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[narrator] Scrolling through social media,
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there are lots of people offering
secrets to make money quick.
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{\an8}If you're gonna make it,
you need the right mindset.
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{\an8}If you're not thinking big,
you're not getting big.
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[narrator] You can find the same
kind of guys on every platform,
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with the same kind of spiel.
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{\an8}I'm not selling you a fish,
but I'm going to teach you how to fish,
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{\an8}to be an entrepreneur.
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{\an8}Marketing, networking,
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{\an8}enunciating your potential.
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[narrator] And those guys existed
before the internet, too.
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Mmm!
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I was just like you, nine-to-five grind,
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fluorescent lights
sucking the life right out of you.
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But I can promise you this…
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there's nothing like the real thing.
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And if you call in the next 15 minutes,
I'll throw in a second copy for free.
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For free!
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[narrator] Every generation had
their own version of that guy.
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What's there to think about?
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There's no quicker road
to mediocrity than procrastination.
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This is your wake-up call, pal.
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-[knocking]
-[narrator] The words change,
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but the pitch was the same.
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Now, I would never take you for a maroon.
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I know that you're smart.
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And deep down,
you know this isn't just some flim-flam.
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But this is your golden opportunity.
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[narrator] And we kept falling for it.
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[cash register rings]
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{\an8}History has taught us a lot,
but for some reason this is an exception.
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Before even Adam ate the apple,
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financial scams have been
making people millionaires.
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So the real question isn't
how to get rich quick.
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The real question is…
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-[director] Cut!
-[narrator]Why?
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[crewman] Tail slate.
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[narrator] Why do we keep
falling for the same old act,
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-and how can we avoid taking the bait?
-[exasperated sigh]
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[man] Here in 1919 is Charles Ponzi,
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self-styled financial wizard.
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You think you're being swindled,
ask your lawyer to read those contracts.
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[man 2]
Generally the motto I would always use is,
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if it seems too good to be true,
it probably is.
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Sites that tell you that you have to pay
money to get free money are a scam.
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[man 3] Bernie Madoff played
on the vulnerability of everyone.
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[narrator] In 1821, a Scottish adventurer,
General Gregor MacGregor,
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sailed from the shores
of Central America to the United Kingdom.
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On his travels, he earned a royal title,
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{\an8}His Highness Gregor Cazique of Poyais.
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{\an8}And he arrived in London
with an opportunity of a lifetime.
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He discovered a new Promised Land,
the country of Poyais.
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A book, Sketch of the Mosquito Shore,
Including the Territories of Poyais,
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by an elusive captain, Thomas Strangeways,
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described rivers
lined with globules of pure gold,
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and soil so rich
it could yield three harvests a year.
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Gregor MacGregor
opened an office in London,
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unfurled the Poyaisian flag,
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and composed a ballad,
"The Poyais Emigrant."
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"Yon fairy land o' wealth and joy,
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a home o' rest to bless the weary.
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We'll a' gang to Poyais together."
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People could come
exchange pounds for Poyais dollars
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and buy a piece of Poyais itself,
as hundreds did.
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In today's dollars,
MacGregor raised over 20 million.
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There was just one problem.
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There was no Poyais.
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That's Honduras.
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That's Nicaragua.
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Captain Strangeways was Gregor MacGregor.
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He made the whole thing up.
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It was one of the most
outlandish scams in history,
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but it was far from the first or the last.
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Most human beings
are terrible lie detectors.
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Most of us think we're good lie detectors.
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That's one reason why we're often fooled.
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Evolutionarily speaking,
we're actually wired to trust,
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but it also means
that we're susceptible to bad actors
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who take advantage
for their own personal, malicious aims.
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[narrator] You may have seen
{\an8}ads like these congratulating you
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{\an8}for winning a lottery.
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{\an8}You just need to pay taxes
to claim the prize.
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Or messages saying
you've been approved for a loan.
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And then right when
you believe in all your heart
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they about to put the money
in your account,
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that's when they then
ask you to pay a certain fee
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up front.
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[narrator]
These are all advance fee scams.
