When Hope Becomes a Weapon: How People Use Our Dreams to Scam Us

There is something powerful about being told that your life is about to change. Scammers know this — and they have built entire economies on that knowledge.

Salim Kiarie Mbogo writes about how scammers exploit hope — the oldest trick in the world. From forex schemes to faith exploitation to romantic manipulation, this essay maps how our deepest desires become the door through which we are entered — and why communal wisdom has always been our most ancient defense.

There is something powerful about being told that your life is about to change.

Imagine someone telling you that the financial struggles you’ve endured for years are almost over. That with one small investment, you could finally become comfortable. That the opportunity in front of you is the one you’ve been waiting for.

Or imagine being told that your prayers are about to be answered. That your breakthrough is coming. That your suffering has a purpose and that, if you simply trust the right person, your life will soon become better.

For someone struggling financially, emotionally or spiritually, such words can feel like a lifeline.

And that is precisely what makes hope so powerful.

Hope gives people something to hold onto when reality becomes difficult. But unfortunately, the same thing that gives us strength can also be exploited.

Across the world, people have learned that if you can make someone believe in a better tomorrow, you can sometimes convince them to surrender something today.

Their money.

Their trust.

Their time.

Their judgment.

Sometimes even their dignity.

The business of selling tomorrow

Most scams don’t begin with a demand.

They begin with a promise.

The promise might be financial freedom, a lucrative investment, a better job, a romantic relationship, a miracle, a spiritual breakthrough or an opportunity to escape poverty.

The scammer understands something very simple about human beings: most people don’t want money merely for the sake of having money.

They want what money represents.

Security.

Freedom.

A better home.

Education for their children.

A chance to stop borrowing.

A chance to sleep peacefully at night.

That is why telling someone, “Give me your money,” is usually less effective than telling them, “Give me this money and I will show you how to change your life.”

The second statement isn’t really selling an investment.

It is selling hope.

And hope can be much more valuable than the thing being advertised.

Forex and the dream of financial freedom

Walk through social media and you will find countless people presenting themselves as successful traders, investment experts or financial mentors.

Some are legitimate. Trading and investing are real activities, and there are people who genuinely make money from them.

The problem begins when someone turns the possibility of making money into a guarantee.

The photographs are usually part of the story.

Luxury cars.

Expensive watches.

Hotels.

Foreign trips.

Screenshots showing supposed profits.

The message is subtle: “Look at what happened to me. It can happen to you too.”

Someone who has been struggling to pay rent may see the lifestyle and imagine themselves living it. A young person without a stable job may begin thinking that perhaps this is the shortcut they have been searching for. Someone buried in debt may think, “If I can just make this work, everything will finally be okay.”

And suddenly, the person isn’t evaluating the investment anymore.

They are protecting a dream.

That is dangerous.

No legitimate investment can remove risk simply because somebody speaks confidently about it. Whenever someone promises extraordinary returns while minimizing the possibility of loss, that should be a reason to slow down — not a reason to invest faster.

When faith becomes a business opportunity

The exploitation of hope isn’t limited to money and investments.

Human beings have always searched for meaning, comfort and answers to difficult questions. Faith can provide enormous strength during difficult moments. Communities built around faith can offer compassion, friendship and support.

But wherever something deeply important to human beings exists, someone may eventually find a way to exploit it.

A person facing illness may desperately want to believe that a particular individual has the answer. A parent struggling to feed their family may be desperate to believe that a financial breakthrough is coming. Someone grieving may be searching for reassurance that everything will eventually make sense.

A manipulator can recognize that vulnerability. Instead of offering genuine support, they may present themselves as the person with special access to the solution.

The danger isn’t faith itself. The danger is when somebody uses another person’s faith, fear or desperation as leverage.

The moment someone begins attaching a price tag to a guaranteed miracle, demanding unquestioning loyalty, discouraging people from seeking outside advice or threatening people with terrible consequences for refusing to comply, caution becomes necessary. A sincere spiritual belief should not require you to switch off your ability to think.

Romance can sell hope too

There is another form of manipulation that receives less attention: romantic hope.

Someone can keep another person emotionally invested not because the relationship is healthy, but because they continually promise that things will eventually become better.

“Just give me time.”

“Once I get that job…”

“Once we move…”

“Once I sort out this problem…”

The future becomes the reason to tolerate the present.

This can become especially dangerous when money enters the picture. A person may continue sending money because they believe they are helping someone they love build the future they have been promised.

Again, the victim isn’t necessarily paying for what exists.

They may be paying for what they hope will exist.

Politicians understand the power of hope too

Hope is also one of the oldest tools in politics.

Every election cycle, people are presented with visions of a better future.

More jobs.

Lower prices.

Better healthcare.

Better roads.

More opportunities.

Greater security.

There is nothing inherently wrong with political promises. Leaders should explain what they intend to accomplish. The problem is when citizens stop asking how those promises will actually be delivered.

A beautiful future can be described in a few minutes. Building it can take years.

That is why citizens should judge political promises by plans, evidence, track records, budgets and accountability — not simply by how inspiring the speech sounds.

A person who knows how to describe your dream can earn your trust very quickly.

A person who can explain how they intend to achieve it deserves much more scrutiny.

Why intelligent people get scammed

One of the biggest mistakes we make when discussing scams is assuming that victims are simply foolish.

They aren’t.

Scams can happen to educated people, experienced businesspeople and people who have successfully managed money for years. The problem is that intelligence does not make anyone immune to emotional manipulation.

In fact, desperation can temporarily change the way we evaluate information. When someone is worried about rent, school fees, medical bills, unemployment or the future of their family, a promising opportunity doesn’t arrive in a neutral environment. It arrives at a moment when the person desperately wants it to be true.

