Inside the Nanning Ponzi scheme: Why smart people get scammed

Synopsis: Conversations and interviews that give you something to think about. Each Wednesday, In Your Opinion speaks to thinkers, leaders, and the people shaping our lives and the issues of the day.

We often hear this saying: “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.” Yet, 52 Singaporeans were recently arrested in China over the notorious Nanning pyramid scheme. So why do highly educated, financially literate people continue to fall for frauds that seem so obvious from the outside?

In this episode of In Your Opinion, Lynda Hong sits down with Dr Serene Koh, director of the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) in Singapore, to deconstruct the dark psychology behind massive investment scams. 

Moving past the surface-level blame of describing victims as greedy and gullible, Dr Koh explains how sophisticated syndicates architect fake realities, weaponise our closest family networks, and use our own intelligence against us. 

Highlights (click/tap above): 

00:52 Why behavioural science is the key to understanding scam victims 

1:55 How the Nanning Ponzi scheme differs from other scams 

4:15 How pig-butchering scams work  

7:57 Why scammers target the human desire for family security rather than pure greed 

13:11 Why shame and cognitive dissonance keep victims silent

15:42 Using inoculation programmes and survivor stories to build public resistance against scam syndicates 

18:31 The sunk cost fallacy and social ties that prevent victims from walking away 

22:12 How trust and personal relationships override logical due diligence 

25:42 Why higher financial literacy and education can increase scam vulnerability

31:29 The social cost of fraud, eroded trust, and why people have stopped picking up phone calls anymore

Read ST’s Opinion section: https://str.sg/w7sH

Host: Lynda Hong (lyndahong@sph.com.sg) 

Produced and edited by: Teo Tong Kai

Executive producers: Danson Cheong & Lynda Hong

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