Newsflash: Conservative boomers make the easiest marks for scams

[Joe Republic]

Numerous seniors ensnared by Metals.com and Chase Metals said they lost significant chunks of their life savings in an instant. The thousands of supposedly collectible gold and silver coins they bought turned out to include a markup as high as 200% from the value of the metal they contained.

One Missouri woman bought 7,333 Polar Bear coins from Metals.com, which are smaller than the Polar Bear & Cub coins, each containing half an ounce of silver, according to an invoice reviewed by Quartz that was obtained by the Missouri attorney general’s office. She was charged about $26, the invoice says, for coins that contained less than $9 worth of silver. The markup on her coins relative to their melt value was 219%.

Metals.com knew who its “prime targets” were, the former salesperson said: “deep conservatives” who might be retired.

“These people believe the dollar could collapse tomorrow, people with a deep-seated distrust for government, the elite, Wall Street, the entire system,” said the former saleperson, who asked to remain anonymous fearing retaliation by the company.

This group is also significantly less tech-savvy and internet-literate—seniors are three times more likely to share fake news than younger people. For any potential scammers, it’s no longer just chasing down leads from a boiler room, Rotunda said. They can “use this technology to reach a large number of potential victims at a very low cost.”

Asher pushed his salespeople to start their calls with a political narrative, according to the former salesperson. It was important to get potential investors to connect with and trust them. Customers had to be conservative, with little faith in the government or the economy. “If someone says they’re liberal or they don’t like Hannity, you just hang up,” said the former salesperson.

One such script shown to Quartz began, “I’m part of a conservative team… we help Fox News / Hannity / Limbaugh / Levin.” (A Fox News spokesperson said it has no affiliation with Metals.com, and that the use of the channel’s name was unauthorized.) Another says: “I don’t know what your religious beliefs are, but I’m Christian. Did you know that there are 700 references to gold and silver in the bible.”

[Progressive Pessimist]

You mean Trump's most loyal demographic is prone to cons? How can that be!?

[GP270watch]

  This is such a shame. I hope they throw everybody involved in this scam under the jail. Stealing from seniors is as low as it gets.

[Bleach Blonde Bad Built Butch Bodies for Biden]

This has "Bushie" written all over it.

[Indy Texas 🇺🇦🇵🇸]

This has "Bushie" written all over it.

As the person buying the coins, or as the call center agent trying to sell the coins?

[Darthpi – Anti-Florida Activist]

I am the opposite of surprised by this information

[DINGO Joe]

This has "Bushie" written all over it.

As the person buying the coins, or as the call center agent trying to sell the coins?

Amazingly, both

[Frodo]

That they are gullible is of no surprise, and explains a great deal why they got attracted to Donald Trump, the biggest con-artist of them all who is currently disgracing the White House every single day he remains there.  What surprises me is that they haven't wised up (yet) to the fact they were conned. 

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

This has "Bushie" written all over it.

As the person buying the coins, or as the call center agent trying to sell the coins?

Amazingly, both

Maybe if the company was called Amerimetals.

Buy now and for every ten coins you buy, we'll give one to a Kenyan orphan.

[Decay]

That they are gullible is of no surprise, and explains a great deal why they got attracted to Donald Trump, the biggest con-artist of them all who is currently disgracing the White House every single day he remains there.  What surprises me is that they haven't wised up (yet) to the fact they were conned.

The article actually touches on that.

“some people understand they’ve been scammed, and then they’re terrified that their adult children are going to try to clamp down on their liberties. So they’re embarrassed.”

The boomers are slipping.  So they will defend Trump to the end to protect their pride. 

[Hammy]

That they are gullible is of no surprise, and explains a great deal why they got attracted to Donald Trump, the biggest con-artist of them all who is currently disgracing the White House every single day he remains there.  What surprises me is that they haven't wised up (yet) to the fact they were conned. 

People who are conned never wise up to it--they just dig in because they can't face the fact that they were duped and bought into a fraud.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

Why Are Conservatives More Susceptible to Believing Lies?

