Endocannabinoid System and its Role in Facilitating Scams & Deception

The Endocannabinoid System (ECS) and its Role in Scam Victim Vulnerability, Retaining Victims in Scams, and Challenges During Recovery

Principal Category:

Authors: •  SCARS Editorial Team – Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. •  Vianey Gonzalez B.Sc(Psych) – Licensed Psychologist Specialty in Crime Victim Trauma Therapy, Neuropsychologist, Certified Deception Professional, Psychology Advisory Panel & Director of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc. •  Tim McGuinness, Ph.D. – Anthropologist, Scientist, Director of the Society of Citizens Against Relationship Scams Inc.

The Brain’s Endocannabinoid System (ECS) and its Role in Scam Victim Vulnerability, Retaining Victims in Scams, and Challenges During Recovery

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a complex cell-signaling system in the human body involved in regulating a variety of physiological and cognitive processes. These include mood, stress responses, learning, memory, and emotional regulation. It primarily consists of:

1. Endocannabinoids (natural chemicals produced by the body).
2. Cannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2) are found throughout the brain and body.
3. Enzymes that create and break down endocannabinoids.

SCARS Note

Scam victims are often reminded by us that they are not responsible for the scam that targeted them. By understanding the neurological and psychological functions of the brain, they can truly grasp why the scam was not their fault. Scammers manipulate the brain’s natural functions—such as trust, emotional regulation, and decision-making—against the victim, exploiting vulnerabilities that exist in everyone. This is why it is important for scam victims to learn about how their brain, mind, and body works. Such knowledge empowers them to counter mistaken beliefs, overcome feelings of shame and guilt, and let go of self-blame, allowing them to focus on recovery and healing.

Overview: The ECS and Vulnerability to Scams and Deception

The ECS plays a role in emotional and cognitive functions that scammers exploit:

Stress and Anxiety Regulation: Scammers use fear, urgency, or emotional manipulation to overwhelm the victim’s ability to think critically. The ECS regulates stress responses, but prolonged or intense manipulation can dysregulate this system, making victims more prone to impulsive decisions under pressure. See more below.

Reward and Trust Mechanisms: The ECS is tied to reward and pleasure pathways in the brain. Scammers exploit this by offering fake rewards or creating a false sense of trust and validation, hijacking the system to elicit compliance. See more below.

Memory and Learning Processes: The ECS helps consolidate emotional memories. Scammers implant ideas and reinforce them with repeated communication, creating associations that make it harder for victims to recognize deception. See more below.

ECS and Social Behavior

Emerging evidence indicates that the ECS significantly influences social behaviors and has complex interactions with social cognition. Endocannabinoid signaling can modulate emotional states, potentially affecting how individuals interpret social cues, including those indicating dishonesty. Research suggests that alterations in endocannabinoid signaling can lead to changes in empathy, trust, and social decision-making, which are critical components in recognizing deceptive behavior.

Effects of Endocannabinoid Modulation on Deceptive Cues

Studies have shown that the modulation of the ECS can affect how organisms respond to social stimuli, including those associated with deception. For instance, agonism of cannabinoid receptors may lead to decreased social interactions and can alter the perception of trustworthiness among individuals. This reduction in social behavior may stem from a diminished ability to interpret social signals accurately, impacting the detection of deception. Additionally, endocannabinoid signaling in specific brain circuits can influence the judgments made about others’ intentions, thereby having implications for social trust and deceit detection.

Context-Dependent Function of the ECS

A critical aspect of how the ECS affects social behavior, including responses to deception, is its context-dependent nature. The ECS is selectively recruited based on the social and environmental context, which highlights its role in modulating responses to specific social cues, such as those related to honesty or deceit. Thus, the efficacy of the ECS in detecting deception may vary depending on situational factors, including stress levels, existing relationships, and individual differences in social cognition.

