Have you ever fallen for a fraud and later thought to yourself “How did I even fall for this”? While there might be a good reason to be angry at yourself, you should also consider that you were a victim of manipulation techniques. Manipulation means to influence a person’s feelings, especially in an unfair manner to suit one’s gain. This article looks at six common manipulation techniques used by scammers, hackers, and threat actors, and what steps can be taken to avoid being a victim.
Manipulation Technique 1: Increasing Susceptibility
This is an act of twisting the emotions to reduce a target’s resistance level and make them more open to influence. Often under stress, people will be influenced by suggestion and manipulation. Scammers understand this and will want to increase the stress level of a target by altering their emotions especially through fear or out of anger. For example, a scammer would ask leading questions to get the target to reveal more about themselves. Once the scammer knows where a target is emotionally vulnerable, they would focus their communication with the target towards that issue. The aim behind this is that by constantly bringing up the stressful situation, the scammer hopes to direct the cognitive energy of the target away from asking questions or thinking about the scam in ways that would lead to its exposure.
Defense tips against this manipulation technique include:
- Always take your time; never be in a hurry to make decisions.
- Once you start feeling emotions rising, take a deep breath and discontinue the conversation.
- Always ask yourself questions such as “why am I feeling this way?” “Am I allowing my emotions to get the better of me?”
- Try to analyze the situation by writing down your thoughts and feelings.
- Only reveal personal issues to close family members or associates.
Manipulation Technique 2: Environmental Control
In this technique, the Scammer invades the target’s environment and engineers a situation that leaves the target compromised. A common method of this technique is fanning the flames of the sexual appetites. For instance, a scammer can get a member of the opposite sex to connect via social media. Overtime when a romantic relationship is formed, photos or videos of the target in compromising positions are requested. This is the used to blackmail and extort the target.
Defense tips against this manipulation technique include:
- Regulate who can have access to you both offline and online.
- Revisit your privacy settings across all social media applications and strengthen it.
- Do not become emotionally attached to anyone you have not met in person
- Research online messaging friends to make sure their profiles are rooted in reality
- Never disclose confidential information or share photos or videos in compromising position with love interests both offline and online.
- Improve your OPSEC – https://nogofallmaga.org/operations-security-opsec-for-scam-prevention/
Manipulation Technique 3: Forced Re-evaluation
The aim of this technique is to get the target to give up entrenched beliefs and adopt new ones. This is done by sowing seeds of doubt, using disinformation and false narratives till the target acts against what they previously thought was true. As an example, a staff member works in a company that has a policy that no personal devices should be plugged into the company network. A hacker befriends that staff and tells him of several companies that allow their staff to bring their own devices to work and how that is standard behavior. The hacker works on the emotions of the staff sowing seeds of discontent and how much easier it will be to work with your own device. He tells the staff to try it, just to find out how easy it will be. Unbeknown to the staff, his device has been infected with malware, and as soon as he plugs it in, the malware jumps on the company network.
Defense tips against this manipulation technique include:
- Always subject suggestions and new beliefs to rational scrutiny
- Subject suggestions to the test of consistency; see how well they cohere with already accepted beliefs
- When you receive new information, seek advice from others and evaluate the source’s credibility.
Manipulation Technique 4: Removing their power
The aim of this technique is to make the target feel powerless thereby engendering compliance. This can be done either by overloading a target with information that affects their emotions till they are unable to think and feel helpless or through assuming the identity of an authority figure and creating a perception of control. An example of this would be a scammer that impersonates a financial expert. He reaches out to a target with an investment offer, but this offer is time constrained, the target is told to act quickly or miss the offer. Such a situation doesn’t allow the target to think, effectively putting them at the mercy of the scammer.
Defense tips against this manipulation technique include:
- Don’t allow anyone to overload you with information, ask them to give you time to evaluate what they have sent you.
- Beware of complexity, if you cannot understand, then do not proceed.
- Don’t blindly trust authority figures
- In situations of intense emotional turmoil, it is best to refrain from taking important decisions or acting
Manipulation Technique 5: Punishment
In this technique the target is embarrassed or made to feel ashamed or guilty. As no one would want to endure this, the target quickly makes a retreat to anyone that can provide relief. Unfortunately, a co-conspirator of the scammer is on hand to provide care and a shoulder to lean on. The target then opens to the co-conspirator further driving him into the clutches of the scammers. Scammers can also use the threat of punishment to get their targets to comply. For instance, scammers running an investment scam can send a message that a participant will lose their interest if they fail to sign up more people.
Defense tips against this manipulation technique include:
- Learn to spot communication that induces fear, and do not comply
- Be suspicious of anyone acting overly friendly or offering help when money or sensitive information is involved
Manipulation Technique 6: Intimidation
Cyber criminals use several tactics to intimidate their targets into meeting their demands. Common tactics include the use of plush locations, fancy cars, and accessories. They might also use an authoritative tone or claim the status of an expert and silence all questions and oppositions.
Defense tips against this manipulation technique include:
- Do not back off from aggressive facial expressions or eye contact
- Take the offensive, if a person refuses to answer questions, say you’ll terminate all future correspondence or communication except they provide a response.
- Do not be swayed by qualifications or certifications, ask for proof, documentation, and explanations. An expert is only as good as the reasons they provide.
Conclusion
As it concerns manipulation, always be introspective, constantly watch your feelings. This is because if you are being manipulated it often registers as a bad or uncomfortable sort of feeling. It is imperative to constantly review all that has been written above as it will help you spot manipulation and to respond appropriately.
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Contributors
- Abasiama Emmanuel Udo
- Oluwabunmi Olarewaju
- Oluwabunmi Adeyemo.