MYTH- Aspies are easily scammed.

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This is false. The reality is, there are people that are easily scammed but from what I've noticed, NT's are more susceptible. Aspies will connect the dots, do research into stories and be more skeptical. The problem is, when an aspie has a hunch someone is scamming, the NT's will get pissed off because the aspie is bluntly calling out the liar and while the aspie is usually right, they get outcasted or told HOW DARE YOU!!

Aspies will be painted as cruel and unemotional over a scam used to pull at others heart strings. Not saying no aspies cannot be scammed but the myth that aspies are gullible and easy to scam is false. Giving that false myth out only makes aspies a target to con artists but a dose of reality like ice cold water to the face of the scammer is given when attempted.

What do you think about that?

I've got a scammer immigrant chick going for me as they think my money and citizenship could be an easy heist.

I'm playing them like a fish and they have no idea

Last edited by Surfman on 22 Sep 2010, 1:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

Not a myth. Most aspies are more vulnerable to predators, especially some of the ones I know.

I'm with you there. I for one am not easily scammed because I am naturally very sceptical, I don't believe anyone has truly good intentions (eg. a gas company offering a cheap deal is only trying to get you over to them so they can double the price in a couple of months), and as you mentioned a BS story that would tug on many people's heartstrings will just result in a "f*** off" from me.

Intelligence varies with aspies I suppose.....some yes, some no

Right but from what I've seen is predators often misjudge aspies from the start and end up finding out just how detail oriented and how much they remember of the conversations so trying to pull scams on them don't work as well as someone who forgets such details. They aren't really MORE vulnerable as in falling for it more often than anyone else. There has never really been any studies on either parties linking that together but speaking from experience, aspies generally have more of a con artist radar and aren't afraid to let it be known someone is lying through their teeth and often the aspie faces being tossed out in favor of the con artists until of course it is shown the con artist isn't as nice as they pretended.

Take for example, scammer online. You'll see the convince routine of using emotions too much like

When someone does that it's a try hard attempt that works on more NT's than aspies.

I've known non-autistic people to almost be scammed on the internet from messages I immediately spotted as scams. It has more to do with experience. Someone experienced with the internet will most likely spot scams. Someone who isn't will not.

Same thing with scams off the internet. A person with Asperger's might be more susceptible to these because of lack of experience in social encounters. I know that I'm either very gullible IRL or completely questioning of everything. When I'm often confused around people, I might not notice that something seems shady. Or even if I do, maybe I will chalk it up to general confusion during social encounters and thus get in an undesirable situation.

People with autism are much more at risk of exploitation by figures of authority and by peers. There are many studies showing a vulnerability to sexual, physical and emotional abuse.

That is not the same as most scams, but I am sure there are some kinds of scam that exploit the adherence to rules and respect for authority that make autistic people vulnerable.

depends on the aspie and the scam.

I believed the apple wheel piece from the onion, but then I kind of wanted it to be true, since I dislike apple!

after this, I have decided to be more careful. something just recently on TV was people talking about buying plots of land on the Moon, which is total BS, since no one 'owns' the moon, so no one can 'sell' the land.

one big decision I have made recently is to become an atheist, since after a lot of thinking, I came to the conclusion that believing in something that I cannot sense in anyway, and that people trust in a 2000+ year old book.

I would be interested in finding out what proportion of Aspies believe in conspiracy theories, like NASA not landing on the moon, global warming, creation/evolution, and the 9/11 conspiracies.
as a scientist (2nd year BSc in physics/astronomy), I would trust mainstream science over someone's strong opinion any day.

I am quite gullible, and will generally believe what someone says, unless it is obviously stupid.

Don't worry fellow Aspies, I'll teach you how to stop yourself being scammed! All you have to do is PM me your bank account number and sort code...

I think we have people discussing two entirely different sorts of "scams" in this thread, and that the two are too different to be lumped together. On the one hand, we have people discussing the stereotypical internet and/or economic scam ("I've just inherited millions of dollars, but I need a foreign bank account to deposit it in. Won't you help me?" or other scams which can be easily considered through the eyes of logic, or researched) and people discussing the more mundane, everyday scams (a false "I love you," or other--generally social--scams which can neither be easily researched nor deciphered logically). It is entirely possible to be gullible and naive in one area, but not in the other.

Of course, I can only speak for myself, but I am able to recognize that I am vulnerable to the latter (something which is naive to admit in itself), but well-defended against the former.

Some Aspies are easily scammed. Some are not.

I'm a walking B.S. detector myself...

Not a myth. http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt132468.html

I'm unsure as to what happened there, actually, I didn't keep up with it all. Was that really a scam? I somehow doubt it.

Point proven

Sorry, Asp-Z, no offence intended, The 'cancer' was already 100% fictional, but the jury was out for ages as to whether Sean himself was involved, but put it this way; when it emerged that he had collected a lot more than the stated quota of money, and when pressed for details Sean disppeared and only re-appeared when told he would face legal action. He then emerged claiming he needed more money for a taxi fare. (That thread got locked pretty quickly and thus the story ends so far).

The facts didn't add up one bit, there was no proof for the story and yet many people here were and some still are prepared to believe it all at face value because the person telling you the story and accepting the money swears they're telling the truth... that's what makes me think that people here are/would be more easily scammed than more sceptical/NT people who are used to bull s**t would be

Anyway, nuff said- probably best to avoid this topic for the moment. I don't want flyingkittycat's thread locked,

Alright alright, I did say I didn't keep up with any of the details. I had no idea about any of the stuff you said in your post, I just found it unlikely that a long time member would use something like that for money. Guess I was wrong if what you're saying is correct.

BTW, I am very good at catching out scams and other BS generally. Like I said, though, I didn't keep up with any of the events at all with the Seanmw thing.