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You pay some money now
in exchange for a lot of money later…
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that never comes.
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The most successful version of this scam
dates back hundreds of years.
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You get a letter
from a very wealthy person
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who needs a little money
to escape a terrible situation,
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and on the other side
will give you a handsome reward.
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These letters used to come
from supposed prisoners,
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but more recently
they've come from Nigerian princes.
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Another well-known scheme
is one that involves a Nigerian prince.
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It's been going on since
even before the internet was a thing.
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In Louisiana, a man under arrest tonight,
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accused in the notorious
"Nigerian prince" email scam.
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{\an8}We always joke about the Nigerian prince.
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{\an8}He doesn't exist!
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{\an8}He's not gonna give you money
if you give him your bank account.
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[narrator]
But advance fee scams like these
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still manage to rake in
millions of dollars a year.
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Another popular scam
that's just slightly more complicated
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and way more fun to say…
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[anchor] Pump-and-dump schemes.
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{\an8}-Pump-and-dump.
-Pump-and-dump.
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[female anchor] Pump-and-dump scheme,
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which has nothing to do
with breastfeeding.
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[narrator] Instead, it works like this.
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You persuade people
to invest in something that's worthless,
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pumping up its price, and then
you dump your stock when it's at its peak.
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This happens a lot today
with cryptocurrency.
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A schemer will send out a pump signal
in a messaging app like Telegram.
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Insiders rush to buy the coin,
boosting the price.
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Then other people, who think it must be
a hot stock, rush in and buy it too.
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And then the insiders sell off.
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The entire cycle takes minutes.
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And then there's
a slower-burn investment scam
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that can survive for decades.
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It's named after Charles Ponzi,
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an Italian immigrant who,
back in the 1920s,
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made a fantastic promise.
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He'd double your money
in 90 days, guaranteed.
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But in reality,
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he was simply paying early investors
with money from new investors.
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That's how all Ponzi schemes work.
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It's borrowing from Peter to pay Paul,
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and then borrowing from Paul to pay Jane,
and so on and so on.
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The only hitch is,
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if enough of the investors ask
for their money back at once,
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the whole thing collapses.
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Which is what happened in 2008,
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when this type of scheme
infamously came back into the spotlight.
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{\an8}For decades,
Bernie Madoff was able to launder
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{\an8}billions of dollars in Ponzi proceeds,
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{\an8}essentially through
a single set of accounts
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at JPMorgan.
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Apparently he was purporting to be
getting 10, 15% returns on their money,
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when in fact, he'd lost all of it,
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and pretending to pay off
the old people with new people's money.
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{\an8}A reason people trusted him so much
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was because he was such a pillar
of the American Jewish community,
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and people thought,
"Good old Bernie, he's above suspicion."
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{\an8}Turned out he's a total crook.
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[Stephen Greenspan] Ponzi schemes
are known as affiliation scams,
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because they tend
to victimize people who have some--
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something in common, such as religion
or ethnic identity, with the scammer.
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[narrator] Ponzi schemes often
get confused with pyramid schemes,
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but they're different.
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Here, you don't borrow
from Peter to pay Paul.
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You pay Peter
if he convinces Paul to join your scheme,
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and then if Paul brings in Jane,
both Peter and Paul get a cut,
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and so on and so on.
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Multi-level marketing companies
also rely on recruitment.
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{\an8}You may have seen friends online
trying to sell you products
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and recruit you
to also sell those products.
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But MLMs are legitimate businesses,
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as long as most of the money comes from
outside customers buying their products.
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Pyramid schemes aren't.
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Their products are pretty worthless,
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so most of the money
comes from recruitment.
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And when the scheme
runs out of new people to recruit,
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then the whole thing collapses.
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And then there's a final category:
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coaching schemes.
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They're similar to advance fee schemes,
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but instead of paying money
for the promise of money,
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you pay money for knowledge
that they promise will make you money.
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Wouldn't you like to learn
how to make a fortune in real estate
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without needing any money?
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[narrator] Except the promises are false.
