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Do People Act Against Their Own Interests?

In: Philosophy and Psychology

Submitted By gobby123
Words 962
Pages 4
Do people act against their own interests?
The real life situation is significant to us due to a variety of reasons. The internet is significant to us because we are modern day teenagers, who use the internet all day every day, from talking to friends to playing videogames, doing homework and even learning a new skill. When we first encountered our real life situation, we thought that it would be a good topic because it is a very diverse and there are many things that we can discuss. However, this was also a negative because we had to talk about lots of topics in a short amount of time. Therefore, we reduced the topics so that we could focus more on the topics that we already chose.

Internet fraud is another part of the internet which shows people acting against their own interests. This is where internet software is used to defraud or take advantage of individuals. Fraudsters can use the internet to obtain personal details of the victim, leading to identity fraud. Also, they can show possible victims products or services, leading to fraudulent transactions. Internet fraud can be used in emails, chat rooms and social networking sites.

An example of internet fraud that took place a few months ago was when a father of one from Nottingham wanted to buy the Xbox one for his son. He had seen an Xbox one for sale on eBay. He also looked at the buyer’s reputation which was positive. After giving away £450 of his hard earned cash, he found out that it was only a picture of the Xbox one. The seller had even written on the picture “thank you for purchasing the product. Fortunately, however, he was given a full refund by eBay who took action against the seller.

If we used reason, we can see that people do not want to take advantage of people. Therefore they are acting against their own interests. Some people may have misfortunes which make them bitter and use other

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