Very Interesting.
”Affiliation” frauds are common----these are the people perps associate with-----who trust the perps implicitly.
Yes and no. I mean, obviously, "affiliation" frauds are common. But that could also be said in a way to downplay patterns & trends. For example, I could also justifiably "downplay" your observation that "affiliation" frauds are common. How? Well, simply put, most sin is, after all, "affiliatory." People tend to commit sins against those they affiliate with.(I mean, we could get to the point where we simply "write off" most crime & most sin due to our sinful nature & the fact that we're social creatures...but those obvious observations don't tend to explain trends).
I would simply caution that just because people tend to sin against those around them; or commit crimes vs. those they know, that we don't offer up the prime reason as being "affiliation."
...who trust the perps implicitly
I'm very glad you highlighted this. My contention is not only that sin is sin, and affects all of us to various degrees, but intensified vulnerability comes from exercising false trust. People place their trust in false sources -- untrustworthy sources -- and some people do that more than others.
The religious dimension in all of this: Rest assured no religious group is certainly immune from this; however, my contention is that members of cults are more vulnerable to exercising misplaced trust. (They've usually already, to one degree or another, placed their trust in a mortal authority figure over that of God or Jesus Christ...thereby finding it easier -- even if it's under conscious "radar" -- to trust in other mortal authorities, some/many of whom "burn" them).
Some think they are doing God’s will. One of the most infamous religious cults was Jonestown, Guyana, scene of 900 mass suicides (murders).
Shocking to realize parents brought their children there .....deluded by Rev Jim Jones that this was to be some kind of "socialist heaven."