Removing anyone who might say the obvious thing.
Isolation is the clearest single indicator in fraud, and the least recognised by the person experiencing it.
The instruction to keep something private always arrives with a reason that sounds protective or romantic or procedural. Your family would not understand. Your children would be jealous. The investigation is confidential. My work requires discretion. Do not discuss the investment until it is settled.
The function is identical in every case: remove the person who would say the obvious thing. Bank tellers, adult children and friends are the most effective fraud controls that exist, and they are defeated by a sentence.
Isolation also makes the operator the only trusted voice, which compounds everything else. A person cut off from other perspectives becomes progressively more dependent on the one that remains.
The countermeasure is one conversation, out loud, with one person. The secrecy exists because that conversation ends it.
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