The Scam Age: Hustling in the Digital Economy

Scams are a hot topic, both in the media and in our economic lives. The internet is fertile for the cultivation of a world in which scams make sense and the diffusion of scams themselves. This new scamminess is a reaction to precarity and a deepening of it. The “scam” label identifies capitalism out of place: it delegitimates certain forms of economic activity and legitimates others. Scams are a fundamental part of technological change. Each innovation creates new opportunities for innovative exploitation. Scams—and scams prevention—authorize surveillance and other forms of platform power.