User Beware: Scam Culture in a Digital Age

Opportunities for user exploitation thrive in a digital age.

Posted November 13, 2025 | Reviewed by Margaret Foley

I often offer a critical analysis of Big Tech and am wary of the disproportionate role it plays in how the majority of us are being socialized. This week, in one of my graduate courses, I gave a lecture on the group dynamics that drive cult membership, and a student asked a question regarding the intersection between the psychology behind cults and radicalization processes and extremism. Another student followed up with a question regarding how conspiracy thinking relates to cults. As we started to make connections regarding the underlying psychological mechanisms that drive all of these processes, we came upon another revelation.

Extremist groups like cults, conspiracy thinking, which has become rampant in a digital age, and the types of political radicalization that are proliferating in online spaces are all related to the same underlying process, which is that of scam culture. Scam culture is defined as predatory processes that exploit individual vulnerabilities for profit. For instance, conspiracy thinking is often promoted by prominent influencers in online spaces as a way to not only advance their content but specifically monetize and profit off of users’ fears.

It has been well established that both mis- and disinformation thrive in digital spaces, largely based on the role algorithms play in social media feeds and Google searches to keep users beholden to their devices and on specific platforms for as long as possible. For instance, the COVID outbreak offered “a huge opportunity for scammers and for producers of disinformation to step in” and offer remedies or products to ease consumers’ fears during this period (Steinhardt, 2020).

Conspiracy thinking more generally is profitable because when users get hooked into such ideologies, they often spend a lot of time—and eventually, money—consuming online content, seeking out more and more information. Research by Moran et al. (2024) noted that misinformation is lucrative for prominent wellness influencers, who can generate greater visibility—and hence profit—when they promote anti-vaccine and other conspiracy-related content.

Scam culture exploits consumer vulnerabilities and thus often proliferates in cultural moments of uncertainty and/or transition. The same underlying psychological processes that make individuals vulnerable to scams online also leave individuals vulnerable to indoctrination processes that mark extremist groups, such as cults. In fact, the ubiquity of digital access, coupled with the multiple pipelines in online spaces for radicalization processes, means that we are also seeing more people being indoctrinated with cult-like ideologies. In a digital age, however, this may look different than traditional cult indoctrination that used to happen in an offline environment. In other words, cults may be operating less traditionally in online spaces, but radicalization processes are nonetheless happening among users who are being socialized in disturbing ways.

When public trust erodes toward traditional institutions such as government, mass media, and even higher education , scam artists emerge to try and fill the void for an anxious populace looking for answers. Whether the scam artist is a wellness influencer promising that the latest supplement will treat your cancer or a podcaster triggering reverence for their brand and inciting hatred toward other groups, it is the user consuming the content who will be exploited. Whether that exploitation comes at the cost of their pocketbooks, mental health, relationships, or all of the above, it is the profiteers—often embedded in the larger ecosystem of Big Tech—who are not only the big winners, but who are able to walk away without consequence, to move on to their next victim.

I explore scam culture, in addition to other troubling elements of being socialized in a digital age, in my latest book, Disconnection: Identity Development in a Digital Age .

Moran, R.E., Swann, A.L., Agajanian, T. (2024). Vaccine Misinformation for Profit: Conspiratorial Wellness Influencers and the Monetization of Alternative Health. International Journal of Communication, 18 , 1202-1224.

Steinhardt, R. (2020, April 24). Q& A: How Scams Proliferate in the Age of COVID-19 . GW Today.

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Azadeh Aalai, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of Psychology at Queensborough Community College in New York.

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This article is part of the Bringwise Psychology Journal — daily insights on human behavior, mental health, and personal growth.