Schneier on Security

Clive Robinson • June 18, 2025 3:20 PM

@ Bruce,

It has been noted in the past over con artists and their marks with things like “piggy butchering” romance / finance scams[1].

That,

“Where there is emotional investment, there is a lowering of skepticism and caution, hence the increased susceptibility to abuse”

But there is also the old observation that,

“Everyone has a book in them”

With various riders / witticisms attached such as,

“but in most cases that’s where it should stay!”

Many believe the former but don’t heed the latter. Some are a little more “worldly wise”.

But then there are so many Z-List Celeb books that are “Ghost Written” and appear to be “successes” but are little more than “Vanity Products” for both the Celeb and the Publisher. In the case of “Political memoirs” all to often they are “knife grinding acts” and the Publisher is paying off some dues.

Thus people think that all they need is a chance, and they will become a millionaire best seller…

And so the stage is set for “la danse macabre”.

But the plumb targets are those who have damaged trust mechanisms. We all hear about “little old ladies” getting scammed by “bogus builders” and similar who convince them they need work done on their house etc.

Well many think it’s the journalists cynically exploiting the sympathy “my granny” angle. But the evidence is once you are retired you are much more vulnerable to scams.

The reasons are many but retiring is a major social / status change and if you’ve not prepared for it, it can hit you hard. Then there are the diseases of the mind. If you keep up on the literature, it sometimes feels like “a new month a new disease” of old age.

All of which can leave you vulnerable, including by governments.

I won’t go into the details but in the UK older people get help from three main sources. The first is “friends and family” but these are due to changes in working conditions scarce. Of the two other sources there is “Primary Health Care” that comes via the NHS, the other is “Social Care” from local government and the private sector. When you look into it you find out what a scam “Social Care” is and why in the private sector it was attracting droves of Venture Capitalists…

Whilst there are “Charities” many are in effect little different from “for profit businesses” running political campaigns and lobbying politicians. I’m not saying they do not offer a useful service to “citizens” but people want paying for their services and office etc support.

The simple fact is the elderly are more and more being seen as “piggy-banks” to be “smashed and plundered” and it’s only going to get worse as we live longer.

[1] Piggy/Pig butchering scams have various stages that lead the victim into being bled dry via their emmotions and misplaced trust,

https://www.malwarebytes.com/blog/news/2024/03/pig-butchering-scams-how-they-work-and-how-to-avoid-them