If “truth” is judged on the basis of Enlightenment ideas of reason and more or less objective “evidence,” many of the substantive positions common on the right seem to border on delusional. The left is certainly not immune to credulity (most commonly about the safety of vaccines, GMO foods, and fracking), but the right seems to specialize in it. “Misinformation is currently predominantly a pathology of the right,” concluded a team of scholars from the Harvard Kennedy School and Northeastern University at a February 2017 conference. A BuzzFeed analysis found that three main hyperconservative Facebook pages were roughly twice as likely as three leading ultraliberal Facebook pages to publish fake or misleading information.

The lack of shared reality between left and right in America today has contributed greatly to our current political polarization. Despite occasional left forays into reality denial, conservatives are far more likely to accept misinformation and outright lies. Deliberate campaigns of misinformation and conservative preferences for information that fits in with their pre-existing ideology provide only a partial explanation. Faulty reasoning and judgment, rooted in the interactions between modes of reasoning and judgment shared by all with the specific personality patterns found disproportionately among conservatives may also play a central role.

"Conservatism" is at its root a rejection of the modern world and the last several hundred years of history, because reality has a liberal bias.

[pbrower2a]

That they are gullible is of no surprise, and explains a great deal why they got attracted to Donald Trump, the biggest con-artist of them all who is currently disgracing the White House every single day he remains there.  What surprises me is that they haven't wised up (yet) to the fact they were conned. 

Figure also that they are lonely. The irony is that they see their lack of trust a means of defending themselves, but that makes them all the more vulnerable to people who exploit their isolation. As customers who still have a little ready cash they suddenly become valuable people worthy of attention from those who would separate them from their assets. Someone convinces them that they are important, that they are astute handlers of assets, and good at decision-making.

They are just the ones to get fleeced. Someone flatters them, praising them as salt of the earth.

Would I be taken? Someone who gives me undue attention and offers me a unique opportunity to buy something that will make me rich will cause me to ask some questions. There really are few killings to be made by buying an asset cheaply and selling it dearly, or getting a freakishly-high return on an asset. If I had some cash at a time when the stock market had unusually-low prices, when dividends were typically higher than interest on savings, as in early 2009 -- sure.    

[Badger]

That they are gullible is of no surprise, and explains a great deal why they got attracted to Donald Trump, the biggest con-artist of them all who is currently disgracing the White House every single day he remains there.  What surprises me is that they haven't wised up (yet) to the fact they were conned.

The article actually touches on that.

“some people understand they’ve been scammed, and then they’re terrified that their adult children are going to try to clamp down on their liberties. So they’re embarrassed.”

The boomers are slipping.  So they will defend Trump to the end to protect their pride. 

This sums up so much of Trumps support.

[DrScholl]

This doesn't surprise me. It was only a matter of time before scammers started targeting older conservatives, because they allow their political views to cloud their better judgment about other things. Just look at how much money Republican candidates in heavily blue districts can raise despite not having a chance at winning. Older conservatives are giving them money.

[MasterJedi]

  This is such a shame. I hope they throw everybody involved in this scam under the jail. Stealing from seniors is as low as it gets.

Biggest takeaway in this thread. But probably hard to protect, was told by a conservative that when I shared a link on social media I was trying to "hack" them. That mindset will never let them truly be free and more safe from these scams.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

That they are gullible is of no surprise, and explains a great deal why they got attracted to Donald Trump, the biggest con-artist of them all who is currently disgracing the White House every single day he remains there.  What surprises me is that they haven't wised up (yet) to the fact they were conned.

The article actually touches on that.

“some people understand they’ve been scammed, and then they’re terrified that their adult children are going to try to clamp down on their liberties. So they’re embarrassed.”

The boomers are slipping.  So they will defend Trump to the end to protect their pride. 

The part you quoted and your commentary have nothing to do with each other.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

Why Are Conservatives More Susceptible to Believing Lies?

