François CholletVerified account

People get scammed not so much because they can't analyze a scheme on an intellectual level, but because of their personality or emotional state. Smart are often *more likely* to get scammed, because they're more confident in their own judgement. "Is it a scam?" A checklist.

1. Is there a real product/service involved, with an actual business/consumer need? What does the thing look like if you consider it from 1st principles, rather than from the lens of "smart people are into it, must be legit" or "even my neighbor is making money, must be legit"?

(scams will often try to hide their lack of practical foundations by saying they represent a "new paradigm", like "the internet in the 90s" -- everything that involves tech and hucksters must be like the internet, nevermind what the internet was actually useful for back then)

2. Are you encouraged/required to sell the thing to your friends/family? While there's sometimes an actual business need for hierarchical marketing, it's often the case that the requirement exists because *your friends/family are the product* -- without their money, no revenue.