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The money-making programs
largely don't deliver,
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and you're often lured into paying
for progressively more expensive classes,
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because they're great salesmen
who use every tactic in the book,
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starting with that fantastic promise.
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I assure you, it's very real,
and actually pretty easy to do
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if you just follow my system step by step.
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[narrator] They have compelling
rags-to-riches stories.
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Jeff, seeing how your life is now,
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it's hard to believe that
before you discovered your shortcuts,
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you were dead broke,
living in your sister-in-law's basement.
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[narrator] Testimonials from
supposedly happy customers.
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Using just one of Jeff Paul's shortcuts,
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I'm currently making over $250,000 a year.
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[narrator]
And they create a sense of urgency.
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You have to get moving,
because I'm only looking for a few people,
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a few motivated people,
hard-working people in your area.
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[narrator] All of these kinds of schemes
rely on similar tactics,
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and they all tend to thrive
at certain moments:
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moments of change.
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At the time
Gregor MacGregor made up Poyais,
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London was in the grips
of a great speculative flurry.
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{\an8}People were getting rich
on all kinds of new hot things,
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including countries.
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All these nations
just declared independence.
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It wasn't a stretch
to think Poyais may be among them.
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So you have con artists throughout history
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who come up during wars or pandemics,
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or different things that are
scary and new, or exciting and new.
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That's when con artists
can actually swoop in
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and give you the stories
that you want to believe in,
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give you the truth
that you want to be the truth.
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[narrator] And technology has
made that easier and easier.
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[man] The railroad, the telegraph,
eventually the telephone, the airplane,
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enabled people to interact with each other
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not only across countries,
but also continents.
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How do you evaluate
people that you've never met?
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All of that makes trust more important,
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all of it makes fraud
more possible, actually,
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and also potentially, uh, more harmful.
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[narrator] But it wasn't the railroad
or the telegraph
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that opened the floodgates for scams.
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It was another innovation
that came in the '80s.
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[upbeat electronic music playing]
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[spokesperson] VacuFresh is so airtight,
even water can't seep in.
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[spokesperson 2] The Ginsu slices bread
so thin you can almost see through it.
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[spokesperson 3] Don't delay.
In previous years,
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both Ski-Lokr and Rockies have sold fast.
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[narrator] Infomercials have been a thing
since the '40s.
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Ladies and gentlemen,
if you order right now…
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[narrator] But the format really took off
with the rise of cable TV.
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Hey, how many of you
would like to be a millionaire?
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Raise your hand.
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[Edward Balleisen] And that created
a vast array of new channels
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that operated late into the night.
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{\an8}For scammers,
the costs of entry were reduced.
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The thing about fraud and scams,
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you don't need everybody to buy,
just enough people.
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{\an8}[dial-up connection beeping]
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[narrator] And then the cost of entry
{\an8}fell through the floor.
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00:11:49,333 --> 00:11:53,170
[Maria Konnikova] With the internet age,
it becomes much easier to cast a wide net.
235
00:11:53,254 --> 00:11:56,382
And so people
who wouldn't necessarily succeed
236
00:11:56,465 --> 00:11:58,801
in a world where
the barrier to entry was higher
237
00:11:58,884 --> 00:12:02,138
can make a go of it here, so I think
there are more petty con artists.
238
00:12:02,722 --> 00:12:06,767
[narrator] Online, scammers
took advantage of every new thing.
239
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Email, of course.
240
00:12:08,269 --> 00:12:10,521
That's the reason we have spam folders.
241
00:12:11,230 --> 00:12:13,190
When internet marketing became a thing,
242
00:12:13,274 --> 00:12:17,737
a new crop of schemes promised
to teach you how to make millions online.
243
00:12:18,320 --> 00:12:22,324
And then social media gave scammers
a whole new way to reach audiences.
244
00:12:22,908 --> 00:12:27,246
Then Amazon came along, and scammers
spawned a new kind of coaching scheme,
245
00:12:27,329 --> 00:12:31,292
teaching you how to buy products cheap,
and then sell them for profit.
