How scammers use psychology to create some of the most convincing internet cons – and what to watch out for

Scammers are blending different types of fraud to persuade people to hand over their cash. Pixel-Shot/Shutterstock

Online fraud is today’s most common crime. Victims are often told they are foolish for falling for it, but fraudsters use psychological mechanisms to infiltrate the defences of their targets, regardless of how intelligent they are.

So it’s important to keep up with the latest scams and understand how they work.