There are lot of scams-- maybe even a majority-- that depend on the mark being smart enough and confident enough in their reasoning to talk themselves into the scam.

When you think of a scam victim you should think not of an idiot but a reasonably smart person who is distracted, gets greedy, or thinks that they're immune to scams.

You don't need to actively scam idiots, you just offer them bad deals. Do it well enough and you get a bonus for improving shareholder value.