246
00:12:31,375 --> 00:12:33,753
And as cryptocurrency took off,
247
00:12:33,836 --> 00:12:39,258
so did new coins that, in the words
of the FBI, were of a Ponzi-type nature.
248
00:12:39,341 --> 00:12:42,428
The world is not anymore
the way it used to be.
249
00:12:42,511 --> 00:12:44,138
Mm-mm! No, no no!
250
00:12:45,055 --> 00:12:49,310
Bitconnect!
251
00:12:49,393 --> 00:12:52,521
We say, "Oh, am I going to be
that old fuddy-duddy
252
00:12:52,605 --> 00:12:54,982
who didn't take advantage
of this great opportunity?"
253
00:12:55,065 --> 00:12:57,568
[narrator]
{\an8}And get-rich-quick schemes today
254
00:12:57,651 --> 00:13:01,822
{\an8}are using the exact same tactic
they used 200 years ago.
255
00:13:03,240 --> 00:13:05,659
On June 11th, 2016,
256
00:13:05,743 --> 00:13:11,123
Dr. Ruja Ignatova arrived in London
with an opportunity of a lifetime.
257
00:13:11,707 --> 00:13:14,752
This network was created to become,
258
00:13:14,835 --> 00:13:18,506
and to fuel the growth, of OneCoin,
259
00:13:18,589 --> 00:13:23,928
which I strongly believe will be
the number-one cryptocurrency worldwide.
260
00:13:24,011 --> 00:13:28,057
[narrator] OneCoin was supposed to be
faster, cheaper and more secure.
261
00:13:28,140 --> 00:13:29,225
It was meant to be…
262
00:13:29,308 --> 00:13:31,352
-The bitcoin killer.
-[audience cheering]
263
00:13:31,435 --> 00:13:33,020
[narrator] And there was urgency.
264
00:13:33,103 --> 00:13:35,898
We're moving into a huge phase two now.
265
00:13:36,982 --> 00:13:42,321
Whatever coins you have in your account,
or in the mining,
266
00:13:42,404 --> 00:13:46,033
-we will double the coins in your account.
-[audience cheering]
267
00:13:46,116 --> 00:13:49,495
[narrator] And she tricked other people
into promoting it for her.
268
00:13:49,578 --> 00:13:52,832
-We wish you…
-[both] …success for all,
269
00:13:52,915 --> 00:13:55,835
-and then you will see…
-[both] …what dreams may come.
270
00:13:55,918 --> 00:13:58,921
[narrator] OneCoin offices
sprung up around the globe,
271
00:13:59,630 --> 00:14:01,757
and it spread like wildfire.
272
00:14:01,841 --> 00:14:04,635
People from some 175 countries
273
00:14:04,718 --> 00:14:09,306
poured more than four billion dollars
into this exciting new cryptocurrency
274
00:14:09,390 --> 00:14:11,976
between 2015 and 2017.
275
00:14:12,601 --> 00:14:17,439
But when the day came when people
would be able to turn OneCoin into cash
276
00:14:17,523 --> 00:14:20,401
and become rich
beyond their wildest dreams,
277
00:14:20,484 --> 00:14:23,070
Ruja was nowhere to be found.
278
00:14:23,153 --> 00:14:25,948
The Cryptoqueen vanished into thin air.
279
00:14:26,949 --> 00:14:28,742
She'd made the whole thing up.
280
00:14:29,743 --> 00:14:33,914
And the remarkable thing is,
there were so many warning signs.
281
00:14:33,998 --> 00:14:39,253
In 2015, a cryptocurrency blog
called OneCoin a scam.
282
00:14:39,336 --> 00:14:43,215
{\an8}A year later, so did Norway's
direct selling association,
283
00:14:43,299 --> 00:14:45,968
{\an8}as did Italy's antitrust authority,
284
00:14:46,051 --> 00:14:48,554
{\an8}and the Hungarian central bank.
285
00:14:49,221 --> 00:14:53,100
But to many investors,
those warnings didn't matter,
286
00:14:53,183 --> 00:14:54,643
thanks to another tactic:
287
00:14:54,727 --> 00:14:57,771
insist your scam is definitely not a scam.
