The "greedy victim" is the typical explanation for fraud, and the article touches on this:
He makes mercifully short mention of the usual explanation—
“greed” on the part of ordinary people trying to get “above their
station”—which has been trotted out after every financial fraud
for the past 300 years.
The article makes the point that Americans get ripped off disproportionately, that there's something about American culture that either encourages or doesn't punish flimflam, Ponzi and confidence games.
Is it the ethic of rugged self-reliance? Or the idolization of entrepreneurs and the ultra-rich?
I bring up religion because America is much more religious than other Western countries, and it seems like people who believe without evidence might be more susceptible to confidence games.
>Or the idolization of entrepreneurs and the ultra-rich?
As a non American I've noticed something similar at least in US media there tends to be a lot of respect given to people who are wealthy or in positions of power you see it a lot in movies and television Generals, senators, congressman etc are almost universally depicted as praiseworthy figures.
When I was a kid in all of the American music videos the performers tended to drape themselves in gold jewelry, drink champagne, ride around in luxury cars etc. Sometimes it seemed over the top to the point of parody but at some level I think it reflects an aspiration towards wealth.
Here in Australia there is much more of a tendency to mock and ridicule the wealthy and powerful. There is even a word for it "Tall Poppy Syndrome" i.e. The flower that grows to be the tallest gets cut down the soonest. I think part of it is cultural the whole ANZAC myth thing - people tend to be distrustful of anyone in a position of power here politicians, bosses, bankers, lawyers etc.
"Greedy victim" is a common trope but it's not actually that common of a fraud. Fraudsters will use any hook they have available to scam people. The other common ones are love (e.g. That poor woman you have been writing to in Russia needs $500 for a plane ticket) and the desire to help people (e.g. If you donate $1000, we could re open our church in Africa and give food out to the poor again).
I wouldn't be surprised if the reason that Americans get swindled more often (not that this is ever actually proven) is simply because they have more money and are significantly more likely to donate it to charity than most other parts of the world.
It's their legal system, with all the caveat emptor of Roman law and none of the bona fides. It's a toxic combination. An American will cheat you like you never thought it possible, and when you complain they will admit they are crooks and say "I am a crook, it's your fault that you didn't do diligence on me."
