If you're suffering from sleepiness, awakeness, over eating, under eating, or a case of the shaky bones, well then, I fully endorse this brand new miraculous supplement I am in no way affiliated with.

Trust me.

Why not? Right?

If this highly accredited person signs off, it must be trustworthy.

Sometimes these people are real experts with our collective best interests in mind.

But other times, a lab coat is just a prop to gain our trust.

So what is it about lab coats, and uniforms in general, that might lure us into a trap?

Sanjay is hard at work when an email marked urgent steals his attention.

His stomach drops.

The IRS claims he owes back taxes and must pay immediately.

Sanjay flushes and tilts his laptop screen so his coworkers won't see this and think he's irresponsible, or worse a criminal.

Fortunately, the fee is just a few hundred dollars, and he follows the instructions in the email and wires the money from his bank.

Relieved, Sanjay takes his lunch break, blushing from this near catastrophe.

That was a close one.

According to a 2021 study, nearly one in four people find it hard to say no to a request from a stranger because they don't want to be rude.

Fraudsters often pose as polite, respectable figures from reputable places.

This gives them a sense of legitimacy that causes the target to lower their guard.

We want to trust people, and that's what makes scams so effective in conning you out of your money.

Trying to trick us into making the easy decision they want us to make.

Whether that easy decision is to be afraid, or the easy decision is to give them money because we'll get greater returns in the long run.

A study from 2020 showed that when given an instruction, the responsibility we feel for our own actions is lowered.

In other words, if someone is telling us to do something, we become more passive.

But do people just obey any orders given by anyone?

Does dressing like a professional or sending an email from a professional looking account really make a difference?

According to a phenomenon known as the lab coat effect, it does.

What the scammers are good about is managing up, sort of what kind of lab coat to what kinds of victim.

You know, certain dress, certain political views, they all have done some background research.

Maria is enjoying a book on a lazy Saturday morning.

The ring of her doorbell pulls her from her fantasy novel and back into her real life, and her real surroundings.

She heads downstairs, curious who it could be.

She opens the door to a man with a work suit, hard hat, and clipboard.

This seems serious.

He's a housing contractor working a job in the area and he noticed some signs of structural damage at her residence.

A new homeowner, Maria's already overwhelmed by the unending stream of upkeep.

She's relieved to have the keen insight of a professional.

The contractor assures her that all she has to do is pay his reasonable fee now, and he'll get to work tomorrow.

Fixing this now means avoiding greater future costs.

Maria nods, grabs her mobile phone, and sends the payment with a few taps.

Talking to people who seem like an authority can cloud our normal decision-making skills.

Scammers take advantage of this dynamic with many different types of scams, including phishing scams, door to door scams, IRS scams, and utility scams.

And it's profitable.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, they received almost 5,000 complaints of utility scams in 2020, and $3.5 million scammed away.

So if our brains follow authority, how do we bolster our defenses against scammers in sheep's clothing?

The first thing to do is learn what a scam looks like.

If they're asking you to pay via gift cards and they want the gift cards to solve a problem, it's probably a scam.

If you are not expecting contact from the utility company, then hang up the phone, don't respond to the email.

Actually contact the company directly through a known good phone number.

Look it up on your bill.

At the end of the day, we are all subject to the lab coat effect.

But by taking a moment to slow down and verify the information, we can better protect ourselves against this type of scam.

And most importantly, Zelle would like to remind you to only send money to those you know and trust.