288
00:14:57,855 --> 00:14:59,773
We get criticized so much:
289
00:14:59,857 --> 00:15:03,611
"We're a network marketing company,"
we're not a real cryptocurrency,"
290
00:15:03,694 --> 00:15:05,154
whatever I hear out there.
291
00:15:05,237 --> 00:15:09,408
We will say to the regulators
that we are the most transparent,
292
00:15:09,491 --> 00:15:13,037
most powerful,
and most legal cryptocurrency out there.
293
00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:14,455
[narrator]{\an8} In 2019,
294
00:15:14,538 --> 00:15:19,543
{\an8}federal prosecutors pressed charges
against Ruja and several employees.
295
00:15:20,794 --> 00:15:23,339
The case against Ruja is ongoing,
296
00:15:23,422 --> 00:15:26,800
but Ruja's brother, who took over
OneCoin after she disappeared,
297
00:15:26,884 --> 00:15:30,554
pleaded guilty to fraud
and money laundering charges.
298
00:15:31,221 --> 00:15:34,808
And yet,
almost 20,000 people signed this petition.
299
00:15:35,517 --> 00:15:38,312
Victims of fraud
process it in different ways.
300
00:15:38,395 --> 00:15:42,024
{\an8}On Facebook,
there's a OneCoin Victim support group
301
00:15:42,107 --> 00:15:46,695
that has almost 3,000 members,
founded by Jen McAdam.
302
00:15:46,779 --> 00:15:52,451
{\an8}She convinced her family and friends
to invest nearly a quarter million euros.
303
00:15:52,534 --> 00:15:56,747
{\an8}And like many fraud victims,
she blames herself.
304
00:15:56,830 --> 00:15:59,208
{\an8}Since realizing that it was a scam,
305
00:15:59,291 --> 00:16:03,045
{\an8}the regret, the shame,
the guilt, it never leaves.
306
00:16:03,128 --> 00:16:04,421
{\an8}You live with that daily.
307
00:16:05,047 --> 00:16:08,384
[narrator] We'll never know
the true number of people hurt by OneCoin.
308
00:16:08,467 --> 00:16:11,261
Forty percent of fraud victims
don't tell anybody,
309
00:16:11,345 --> 00:16:13,430
not even their friends or family,
310
00:16:13,514 --> 00:16:16,392
and only 20% report it to authorities.
311
00:16:16,475 --> 00:16:18,310
But these are just estimates.
312
00:16:18,394 --> 00:16:21,021
You can't measure
reports that don't exist.
313
00:16:21,105 --> 00:16:24,274
Some consumers feel as though
if they're not gonna get that money back,
314
00:16:24,358 --> 00:16:26,652
why bother to file a complaint?
315
00:16:26,735 --> 00:16:27,778
And I tell them,
316
00:16:27,861 --> 00:16:29,989
"The way that these people are apprehended
317
00:16:30,072 --> 00:16:32,616
is because you took
the time to file a complaint.
318
00:16:32,700 --> 00:16:37,413
The information that you provide can help
law enforcement locate the scammers."
319
00:16:38,163 --> 00:16:40,165
[narrator] You can go to these websites.
320
00:16:41,750 --> 00:16:45,254
And then in the US, it works like this.
321
00:16:45,337 --> 00:16:47,256
[James Perry]
When a consumer files a complaint,
322
00:16:47,339 --> 00:16:51,260
{\an8}the complaint is then forwarded
mainly to the Federal Trade Commission,
323
00:16:51,343 --> 00:16:53,637
{\an8}and the Federal Trade Commission
have a database.
324
00:16:53,721 --> 00:16:56,640
The database detects patterns of fraud.
325
00:16:56,724 --> 00:16:58,767
Then it will point out to law enforcement,
326
00:16:58,851 --> 00:17:02,396
{\an8}"This is where these scammers
are most likely located."
327
00:17:02,479 --> 00:17:05,315
[narrator] A court found that
this guy engaged in false advertising.
328
00:17:05,399 --> 00:17:06,942
And this guy.
