Smart Enough To Know Better?

According to police veteran Dennis Marlock

The biggest misconception about fraud is that the victims are stupid. The truth is, con artists prefer intelligent people. First, smart people are more likely to have money. Second, smart people are easier to fool precisely because they think they're too smart to get scammed. We deal with victims who are doctors, lawyers, judges -- even cops. The easiest people to deceive are those who think that they are immune to deception.

It's not really important, for these purposes, how smart you actually are, just that you think that you're smarter than that. Which explains a lot of John Kerry's positions in the last election.