Given such a skewed incentive structure, why wouldn’t they try to part unsuspecting internet users from their hard-earned money? This problem is exacerbated by most people’s relatively novice understanding of cyberspace and how to protect themselves online.
But we can’t entirely blame ourselves.
We’re not evolved to handle this newfangled virtual world that a few dozen engineers in Silicon Valley cobbled together over the past few decades.
While millennia of human evolution have made us relatively adept at avoiding physical dangers in this natural world we’ve inherited, we’re still coming to grips with this new, pixelated world we’ve breathed life into.