329
00:17:07,568 --> 00:17:08,527
{\an8}And this one.
330
00:17:09,028 --> 00:17:13,282
And Bernie Madoff
is serving 150 years behind bars.
331
00:17:13,365 --> 00:17:14,199
But…
332
00:17:14,283 --> 00:17:19,329
Law enforcement do not have enough
manpower to go after each and every scam.
333
00:17:19,413 --> 00:17:24,209
It's one of the reasons it's often very
difficult to prosecute people for fraud.
334
00:17:24,293 --> 00:17:27,796
The evidence often cuts more than one way.
335
00:17:27,880 --> 00:17:31,550
The issue often turns on the intent.
336
00:17:32,134 --> 00:17:35,804
[narrator] And just because there are
laws against false advertising,
337
00:17:35,888 --> 00:17:38,557
that doesn't mean you can't embellish.
338
00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:40,184
It's called puffery.
339
00:17:40,851 --> 00:17:43,187
It can be acceptable to exaggerate,
340
00:17:43,270 --> 00:17:46,648
as long as you keep it
vague and subjective,
341
00:17:46,732 --> 00:17:50,569
or can claim no reasonable buyer
would take it seriously.
342
00:17:50,652 --> 00:17:54,990
It's often really hard to tell
where the scam ends and puffery begins.
343
00:17:55,074 --> 00:17:56,158
A better way to put it,
344
00:17:56,241 --> 00:18:00,204
it's really hard to tell
where puffery ends and fraud begins.
345
00:18:00,287 --> 00:18:04,208
[narrator] All of these tactics
are just Marketing 101,
346
00:18:04,291 --> 00:18:08,045
and simply losing money on
a program that promised to make you rich
347
00:18:08,128 --> 00:18:09,838
doesn't make it a fraud.
348
00:18:09,922 --> 00:18:15,260
In fact, a study of hundreds of legitimate
multi-level marketing companies
349
00:18:15,344 --> 00:18:18,222
found that workers actually lost money.
350
00:18:19,098 --> 00:18:24,812
And online, dozens of financial gurus
promise to teach you how to get rich,
351
00:18:24,895 --> 00:18:27,272
using familiar tactics.
352
00:18:27,356 --> 00:18:29,191
[man] Here's what's so fucking amazing…
353
00:18:29,274 --> 00:18:33,904
{\an8}You can make an incredible income
without ever creating a single product,
354
00:18:33,987 --> 00:18:37,116
running a single ad,
and cold calling a single person.
355
00:18:38,742 --> 00:18:40,327
That deserves a round of applause.
356
00:18:40,410 --> 00:18:41,453
[audience applauding]
357
00:18:41,537 --> 00:18:44,623
[man 2] I'm able to make the transition
from working a corporate job
358
00:18:45,415 --> 00:18:47,167
{\an8}to working for myself
359
00:18:47,251 --> 00:18:52,047
{\an8}from anywhere and be able to make
millions of dollars per year doing that.
360
00:18:52,131 --> 00:18:54,383
[man 3] Two guys that I trained
starting one year ago…
361
00:18:54,466 --> 00:18:56,927
They were making
under five grand a month one year ago.
362
00:18:57,010 --> 00:19:00,597
Now they're making $210,000 a year
dropshipping on Facebook.
363
00:19:01,181 --> 00:19:04,476
[narrator] Some of their customers
say that they've lost money,
364
00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:07,396
or the money-making programs
don't deliver.
365
00:19:07,479 --> 00:19:12,359
But as of 2020, none of those gurus
have been charged with fraud.
366
00:19:12,442 --> 00:19:15,988
It's just really,
sometimes, hard to identify
367
00:19:16,071 --> 00:19:20,367
the well-meaning,
confident entrepreneur from the scoundrel.
368
00:19:20,868 --> 00:19:26,748
When people ask me, "Are there specific
types of people who fall for con artists?
369
00:19:26,832 --> 00:19:28,542
Does it have to do with intelligence?
370
00:19:28,625 --> 00:19:31,879
Does it have to do with education?
