That person is safe from physical retribution, that's why. Fear of injury or death is the number one instinct involved as an inhibitor to deception and theft of someone else's resources. Fear of being personally branded untrustworthy is another inhibitor, that's been set aside in these kinds of fraud.
The law provides some safety for thieves, but technology provides the thief with additional safety from both the victim and authorities. The thief's family may have no idea he earns a living stealing; they may be poor and therefore stealing is morally justified. The balance of force, information, has been altered to thieves' advantage.
As far as what motivates them: top on the list is poverty, or more specifically wealth inequality; feeding a family is a top priority, poor alternative choices, and stealing with a technology providing anonymity seems easy, and safe, and they don't witness the fallout from their actions. None of the normal social inhibitors apply to these events.
And as for the gullible, well a lot has been written in HN about how technology fails the average non-tech person miserably and continuously and it needs to get better. But that's still just a side effect of wealth inequality and preserving that classism.
The law provides some safety for thieves, but technology provides the thief with additional safety from both the victim and authorities. The thief's family may have no idea he earns a living stealing; they may be poor and therefore stealing is morally justified. The balance of force, information, has been altered to thieves' advantage.
As far as what motivates them: top on the list is poverty, or more specifically wealth inequality; feeding a family is a top priority, poor alternative choices, and stealing with a technology providing anonymity seems easy, and safe, and they don't witness the fallout from their actions. None of the normal social inhibitors apply to these events.
And as for the gullible, well a lot has been written in HN about how technology fails the average non-tech person miserably and continuously and it needs to get better. But that's still just a side effect of wealth inequality and preserving that classism.