The endocannabinoid system is intricately linked to social behavior and cognition, including the detection of deception.​ Through its modulation of emotional responses and social interactions, the ECS influences how individuals navigate complex social landscapes. Further exploration of this relationship will enhance understanding of social cognition and the biological factors that underlie human interactions, especially in contexts involving trust and deception.

Understanding the Endocannabinoid System (ECS)

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a sophisticated and essential cell-signaling system in the human body. Though it was discovered in the 1990s during research on cannabis, it is now understood to be a universal regulatory system present in all vertebrates. The ECS plays a critical role in maintaining homeostasis—the body’s natural state of balance—across various physiological and cognitive processes. Its influence spans critical functions such as mood, stress responses, learning, memory, emotional regulation, immune response, and pain management.

Key Components of the ECS

The ECS has three primary components that work in coordination to regulate these processes:

Endocannabinoids:

These are naturally occurring, lipid-based signaling molecules produced by the body. The two most well-known endocannabinoids are:

• • • • Anandamide (AEA): Known as the “bliss molecule,” it plays a role in regulating mood, appetite, and memory.
      • 2-Arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG): Found in higher concentrations, it is associated with the regulation of immune function, pain, and emotional responses.

Endocannabinoids are synthesized on demand, meaning they are produced only when needed rather than stored in the body, which helps the ECS respond dynamically to changing conditions.

Cannabinoid Receptors:

These receptors are proteins located on the surface of cells throughout the body and brain. When endocannabinoids bind to these receptors, they trigger a series of responses that regulate cellular activity. There are two primary types of cannabinoid receptors:

• • • • CB1 Receptors: Predominantly found in the brain and central nervous system. They play a significant role in regulating mood, memory, cognition, and motor function.
      • CB2 Receptors: Found primarily in the peripheral organs, especially in the immune system. They are involved in managing inflammation, immune response, and pain perception.

The distribution of these receptors throughout the body explains why the ECS has such a broad influence on physical and mental health.

Enzymes:

These enzymes are responsible for synthesizing and breaking down endocannabinoids after they have fulfilled their function. Key enzymes include:

• • • • Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH): Breaks down anandamide.
      • Monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL): Degrades 2-AG.

This degradation ensures that endocannabinoids are not overactive, maintaining a finely tuned balance within the system.

Functions of the ECS

The ECS is involved in a wide range of physiological and psychological processes, including:

Mood Regulation: It helps maintain emotional stability by modulating neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine.

Stress and Anxiety Responses: The ECS regulates the body’s response to stress, promoting relaxation and reducing the impact of anxiety triggers. See more below.

Learning and Memory: It plays a role in memory consolidation and the ability to adapt to new information or unlearn harmful patterns.

Pain and Inflammation: Through CB2 receptors, the ECS helps manage chronic pain and inflammatory responses.

Immune Function: The ECS influences the immune system, balancing its activity to prevent excessive or insufficient immune responses.

Appetite and Metabolism: It affects hunger signals and energy balance, particularly through its interaction with CB1 receptors in the hypothalamus.

The ECS as a Dynamic System

The ECS is unique in its on-demand functionality. Unlike traditional neurotransmitter systems, which store signaling molecules for later release, the ECS activates in response to specific stimuli. For example:

• • • During moments of stress, the ECS produces endocannabinoids to help calm the nervous system.
    • When the body detects tissue damage, the ECS activates to reduce inflammation and pain.

This dynamic nature allows the ECS to respond precisely to a wide array of challenges, ensuring the body remains balanced and functional under varying conditions.

Why the ECS Matters in Mental and Emotional Health

The ECS is particularly relevant in understanding behaviors, decision-making, and emotional regulation. It directly influences how individuals process stress, form emotional connections, and consolidate memories—areas often exploited by scammers. Dysregulation of the ECS can make individuals more susceptible to emotional manipulation and less capable of critical thinking, underscoring its importance in psychological resilience.

By understanding the ECS and its components, researchers and mental health professionals can better address conditions tied to its dysfunction, from anxiety and PTSD to chronic pain and addiction. In the context of scams, understanding how this system is affected can provide valuable insights into how manipulation occurs and how to support victims in their recovery.

