Fraud is everywhere. AI is making it so easy to steal from people, anything a criminal could want, if only using the correct tactic. The officials who enforce laws or keep track of threats talk about all of the warning signs, what not to tell people, what not to do when asked to move money, and how to never become one of those victims.

Now in 2026, you hear about the money scams and the fraud on a daily basis. There is the story of the sad old lady that thought she was helping someone leave an abusive relationship, so then sent her savings to criminals without a clue. There is the story of the woman who, in the public’s eye, cannot get a boyfriend and has since resorted to online dating. This said woman falls head over heels in love with a man overseas. To help this man come to her country she wires him money or sends gift cards for thousands of dollars, learning, only after all of her money is gone, that it was fraud. You don’t hear about the man, who should be strong and confident, who thought he just sent his life savings to a woman of his dreams.

What about the people who are supposedly smarter than that? You don’t often hear about the smart, level-headed woman who has been contacted so many times by the bank, that her accounts have been compromised, that when she is asked to move money from her banking account to her own CashApp account she falls for it.

You don’t hear about the voices that don’t have an accent, those that speak clear, fluent English, that are just as fraudulent as those with broken English.

You don’t see the news programs with people who confidently stand up in the public eye and explain their horrid story of stupidity, of how they got tricked, of the criminal activity they fell prey to.

Instead the victim is responsible for contacting every financial institute they have ever had business with to tell the entire, embarrassingly ridiculous sounding story to people who are simply filling in blanks on their computer screen.
The victim is made to tell and retell the story, over and over to so many people, as if to stand up and shout, “I was a fucking idiot!”.
The victim can’t stand up and say, “Yeah, I fell for it, what was I thinking?” because that said victim is wondering how to pay bills that will continue to come despite the trauma and horror they are currently living through. No one can stand up and say, “I’m not some lonely, fat woman, who can’t find a man, so I fell for it” or “Of course it sounded like a scam but I trust people and believe in goodness and honesty”.

No it is the feeling of public shaming each time that story has to be rehashed to another institution, only to pray that some of the money can come back. The victim cannot turn back time and see all the red flags in the conversation. The victim cannot hear how ludicrous it sounds hearing someone lie about their accounts being hacked. The victim can only sit and wonder how they were so stupid to fall for a scam that they’ve seen so many times on television and read in articles, this exact scenario, that they thought someone else was an idiot to fall for.

Now in the aftermath, the person who was scammed out of money, whether it is $2 or $200,000, has to sit with the feeling of shame, horrified with themselves, unable to make sense of their previous actions, looking for a way to explain why everything sounded so real. This victim doesn’t want pity but they want someone to say, “Of course you fell for it, it sounded exactly as if it were legitimate”. No one is there ensuring that victim that they will get some of the money back, they can only offer words of hope that somehow, some money, from somewhere, can come back to their now empty account.

There are no answers that fit every scenario. People are not getting dumber, criminals are just getting smarter. Technology is a useful tool but it is also why nightmares come true for so many unsuspecting people. There are no guaranteed solutions to this growing problem, a problem that has been around for so long, but one that is now becoming more public thanks to social media. Not everyone can physically walk into a bank and say, “Hey, I got this phone call that sounded real, but I just want to make sure”. And no one wants to be the one to stand up in shame and shout, “I was so stupid, I gave my money away!”.

©2026 CBialczak