Does it have to do with gullibility?"
371
00:19:31,962 --> 00:19:33,213
Turns out the answer is no.
372
00:19:33,297 --> 00:19:37,718
[narrator] Some studies show that seniors
are more susceptible to scams.
373
00:19:37,801 --> 00:19:41,305
Others found that
they are less likely to fall for one.
374
00:19:41,930 --> 00:19:44,558
I spent lots of time
trying to find common characteristics,
375
00:19:44,641 --> 00:19:45,767
and they don't exist.
376
00:19:45,851 --> 00:19:47,686
Everybody, even myself…
377
00:19:47,769 --> 00:19:51,648
Everyone is susceptible
to becoming a victim of a scam.
378
00:19:52,357 --> 00:19:55,235
[narrator]
James Perry once bought rare coins,
379
00:19:55,777 --> 00:19:58,322
supposedly worth millions of dollars,
380
00:19:58,947 --> 00:20:00,657
that turned out to be fake.
381
00:20:01,533 --> 00:20:07,289
The joke was on the person whose job it is
to prevent people from becoming victims.
382
00:20:08,081 --> 00:20:10,083
[narrator] Or take Stephen Greenspan.
383
00:20:10,209 --> 00:20:12,169
He wrote the book on this.
384
00:20:13,128 --> 00:20:14,296
Literally.
385
00:20:14,379 --> 00:20:16,757
The first copy of the book
I held in my hand
386
00:20:16,840 --> 00:20:21,345
on December 10th, I believe, 2008.
387
00:20:21,428 --> 00:20:22,930
[narrator] The next day,
388
00:20:23,013 --> 00:20:27,893
FBI agents arrested the man
to whom he'd entrusted his savings,
389
00:20:27,976 --> 00:20:29,228
Bernie Madoff.
390
00:20:29,311 --> 00:20:32,064
[Stephen] Canadian columnist
Robert Fulford wrote that,
391
00:20:32,147 --> 00:20:33,982
"Stephen Greenspan will be remembered as
392
00:20:34,066 --> 00:20:38,153
the gullibility expert who forgot
to read his own book" on gullibility.
393
00:20:39,321 --> 00:20:42,074
Without trust, I mean,
where are we as a society?
394
00:20:42,157 --> 00:20:45,494
We're nowhere, we can't build societies
if we don't trust one another.
395
00:20:45,577 --> 00:20:50,832
[narrator] And across societies,
trust goes hand-in-hand with prosperity.
396
00:20:50,916 --> 00:20:52,960
[Edward] Most of the time,
you can trust other people.
397
00:20:53,043 --> 00:20:57,256
And if you don't then
have a basic sense of trust,
398
00:20:57,339 --> 00:21:01,343
you're gonna be spending
an awful lot of time trying to decide
399
00:21:01,426 --> 00:21:05,347
whether the person you're talking to
is telling you the truth or not.
400
00:21:05,430 --> 00:21:07,849
You're gonna spend
an awful lot of time investigating
401
00:21:07,933 --> 00:21:11,436
whether the thing you're about to purchase
is the genuine article or not.
402
00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:15,899
[narrator] Trust may lead us to buy
a piece of a fictional paradise.
403
00:21:16,650 --> 00:21:18,694
But it also helped us build a world
404
00:21:18,777 --> 00:21:22,864
that's closer to paradise than
our ancestors could have ever imagined.
405
00:21:22,948 --> 00:21:27,494
One of my favorite quotes about this
comes from the late, great Ricky Jay,
406
00:21:27,577 --> 00:21:29,788
who was obsessed with con artists,
407
00:21:29,871 --> 00:21:33,417
and he said in an interview,
a number of years before his death,
408
00:21:33,500 --> 00:21:37,587
that he wouldn't want to live
in a world where we couldn't be conned,
409
00:21:37,671 --> 00:21:42,092
because that's a world where
we don't believe in anyone or anything.
410
00:21:42,175 --> 00:21:43,427
And I agree with him.
411
00:21:43,510 --> 00:21:45,762
I don't think
that's a world worth living in.