That is why one of the most important questions to ask yourself before making a major decision is:

“Would I still believe this if I weren’t desperate for it to be true?”

That single question can be surprisingly powerful.

“Would I still believe this if I weren’t desperate for it to be true?”

— Salim Kiarie Mbogo

Ubuntu and the protection that comes from being known

In Ubuntu philosophy, umoja — unity — is not just a value. It is a security system. When we know each other deeply, when we share meals and stories across generations, when elders can name the children in their community and neighbors can read each other’s faces, exploitation struggles to find a foothold.

Scammers depend on isolation. They find people who are alone in their desperation — who have no one nearby to ask the difficult questions Salim names above. Community doesn’t just comfort us. It cross-checks us. It slows us down. It creates the conditions under which “is this real?” can actually be answered before the money is sent.

Ubuntu Village’s work in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria is built on this ancient truth: our nervous systems are wired for community. The most powerful protection against exploitation is a village so rooted in relationship that strangers cannot easily masquerade as family.

The trap of urgency

Another warning sign is urgency.

“Invest today.”

“This opportunity closes tonight.”

“Only five spaces remain.”

“Send the money now or you’ll miss your chance.”

Urgency prevents reflection. And reflection is exactly what manipulation doesn’t want.

A legitimate opportunity should generally survive a few hours — or even a few days — of careful investigation. If someone becomes angry because you want time to think, that tells you something. If they discourage you from talking to your spouse, parent, friend, lawyer, financial adviser or another trusted person, that tells you even more.

A trustworthy opportunity should not require you to isolate yourself from people who might ask difficult questions.

Hope should never replace evidence

There is nothing wrong with being hopeful.

Hope is one of the reasons people continue building businesses after failure. It is why parents sacrifice for their children. It is why people study, save, rebuild and try again. Without hope, difficult circumstances can become unbearable.

The lesson isn’t to stop hoping.

The lesson is to stop confusing hope with evidence.

Someone can give you an inspiring story and still be lying.

Someone can look successful and still be deeply in debt.

Someone can speak confidently and still have no idea what they are doing.

Someone can quote scripture and still be dishonest.

Someone can promise you love and still be manipulating you.

Someone can show you screenshots of profits without showing you losses.

Someone can tell you exactly what you desperately want to hear.

None of these things proves that the promise is real.

Evidence does.

Slow down when something feels too good

One of the simplest protections against manipulation is also one of the hardest:

Slow down.

When somebody presents you with an incredible opportunity, resist the temptation to make an immediate decision.

Ask questions.

Verify their identity.

Research the company.

Look for independent information.

Check whether other people have had similar experiences.

Understand where your money is actually going.

Ask what happens if things go wrong.

Ask what the risks are.

And perhaps most importantly, ask what the person making the promise gains if you believe them.

That last question can reveal a lot.

If somebody makes money every time you become convinced, their interests may not be the same as yours.

Don’t let embarrassment silence you

There is another reason scams continue: shame.

Someone loses money and becomes afraid to tell anyone. They worry that their family will laugh at them. Their friends will call them foolish. Their community will judge them.

So they remain silent.

That silence protects the scammer.

If you suspect you’ve been deceived, speaking to someone you trust can be one of the most important first steps. Another person may notice something you missed because they aren’t emotionally invested in the outcome.

There is no shame in being manipulated.

The shame belongs to the person who deliberately chooses to exploit another human being.

The final warning

Perhaps the most dangerous sentence a scammer can make you believe is not:

“Give me your money.”

It is: “I am the person who can give you the future you have been waiting for.”

Because once someone convinces you of that, they don’t have to fight against your skepticism. They can simply attach themselves to your dreams. And people will sometimes defend the person promising them a better future even when the evidence begins falling apart.

So hope — but investigate.

Dream — but verify.

Trust — but don’t surrender your judgment.

Be generous — but don’t let generosity become an invitation for exploitation.

And whenever somebody offers you an extraordinary future in exchange for an extraordinary amount of trust, take a step back.

Ask questions.

Take your time.

Talk to someone you trust.

Look for evidence.

Because not every person who gives you hope wants to help you reach the future they describe.

Some people simply discovered that hope is one of the easiest ways to make someone hand over the present.

Ubuntu Village

Exploitation thrives in isolation. Community is how we close that door.

Ubuntu Village builds community networks in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria — places where people know each other’s names, share resources across generations, and have elders who ask the hard questions before decisions are made. That depth of relationship is what makes exploitation harder to sustain. When neighbors are truly connected, strangers cannot easily sell them a dream.

References

This essay draws from the author’s direct observation of community conditions in Kenya, East Africa, and global African diaspora contexts. No external citations are referenced; the analysis is grounded in lived experience and community testimony.

Related Reading

• Mirror Neurons, Communal Healing, and Ubuntu — on how our nervous systems are built for community
• The Richest Man Owned Nothing — Chapter Three — Salim Kiarie Mbogo on wealth, belonging, and what we carry
• The Price of a Smile — Chapter One — Salim’s serialized fiction from Nairobi
• About Ubuntu Village

About the author

Salim Kiarie Mbogo

Salim Kiarie Mbogo is a Kenyan writer, community historian, and cultural educator based in Nairobi, Kenya. His work focuses on the preservation of oral tradition, intergenerational knowledge transfer, and the living memory practices of rural East African communities. He has documented community resilience across Kenya’s central highlands, writing at the intersection of ancestral wisdom, food sovereignty, and African identity. Salim contributes to Ubuntu Village as a field correspondent and guest writer, bringing direct witness to the organization’s East Africa programs in Kenya, Uganda, and Nigeria. His writing asks what it means to carry a people’s story forward — and what is lost when that story is interrupted.

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