Freakonomics Radio 667. Here’s Why You Are Constantly Fighting Off Scammers
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Mar 13, 2026 
Kati Daffin, former FTC consumer protection attorney, and Marti DeLiema, a University of Minnesota gerontologist, unpack the industrial scale scam economy. They dig into transnational scam centers, why older adults can face severe financial and emotional harm, how smart people get manipulated, and why platforms, payment systems, and regulators struggle to keep up.
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Scam Victimization Is Common But Losses Skew Older
- Marti DeLiema says scam exposure is ubiquitous, while actual victimization may hit 10 to 20 percent of Americans yearly.
- Middle-aged adults report fraud most often, but older adults lose far more per case, with FTC medians around $1,400 versus roughly $400 to $500.
How Stranger Scams Drew DeLiema Into This Field
- DeLiema got into fraud research after seeing elder-abuse cases where cognitively intact older adults were manipulated by strangers.
- In one pattern, a young woman approached an older man at a gas station, claimed abuse, then escalated into moving into his home.
The Free Piano Email That Hooked Dubner
- Stephen J. Dubner nearly engaged with a fake free-Yamaha-piano email because it sounded specific, emotional, and plausible.
- DeLiema said such pitches are mass-market bait, and even zero-loss attempts should be reported to spam filters and the FTC.