Stress and Anxiety Regulation

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) plays a central role in managing how the body and brain respond to stress and anxiety. It acts as a regulator, keeping emotional and physiological responses in balance. Under normal circumstances, the ECS helps maintain a healthy response to stressful situations, ensuring that emotions like fear or anxiety do not overwhelm a person’s ability to think rationally or make sound decisions.

Scammers, however, exploit this system by deliberately inducing fear, urgency, and emotional distress to disrupt a victim’s ability to process information critically. They use tactics such as:

Creating a sense of imminent danger: For example, claiming the victim’s bank account has been compromised or that a loved one is in trouble, triggering an intense fight-or-flight response.

Urgency and time pressure: Victims are often told they must act immediately to avoid dire consequences, leaving no time to think through the situation logically.

Emotional manipulation: Scammers may appeal to the victim’s empathy, love, or fear of loss, eliciting strong emotional reactions that cloud judgment.

Prolonged or intense exposure to these tactics overwhelms the ECS’s ability to regulate stress effectively. This dysregulation can result in:

Heightened emotional reactivity: Victims may feel overwhelmed by fear or anxiety, making it difficult to think clearly or rationally.

Impaired decision-making: The heightened stress reduces activity in areas of the brain responsible for critical thinking and problem-solving, making victims more likely to make impulsive choices based on emotion rather than logic.

Stress-induced memory impairment: Chronic stress affects the ECS’s role in memory processing, causing victims to struggle with recalling details that might help them identify inconsistencies in the scammer’s narrative.

In essence, the ECS becomes overstimulated and cannot return the body to a state of calm. This sustained dysregulation not only makes victims vulnerable to falling for scams but also keeps them trapped in a reactive, emotionally charged state where their ability to critically assess the situation is significantly diminished.

Reward and Trust Mechanisms

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) plays a crucial role in regulating the brain’s reward and pleasure pathways, which are closely tied to motivation, reinforcement of behaviors, and the formation of trust in relationships. Scammers deliberately exploit these mechanisms to manipulate their victims, creating a false sense of reward and trust that encourages compliance with their demands.

How the ECS Regulates Reward and Trust

Reward Pathways: The ECS interacts with the brain’s reward centers, such as the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and nucleus accumbens, by modulating the release of dopamine, the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward. When people experience something positive, such as a compliment, achievement, or financial gain, the ECS helps reinforce that experience as rewarding.

Trust Formation: The ECS is also connected to social bonding and trust. It works in conjunction with neurochemicals like oxytocin (the “trust hormone”) to strengthen emotional connections and create a sense of safety in relationships.

How Scammers Hijack Reward and Trust Mechanisms

Scammers use psychological tactics to exploit these natural mechanisms, manipulating victims into feeling rewarded or trusting. Key strategies include:

Promising Rewards: Scammers create scenarios where victims anticipate significant financial or emotional rewards. For example, they may promise lottery winnings, romantic partnerships, lucrative investments, or exclusive opportunities. This stimulates the ECS, triggering the release of dopamine and reinforcing the victim’s belief that compliance will lead to a payoff.

Providing Emotional Validation: Scammers often use flattery, compliments, or empathy to make victims feel valued and understood. This emotional connection triggers the ECS, leading to feelings of trust and pleasure that deepen the victim’s engagement.

Building a False Sense of Trust: Over time, scammers mimic behaviors that naturally build trust in healthy relationships, such as consistent communication, expressions of care, or shared “secrets.” This manipulates the victim’s ECS, encouraging them to feel safe and bonded with the scammer.

Reinforcing Compliance with Rewards: Scammers may use intermittent rewards, such as small successes or positive feedback, to keep victims engaged. This creates a feedback loop where the ECS continues to reward compliance, making it harder for the victim to break free from the manipulation.

