the modern efficiency economy:

• Faster contact
• Cheaper persuasion
• More automation
• Less accountability
• More distance from harm
• More profit from scale

This is why victims can feel “enslaved” by the system even after the scam ends. The channels remain. The alerts remain. The memories remain. The shame can remain. The nervous system can stay on guard. The world can feel hostile because the tools you must use to live are the same tools that harmed you.

Recovery Notes

If you are a victim, your recovery must include a technology boundary plan. This is not about becoming a different person. It is about building a safer environment so your nervous system can settle and your thinking can widen again.

A practical plan can include:

Reduce exposure for a while

• Turn off non-essential notifications.
• Use call filtering and unknown sender settings.
• Unsubscribe and mark spam aggressively.

Add friction to money movement

• Set daily transfer limits.
• Require a waiting period for new payees.
• Use a trusted person as a second set of eyes for large transfers.

Build verification habits

• Use known numbers and official websites.
• Never use contact details provided inside a message you did not request.
• Pause before acting on urgency.

Protect accounts

• Use unique passwords and a password manager.
• Turn on multi-factor authentication, preferably app-based or hardware-based.
• Watch for login alerts and account recovery emails.

Strengthen support

• Tell one safe person what happened.
• Create a “check before you pay” agreement.
• If you work with a therapist, include shame reduction and safety planning, not only the facts of the scam.

Report EVERY TIME

• Reporting helps pattern detection and disruption. The FBI’s IC3 reporting exists in part because aggregated reporting helps build cases and prevent future losses.

Key Takeaways

• Technology did not create human deception, but it has scaled it into a high-volume theft economy.
• Each major platform shift, from computers to email to smartphones to AI, has expanded reach and speed for criminals.
• The harm is both financial and psychological, and shame and isolation are common tools scammers use.
• Gallup’s estimate of roughly 21 million scammed adults in one year implies tens of thousands of new victims per day in the United States.
• Recovery improves when you slow the process down, verify through trusted channels, add friction to money movement, and bring safe people into decisions.

Conclusion

Technology itself is not the enemy. Tools remain morally neutral until they are organized, optimized, and deployed within systems that reward speed, scale, and efficiency over human well-being. What has changed over the past half-century is not human vulnerability, but the reach and refinement of technique. Each new communication technology has reduced friction for criminals while increasing psychological pressure on targets. The result is a crime environment where deception is constant, scalable, and deeply personal.

Understanding scams through the lens of technique shifts the focus away from individual blame and toward structural risk.

Victims are not failing to keep up. They are navigating systems that were never designed with exploitation resistance as a priority (Thank you, tech giants). Criminal networks simply move faster than regulation, education, and recovery infrastructure. That imbalance produces predictable harm.

Recovery, therefore, is not about rejecting technology or retreating from modern life. It is about restoring choice. Slowing decisions. Reintroducing verification. Adding friction where criminals depend on speed. Rebuilding trust through safe relationships rather than isolated judgment. These steps are not signs of weakness. They are rational adaptations to an environment shaped by technique.

As tools continue to evolve, especially with artificial intelligence, the human response must evolve as well. Awareness, support, and structural safeguards are no longer optional. They are the necessary counterweights to a system that otherwise rewards exploitation at scale.

Author’s Note About Repetition

Repetition is used intentionally because there is no way to know whether this is the first or only piece of information someone encounters on this topic. Scam education does not function like a linear textbook where every reader starts at the beginning and progresses in order. Most people arrive while distressed, overwhelmed, or searching for immediate clarity. In those conditions, memory, attention, and comprehension are often impaired. Repeating core concepts increases the likelihood that critical information is absorbed, retained, and recalled when it matters. Repetition also supports learning at the neurological level by strengthening recognition, reinforcing patterns, and supporting habit formation. Protective behaviors such as slowing down, verifying through trusted channels, and involving safe people do not become reliable through one exposure. They become reliable through repeated reminders presented in consistent language across different contexts.