If “truth” is judged on the basis of Enlightenment ideas of reason and more or less objective “evidence,” many of the substantive positions common on the right seem to border on delusional. The left is certainly not immune to credulity (most commonly about the safety of vaccines, GMO foods, and fracking), but the right seems to specialize in it. “Misinformation is currently predominantly a pathology of the right,” concluded a team of scholars from the Harvard Kennedy School and Northeastern University at a February 2017 conference. A BuzzFeed analysis found that three main hyperconservative Facebook pages were roughly twice as likely as three leading ultraliberal Facebook pages to publish fake or misleading information.

The lack of shared reality between left and right in America today has contributed greatly to our current political polarization. Despite occasional left forays into reality denial, conservatives are far more likely to accept misinformation and outright lies. Deliberate campaigns of misinformation and conservative preferences for information that fits in with their pre-existing ideology provide only a partial explanation. Faulty reasoning and judgment, rooted in the interactions between modes of reasoning and judgment shared by all with the specific personality patterns found disproportionately among conservatives may also play a central role.

"Conservatism" is at its root a rejection of the modern world and the last several hundred years of history, because reality has a liberal bias.

So rejecting of the modern world that they get their worldview from facebook.

The susceptibility to misinformation seen here is a modern tendency communicated through modern means.  It's skepticism of authority and official narratives, same as you see on the left, but the authorities are different ones.

[DC Al Fine]

ITT: Correlation=Causation!

[Joe Republic]

ITT: Correlation=Causation!

The scammers openly admit that if the mark says they’re liberal or generally don’t buy into conservative conspiracy theories, they just hang up.  In today’s political environment, a liberal boomer could theoretically be convinced that Trump could crash the entire economy tomorrow, but the scammers don’t even bother to try.  Why is that?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

ITT: Correlation=Causation!

Perhaps someone should tell that to Mr. Trump tomorrow, when he tries to say the Dow Jones average determines whether he has committed crimes or not?

[dead0man]

lol@ mental deficients getting scammed by criminals!  It's the funniest thing ever! 


No wonder the Update was so popular here, a large section of this community is morally bankrupt.

[pbrower2a]

ITT: Correlation=Causation!

The scammers openly admit that if the mark says they’re liberal or generally don’t buy into conservative conspiracy theories, they just hang up.  In today’s political environment, a liberal boomer could theoretically be convinced that Trump could crash the entire economy tomorrow, but the scammers don’t even bother to try.  Why is that?

Trump could crash the economy out of spite, but bank accounts have protection of the FDIC.  Except for the high-risk activity of short-selling (timing is everything), the best defense against an overall crash is cash. The Treasury will supply money to avert bank runs.   

[TJ in Oregon]

This isn't new at all and scam PACs have long been part of the GOP swamp, establishment, Tea Party, etc. The Democrats have some similar problems but theirs tends to be more directed toward "shiny object syndrome" whereas the Republicans toward conspiracy theories. The vast sums of the money the boomer cons have wasted on lies is probably enough to have fundamentally reshaped American culture if it were instead harnessed in a productive manner. From this kind of stuff to fake Tea Party PACs to oil wells to Liberty University to the Jeb Bush campaign, the rampant corruption inside US conservative groups is a tragedy.

[pbrower2a]

lol@ mental deficients getting scammed by criminals!  It's the funniest thing ever! 


No wonder the Update was so popular here, a large section of this community is morally bankrupt.

It is not funny. People scammed often end up flat broke... and if old, they often end up in nursing homes. It would be better if people were not so gullible, whatever their ideology. Nobody deserves to be cheated.

If I were amoral enough to sell over-priced precious metals to gullible people, then I would try to reach the people who support Donald Trump. Such people are no better than operators of '419' scams. Scammers often use blatant misspellings to select possible 'customers'.

One of those had me as a winner of a contest operated by by Coca-Cola in "Bulgeria". Note that there is no such country, and you can be certain that the Coca-Cola Company division in Bulgaria is not intent on making winners out of Americans. Oh, the contest is by scammers from Nigeria?