One of the difficulties with human nature when it comes to fraudulent crimes or scams is that we allow our emotions and behaviors to effect our better judgment. We base many of our actions and decisions on factors that include our personal upbringing, belief systems, past experiences, trust worthiness of others, religious and moral beliefs and a whole host of other dynamics.

For many seniors it is difficult to associate the friendly voice on the telephone with a potential crook that is out to steal their money. Most believe that the caller has a legitimate business reason for calling and that their actions are not criminal. After the scam, they attempt to rationalize that the loss wasn't a crime, rather, they didn't get their money's worth

Some of the personal dynamics that can come into play in being swindled include the following:

Crooks are often very convincing and it is often difficult to differentiate them from legitimate sales people.

It's impolite to hang up. Many people feel uncomfortable about hanging up on people. A good swindler, however, takes full advantage of this by taking control of the conversation and attempting to get you to act upon your emotions. 

Wear Um Down Tactics- Multiple attempts to get you to buy in are primarily focused on getting you to break in order to get rid of the person.

Trustworthy Intuition - Many of us want to give the benefit of the doubt to the caller believing that their story or offer is true.

False Beliefs - Who doesn't want to believe that the prize being offered must be the person's lucky day?