Impact on the Victim

The manipulation of the ECS’s reward and trust pathways has several effects on victims:

Increased Emotional Dependence: Victims may feel emotionally attached to the scammer, even if they suspect deception. The ECS reinforces these feelings, making it difficult to sever ties.

Reinforced Compliance: The anticipation of rewards, coupled with the emotional validation provided by the scammer, makes victims more likely to follow instructions or provide money.

Blunted Critical Thinking: The reward-driven engagement often overshadows logical reasoning, as the victim’s focus is drawn toward the promised outcomes rather than potential risks.

By hijacking the ECS’s natural processes, scammers create a powerful cycle of emotional and cognitive manipulation, effectively trapping victims in a state of compliance and vulnerability. Understanding this dynamic is key to helping victims break free from the manipulation and rebuild their capacity for trust in a safe and controlled environment.

Memory and Learning Processes

The endocannabinoid system (ECS) plays a significant role in the regulation of memory and learning, particularly in the consolidation of emotional memories and the brain’s ability to adapt to new information. Scammers exploit these processes by manipulating victims’ memory and learning patterns to deepen their psychological hold and reduce their ability to identify deception.

How the ECS Regulates Memory and Learning

Memory Consolidation: The ECS influences the brain’s hippocampus, a region critical for converting short-term memories into long-term ones. Emotional experiences, in particular, are often prioritized during memory consolidation, with the ECS modulating this process to ensure that significant or emotionally charged events are retained.

Learning Through Reinforcement: The ECS helps encode patterns of behavior and responses by linking emotional significance to experiences. This enables the brain to learn from past events and adjust future actions accordingly.

How Scammers Exploit the ECS in Memory and Learning

Scammers use deliberate psychological tactics to manipulate how victims encode, recall, and interpret their experiences, effectively leveraging the ECS to create a narrative that benefits their deception. These tactics include:

Reinforcing Emotional Memories: Scammers often induce strong emotional reactions—such as fear, hope, love, or urgency—during their interactions. For example, a romance scammer might declare their love in dramatic terms, while a financial scammer might warn of catastrophic consequences if the victim does not act. These heightened emotional states activate the ECS, ensuring the victim vividly remembers these moments and associates them with the scammer’s narrative.

Repetition of False Narratives: Through repeated communication, scammers implant ideas or beliefs in the victim’s mind. This could involve affirming their “love,” reinforcing the legitimacy of a fake opportunity or continuously emphasizing the urgency of action. The ECS plays a role in this repetition by strengthening neural pathways associated with frequently encountered information, making the scammer’s claims feel familiar and believable over time.

Creating Positive Associations: Scammers often link their communication with positive emotional experiences, such as receiving compliments, feeling cared for, or anticipating rewards. These positive emotional cues, mediated by the ECS, make the victim more likely to trust and recall the scammer’s statements in a favorable light.

Confusing or Fragmenting Memory: Scammers may deliberately introduce conflicting information or overwhelming details to disrupt the victim’s ability to clearly recall events. By manipulating the emotional context of interactions, they can influence how the victim remembers and interprets their past conversations, often casting doubt on their own judgment.

Impact on Victims

The exploitation of the ECS’s role in memory and learning has profound consequences for victims:

Strengthened Emotional Ties: Emotional memories linked to the scammer’s manipulation become deeply ingrained, making it harder for victims to question or disengage from the relationship.

Difficulty Recognizing Red Flags: Repeated exposure to the scammer’s narrative creates cognitive patterns that align with the scammer’s lies, reducing the victim’s ability to recognize inconsistencies or deception.

Impaired Critical Thinking: Emotional memories and associations can override logical reasoning, making victims focus on their feelings rather than objectively evaluating the situation.

Breaking the Cycle of Manipulation

To help victims recover, it is essential to address the way their ECS has been manipulated:

Trauma-Informed Therapy: Working with a therapist trained in trauma recovery can help victims reprocess and reinterpret emotional memories, weakening the hold of the scammer’s manipulation.

Cognitive Behavioral Techniques: Victims can learn to identify distorted thought patterns and replace them with more objective, reality-based perspectives.

