This makes me think of two things, but I can't quite put my finger on how they intersect, although they do feel extremely related somehow.
1) Hanlon's razor (do not attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity)
2) It was discovered (unfortunately missing citation atm :< ) that people who fall for spam scams that exploit gullibility do so "completely" - most see the scam for what it is, but the ones that do fall for it will kind of double down, defend their actions and see through their part of the "deal" because in their mind it Will Work. So it's almost like there's a super-thin line somewhere where everyone rubberbands to one or the other extreme ("are you serious, that's a scam" vs "are you serious, of course this is real") depending on whether That Last Single Piece Of Straw is on the haystack or not. (I just realize you could substitute "a scam" for "fake" and potentially explain a substantial percentage of conspiracy theorists... hmm)
