Could YOU be conned? Psychiatrist reveals what factors influence the answer – including your personality traits and vulnerabilities

An expert has covered the fascinating subject of whether or not everyone is susceptible to scams.

Dr. Sohom Das, 44, is a forensic psychiatrist based in London, and a YouTube content creator. On his channel A psych for aching mindstreats dr. That’s a range of mental health and crime topics.

In his YouTube biography, he is described as a professional forensic psychiatrist and expert witness who discusses his own (anonymized) real life cases.

In addition, it says: “Dr. Das (MBChB, BSc, MSc, MRCPsych) has ‘personally assessed hundreds of patients in prisons and secured locked psychiatric wards and courts across the UK.’

In a recent video simply titled Can Anybody Be CONNED?Did the psychiatrist tackle that very question?

Opening the video, Dr. Das said, “I recently saw a drama called the Sixth Commandment. It’s released by the BBC and it’s on iPlayer, really good.’

While avoiding giving too much away, the psychiatrist described the program’s main antagonist, a con man named Ben Fields, who cons several of the show’s other characters.

Dr. Das continues, “He’s actually a con artist, but a romance con artist, and it made me think of the question, can anyone be conned?”

According to the expert, the “nice answer, especially for victims of scammers” is yes, anyone can fall prey to their scams.

But, he added, he thinks it’s a bit more complicated than that. Dr. Das says, ‘So I’m a consultant, forensic psychiatrist. I assess mentally disturbed offenders and sometimes I also work with victims.

“I wouldn’t say anyone can be cheated on, but I would say that most people have some kind of weakness or vulnerability (which makes them more susceptible to being cheated on).”

So the psychiatrist continues: ‘It could just be greed, that you want money, or that you are quite desperate, (maybe) that you have a lot of debt, and so you are looking for a quick fix. ‘

Money isn’t the only resource that people can be “desperate” or “greedy” for, says Dr. Das.

Dr. Sohom Das (pictured) is a forensic psychiatrist from London who also creates YouTube content on his channel A Psych for Sore Minds

He says, “Someone may be unlucky in love and have been alone for a long time. So they are open to romantic scams.

“It could be someone who wants to be a Hollywood star or a singer, so they believe that a person they have to pay money to will help them with their career. So what I’m saying is it’s individual, for an individual person.’

And there are other factors that come into play, he says, especially factors related to personality type.

Dr. Das continues: ‘I don’t mean to sound horrible to the victims, but some people are more gullible, more naive and more susceptible to suggestions than other people.

‘And the extent to which people take risks, are risk averse or risk sensitive, also differs. So if you’re open to taking risks, you’re more likely to be scammed.’

Dr. Sohom Das can be found at Twitter, InstagramAnd TikTokas well as YouTube.