Relearning Trust and Judgment: By engaging in safe and healthy relationships, victims can gradually rebuild their ability to form balanced emotional associations and trust based on genuine experiences.

Mindfulness and Emotional Regulation: Practices like mindfulness can help victims develop awareness of their emotional triggers and regulate their responses, supporting healthier memory consolidation and learning.

By addressing how the ECS has been hijacked, victims can begin to untangle the emotional memories and cognitive patterns that kept them bound to the scam, reclaiming their ability to trust their instincts and make sound decisions in the future.

How the ECS Keeps Victims Entrapped

Once a victim falls into a scam, the ECS can maintain their vulnerability:

Fear and Stress Amplification: Scammers often create high-pressure environments, keeping victims in a state of chronic stress. This sustained activation overwhelms the ECS’s ability to self-regulate, leading to heightened emotional reactivity and poor decision-making.

Oxytocin and Trust Manipulation: The ECS interacts with other neurochemical systems like oxytocin (the “trust hormone”). Scammers mimic behaviors that trigger oxytocin release, creating emotional bonds. Victims feel attached to the scammer, even if they suspect something is wrong.

Cognitive Impairment: Chronic stress affects the ECS’s role in memory and learning, making it harder for victims to analyze past interactions critically or recognize red flags.

Awareness and Critical Thinking

Awareness and critical thinking can act as partial counters to a manipulated endocannabinoid system (ECS), but their effectiveness depends on the context and degree of manipulation. While awareness and critical thinking are essential tools for identifying and resisting scams, they do not directly regulate or reset the ECS, which operates largely at a subconscious and biochemical level. However, they can indirectly help mitigate the effects of ECS manipulation by addressing the broader psychological and behavioral patterns that scammers exploit.

How Awareness Helps

Awareness of how scams work and the tactics scammers use can reduce the emotional impact that manipulates the ECS. For example:

Recognizing Emotional Triggers: Understanding that fear, urgency, or flattery are deliberate manipulations can lessen the emotional response these tactics provoke.

Identifying Patterns of Manipulation: Awareness allows individuals to spot inconsistencies or red flags before emotional responses take over, giving them the space to pause and assess the situation logically.

How Critical Thinking Helps

Critical thinking involves analyzing situations objectively and making decisions based on evidence and logic rather than emotional impulses. It counters ECS manipulation in several ways:

Disrupting Emotional Reactivity: By focusing on facts and logical reasoning, critical thinking can override the stress and fear responses scammers provoke, weakening the ECS-driven urge to comply impulsively.

Breaking the Manipulation Cycle: Scammers rely on repeated emotional reinforcement to keep victims engaged. Critical thinking interrupts this cycle by helping victims question the validity of the scammer’s claims.

Limitations of Awareness and Critical Thinking Against ECS Manipulation

While helpful, awareness and critical thinking alone may not fully counteract ECS manipulation because:

Biological Responses Are Involuntary: The ECS operates at a biochemical level, and emotional responses like fear, trust, and attachment are automatic. These responses can override logical thought, especially during moments of high stress or prolonged emotional manipulation.

Cognitive Overload: Scammers intentionally create overwhelming situations, making it harder for victims to access critical thinking. When the brain is overstimulated, the ECS’s dysregulation can hinder rational decision-making.

Conditioned Responses: Long-term manipulation creates deeply ingrained emotional and cognitive patterns that may not be easily undone with awareness or logic alone.

Strengthening Awareness and Critical Thinking as Tools

To maximize their effectiveness, awareness, and critical thinking need to be paired with strategies that address the underlying ECS dysregulation:

Stress Management: Techniques like mindfulness, deep breathing, or relaxation exercises can help regulate the ECS and reduce the emotional intensity of scam triggers.

Education on Emotional Regulation: Learning how the ECS works and how emotions influence decisions empowers individuals to recognize and manage emotional responses.

Building Resilience: Practices like journaling, reflecting on past decisions, and developing problem-solving skills strengthen critical thinking under pressure.

