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

• Forensic psychiatrist Dr Sohom Das, London, discussed topic in a YouTube video
• READ MORE: Psychiatrist reveals the 5 signs YOU are in a narcissistic relationship – including apologising even when things aren’t your fault

An expert has tackled the fascinating topic of whether or not everyone is susceptible to being conned.

Dr Sohom Das, 44, is a forensic psychiatrist based in London, as well as a YouTube content creator. On his channel A Psych for Sore Minds, Dr Das covers a range of mental health and crime-related topics.

His YouTube biography describes him as a professional Consultant Forensic Psychiatrist and expert witness discussing his own real life (anonymised) cases. 

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

In a recent video simply titled Can Anybody Be CONNED?, the psychiatrist tackled that very question.

Can everyone be conned? A forensic psychiatrist has tackled this question in a recent video on YouTube (stock image)

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

While avoiding giving too much away, the psychiatrist described the programme’s main antagonist, a con artist called Ben Fields, who rips off a number of the show’s other characters.

Dr Das continues: ‘He’s basically a con artist, but a romance scammer, and it made me think of this question: can anybody be conned?’

According to the expert, the ‘nice answer, especially for victims of con artists’ is yes, everyone 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 disordered offenders and sometimes I [work with] victims as well. 

‘I wouldn’t say that anybody can be conned, but I would say that most people have some kind of weakness or some kind of vulnerability [that makes them more susceptible to being conned].’

So, the psychiatrist continues: ‘It might simply be greed, that you want money, or could be that you are quite desperate, [maybe] you’re in a lot of debt, and so you’re looking for a quick fix.’

Money is not the only resource that people may be ‘desperate’ or ‘greedy’ for, according to Dr Das.

Dr Sohom Das (pictured) is a London-based forensic psychiatrist who also makes YouTube content on his channel A Psych for Sore Minds

He says: ‘It could be that somebody’s unlucky in love, and has been alone for a long time. So they’re open to romance scams. 

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

And there are other factors at play he says, notably those related to personality type.

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

‘And also, people’s levels of risk taking or being risk averse or risk prone are different. So if you’re open to taking risks, you’re more likely to be conned.’ 

Dr Sohom Das can be found on Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok, as well as YouTube.  

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