Glossary

• Access Phase — the initial stage of a scam in which a criminal reaches a target through a familiar communication channel such as email, phone, social media, or messaging apps. This phase exploits routine usage patterns to bypass suspicion and establish first contact without resistance.
• AI-Powered Impersonation — the use of artificial intelligence tools to simulate voices, writing styles, images, or videos of real people or institutions. This technique increases credibility and urgency, making verification more difficult and emotional reactions more likely.
• Anonymity Tools — technologies and services that conceal a scammer’s identity, location, or digital footprint, such as VPNs, encrypted messaging platforms, and layered accounts. These tools reduce accountability and enable repeat offenses with minimal risk.
• Attack Surface — the total number of digital points through which a victim can be contacted, manipulated, or compromised. As daily life becomes more connected, this surface expands and increases exposure to scams.
• Automation — the use of software systems to send messages, manage targets, test scripts, and escalate scams without continuous human involvement. Automation allows criminals to operate at scale while maintaining emotional pressure on victims.
• Business Email Compromise — a scam method in which criminals impersonate executives, vendors, or partners to redirect legitimate payments. These scams rely on routine business trust and subtle message alterations rather than overt deception.
• Cognitive Narrowing — a stress-driven mental state where attention becomes focused on immediate threats or demands while long-term consequences are overlooked. Scammers intentionally induce this state to limit critical thinking and speed compliance.
• Communication Channel — any digital or electronic medium used to contact a victim, including email, phone calls, text messages, social platforms, or messaging apps. Familiar channels reduce skepticism and increase response rates.
• Control Phase — the stage of a scam where the criminal restricts options, imposes urgency, and directs behavior toward a specific outcome. Control is maintained through fear, secrecy, authority, or emotional manipulation.
• Criminal Scalability — the ability of scammers to increase victim volume without proportional increases in effort or cost. Scalability is driven by automation, templates, and global digital infrastructure.
• Data Harvesting — the collection of personal details from breaches, social media, or public records to personalize scam messages. Personalization increases perceived legitimacy and emotional impact.
• Decision-Making Under Stress — a cognitive condition where urgency and fear impair judgment and reduce the ability to evaluate risk. Scammers rely on this state to override normal caution.
• Digital Hostage-Taking — the act of locking access to data, systems, or accounts to force payment or compliance. Ransomware is the most common form, creating coercion through loss of access.
• Emotional Grooming — a gradual process of building trust, attachment, and dependency before introducing financial requests. This technique is central to romance and long-term investment scams.
• Efficiency Bias — the prioritization of speed, cost reduction, and scale over ethical considerations. In scam systems, efficiency determines success regardless of human harm.
• Encryption Misuse — the use of secure communication tools by criminals to evade monitoring while pressuring victims into private, untraceable conversations. This reduces opportunities for intervention.
• Feedback Loops — systems that allow scammers to refine tactics based on victim responses and outcomes. Feedback accelerates optimization of scripts, timing, and pressure strategies.
• Financial Friction — intentional delays or verification steps added to financial transactions to reduce impulsive transfers. Increased friction disrupts scam success by countering urgency.
• High-Volume Fraud — scam operations designed to reach large numbers of people simultaneously, accepting low individual success rates in exchange for massive overall gains.
• Identity Signals — personal markers such as names, roles, routines, or relationships used to establish credibility. Scammers manipulate these signals to appear legitimate or familiar.
• Impersonation Fraud — deception involving false representation of trusted individuals, companies, or authorities. This method exploits existing trust relationships rather than creating new ones.
• Isolation Tactics — strategies used to discourage victims from consulting others or seeking verification. Isolation increases dependence on the scammer’s narrative.
• Malware — malicious software designed to infiltrate systems, steal data, or enable further exploitation. Malware often serves as the entry point for ransomware and data theft.
• Manipulation at Speed — the rapid application of pressure before a victim can reflect or verify information. Speed is essential to preventing interruption or outside input.
• Mass Exploitation — the systemic targeting of large populations through standardized scam techniques. This approach treats victims as data points rather than individuals.
• Mobile-First Fraud — scams optimized for smartphones using calls, texts, and app-based messages. Constant accessibility increases exposure during moments of distraction or fatigue.
• Moral Displacement — the separation of outcomes from responsibility within large systems. Criminals operating through technique rarely witness victim harm directly, reducing moral restraint.
• Payment Rails — the financial pathways used to transfer money, such as wire transfers, cryptocurrency, or gift cards. Scammers favor rails that are fast and difficult to reverse.
• Phishing — fraudulent communication designed to trick individuals into revealing sensitive information or performing harmful actions. Phishing relies on imitation of legitimate sources.
• Psychological Theft — the extraction of money through manipulation of trust, emotion, and cognition rather than physical force. This defines modern scam harm.
• Recovery Scams — secondary fraud attempts targeting known victims with promises of fund recovery or justice. These scams exploit desperation and unresolved trauma.
• Relationship Economy — a scam environment where emotional bonds are used as leverage for financial extraction. Romance and mentorship narratives are central to this model.
• Remote Theft — crime conducted without physical proximity, relying on digital access and psychological influence. Remote theft defines contemporary scam activity.
• Ransomware — malware that encrypts files or systems and demands payment for restoration. Ransomware creates coercion through loss of access and fear of data exposure.
• Script Optimization — the continuous refinement of scam messaging to improve success rates. Scripts are tested, adjusted, and reused across victims.
• Secrecy Pressure — demands that victims keep interactions confidential to avoid detection. Secrecy isolates victims and prevents corrective feedback.
• Smishing — phishing conducted through text messages rather than email. Smishing exploits the perceived immediacy and trust associated with mobile devices.
• Stress-Induced Compliance — the tendency to follow instructions when under perceived threat or urgency. Scammers intentionally trigger this response.
• Technique — a concept describing the dominance of efficiency, method, and optimization over human values. Technique explains why scam systems expand regardless of harm.
• Technology-Enabled Transfer of Wealth — the movement of money from victims to criminals through digital systems and psychological manipulation. This defines the core outcome of modern scams.
• Trust Injury — damage to a person’s confidence in their judgment or in others following deception. Trust injury often complicates recovery and decision-making.
• Verification Failure — the absence or breakdown of independent confirmation before acting. Scammers work to prevent verification through urgency and isolation.
• Victim Isolation Loop — a self-reinforcing cycle where shame and fear prevent disclosure, increasing vulnerability to continued exploitation. Breaking this loop is central to recovery.

Author Biographies

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