Support Systems: Sharing experiences with trusted individuals or support groups can provide perspective and reduce the isolating effects of ECS-driven emotional manipulation.

Awareness and critical thinking are valuable tools for resisting scams and countering some of the effects of ECS manipulation. However, they work best when combined with strategies that directly address the emotional and physiological impacts of ECS dysregulation, helping victims regain control over their responses and build long-term resilience.

Retraining the Brain’s ECS After a Scam

After a scam ends, victims often face emotional trauma, cognitive dissonance, and damaged trust. Retraining the ECS involves both physical and psychological recovery processes:

Stress Reduction Practices: Techniques like mindfulness, meditation, or yoga help normalize the ECS by reducing cortisol levels and promoting balance in endocannabinoid activity. Physical exercise also boosts endocannabinoid production, improving mood and resilience.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): CBT helps retrain thinking patterns and rebuild critical analysis skills, which can recalibrate how the ECS responds to stress and emotional triggers.

Reconnecting Trust Pathways: Gradual, healthy social interactions rebuild trust and restore the ECS’s ability to regulate emotions tied to relationships.

Healthy Lifestyle Choices: Proper nutrition (omega-3 fatty acids support ECS health), sleep hygiene, and avoiding substances that disrupt ECS functioning (like excessive alcohol) can aid recovery. 

Trauma Processing and Emotional Healing: Working with a therapist to address trauma stored in the body and emotional triggers helps reset the ECS and strengthen emotional regulation.

By retraining the ECS and rebuilding a sense of control, victims can recover from the lingering effects of scams, regain their ability to trust wisely and develop resilience against future manipulation.

Implications for Future Research

Understanding the relationship between the endocannabinoid system and deception could have broader implications for psychological and social research. Future studies could explore how variations in ECS function contribute to the behavioral responses to dishonest signals, which might inform interventions aimed at enhancing social cognition and trust in various settings. Additionally, uncovering the mechanisms within the ECS that support or impair deception detection may provide insights into certain psychological conditions characterized by social deficits, potentially aiding in the development of targeted therapies.

Referrences

• Wei, D., Allsop, S., Tye, K., & Piomelli, D. (2017). Endocannabinoid Signaling in the Control of Social Behavior. Trends in Neurosciences. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tins.2017.04.005
• Marco, E. M., & Laviola, G. (2011). The endocannabinoid system in the regulation of emotions throughout lifespan: a discussion on therapeutic perspectives. Journal of Psychopharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881111408459
• Maldonado, R., Cabañero, D., & Martín-García, E. (2020). The endocannabinoid system in modulating fear, anxiety, and stress. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience. https://doi.org/10.31887/dcns.2020.22.3/rmaldonado
• Meyer, H. C., Lee, F. S., & Gee, D. G. (2017). The Role of the Endocannabinoid System and Genetic Variation in Adolescent Brain Development. Neuropsychopharmacology. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2017.143
• The endocannabinoid system: Essential and mysterious, August 11, 2021, By Peter Grinspoon, MD, Contributor; Editorial Advisory Board Member, Harvard Health Publishing https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-endocannabinoid-system-essential-and-mysterious-202108112569
• Lu HC, Mackie K. Review of the Endocannabinoid System. Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2021 Jun;6(6):607-615. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2020.07.016. Epub 2020 Aug 1. PMID: 32980261; PMCID: PMC7855189. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7855189/
• Cristino, L., Bisogno, T. & Di Marzo, V. Cannabinoids and the expanded endocannabinoid system in neurological disorders. Nat Rev Neurol 16, 9–29 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41582-019-0284-z
• Mechoulam R, Parker LA. The endocannabinoid system and the brain. Annu Rev Psychol. 2013;64:21-47. doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-113011-143739. Epub 2012 Jul 12. PMID: 22804774. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22804774/

• Dutta R. Endocannabinoidome and its role in neurological disorders-A comprehensive update of existing literature. J Neurosci Neurol Disord. 2021; 5: 034-047. DOI: 10.29328/journal.jnnd.1001049

• Involvement of the Endocannabinoid System in the pathophysiology and therapeutics of movement disorders DOI: 10.1016/j.neurop.2022.07.003

Please Leave Us Your Comment
Also, tell us of any topics we might have missed.

