Learn Online Security Podcast · Learn Online Security

Why We Get Fooled: Shifting Our View on Scams and Scammers

·25 min·1 clip

Glasser’s five basic needs are love and belonging, freedom, fun, power, and survival.

1. Learn Online Security Podcast focuses on why people get fooled by scams and how that connects to mental health and “mental fitness.” 2. Tamara Michelle hosts Deb Andrew, and Deb explains her perspective as a former teacher, parent, homeschooler, and coach. 3. The episode asks whether the real issue is fraud itself or the shame people carry after fraud, mistakes, or public embarrassment. 4. Deb says her teaching background in the early 1990s gave her methodologies, but not much about how the brain works. 5. She describes homeschooling her children as an unexpected experience that made her ask what is going on inside “their little brains.” 6. Deb argues that mental health is often treated like an illness, while she prefers the phrase “mental fitness.” 7. She compares mental fitness to physical fitness and to skill-building in sports coaching. 8. Deb says the current world feels marked by uncertainty, fear, and skepticism about truth. 9. She connects that climate to online security, where she has personally been “duped or played.” 10. Tamara raises the problem of scams, intimate photo sharing, and community harm, and Deb says many people stay silent because of embarrassment. 11. Deb says she shared her own scam story on social media to warn her community, even after backlash. 12. She says shame can push people into behavior they would not normally choose. 13. Deb references Brene Brown’s work on shame and vulnerability as part of this discussion. 14. She says people grow from birth until death and become more vulnerable when they stop being open to learning. 15. Deb cites Dr. William Glosser’s choice theory and reality therapy and lists five basic human needs. 16. Those needs are love and belonging, freedom, fun, power, and survival, and she says scammers play on those needs. 17. She gives examples from her own businesses, including the Dog Lodge and Living Skies Lodge, and describes the disruption of COVID and a GST audit. 18. The tone is conversational, reflective, and practical, with Tamara asking direct follow-up questions and Deb answering with personal examples. 19. Listeners interested in scams, shame, resilience, and mental wellness coaching will likely connect with it. 20. Listeners wanting a fast technical cybersecurity episode without personal reflection may skip it.

As heard by us

A security conversation that treats shame and self-worth as part of the problem.

The episode treats online security as a human problem first, not just a technical one. It connects shame, trust, self-worth, and mental health in a way that gives the discussion real depth.

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Why you'd press play

When online pressure feels personal, this gives you a steadier way to think about it.

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