Thank you for your comment. You may receive an email to follow up. We never share your data with marketers.

Recent Reader Comments

• on Why Scam Fraud and Cybercrime Awareness Campaigns Fail and It Becomes Another Form of Scam Victim Blaming – 2024: “Excelente artículo muy bien explicado abordando puntos importantes para crear campañas funcionales en la conciencializacion contra las estafas.” Nov 19, 01:37
• on Secrets Can Be Deadly For Scam Victims – Recovery Psychology 2023: “Sharing my experiences with those I trust have made the recovery journey possible and less stressful.” Oct 14, 15:59
• on Psychological Denial – A Maladaptive Coping Mechanism In Scam Victims – 2024: “Shock and Disbelief was a big part of my initial response when I discovered I had been scammed. It lasted…” Sep 28, 09:54
• on Reductive Thinking – A Maladaptive Coping Mechanism – An Enemy Of Scam Victims Recovery – 2024: “Reductive thinking and minimizing certainty was tempting but it doesn’t take much to understand that recovery from being scammed is…” Sep 26, 10:17
• on Victim Complex/Victim Mentality In Relationship Scam Victims 2023: “Reading this article, helped me to understand my mother’s behavior. While she was alive, she manifested that her unhappiness was…” Sep 23, 12:07

Important Information for New Scam Victims

Please visit www.ScamVictimsSupport.org – a SCARS Website for New Scam Victims Enroll in SCARS Scam Survivor’s School for FREE – visit www.SCARSeducation.org to register – FREE for scam victims/survivors If you are looking for local trauma counselors please visit counseling.AgainstScams.org or join SCARS for our counseling/therapy benefit: membership.AgainstScams.org If you need to speak with someone now, you can dial 988 in the U.S. or Canada, or find phone numbers for crisis hotlines all around the world here: www.opencounseling.com/suicide-hotlines

A Question of Trust

At the SCARS Institute, we invite you to do your own research on the topics we speak about and publish, Our team investigates the subject being discussed, especially when it comes to understanding the scam victims-survivors experience. You can do Google searches but in many cases, you will have to wade through scientific papers and studies. However, remember that biases and perspectives matter and influence the outcome. Regardless, we encourage you to explore these topics as thoroughly as you can for your own awareness.

SCARS Resources:

• • For New Victims of Relationship Scams www.ScamVictimsSupport.org
  • Enroll in SCARS Scam Survivor’s School for FREE – visit www.SCARSeducation.org to register – FREE for scam victims/survivors
  • 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
  • Scammer Photos on ScammerPhotos.com [Not Recommended for Recent Scam Victims]
  • SCARS Videos youtube.AgainstScams.org
  • Self-Help Books for Scam Victims are at shop.AgainstScams.org

Professional Note

This article, like most of what the SCARS Institute publishes is intended to help scam victims, their families, and friends, to find answers and fulfill an essential role in psychoeducation. While the work is grounded on science and research, it is not intended to present research but rather general education in most cases. This can also serve as an introduction and overview for psychologists and allied professionals unfamiliar with scam victimization and its effects on victims.

Also, please read our SCARS Institute Statement About Professional Care for Scam Victims – here

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

Psychology Disclaimer:

All articles about psychology, neurology, and the human brain on this website are for information & education only

The information provided in these articles is intended for educational and self-help purposes only and should not be construed as a substitute for professional therapy or counseling.

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, please read our SCARS Institute Statement About Professional Care for Scam Victims – here

If you are in crisis, feeling desperate, or in despair please call 988 or your local crisis hotline.

-/ 30 /-

What do you think about this?

Please share your thoughts in a comment below!