Enough, scammers

How do we avoid scams? Why are there so many out there, so many people spending their time preying on others?
Easy answer: it's lucrative, obviously. Those letters about the remote family member who died and left you money, the fake banking calls, your package held up at the border needing duty fees. It's easy to be deceived. And the scammers have upped their games: the phone might display the actual business name (like the Canada Revenue Agency), the website might look completely legitimate unless you check the URL. Artificial intelligence can now be used to imitate voices--your grandson, your spouse, your parent. Many scams prey on the elderly, people with disabilities, those who are lonely. People who sometimes have very little to begin with, or who have saved their entire lives to have a nest egg, a home, a car, only to have it all pulled out from under them. It feels unfair. How can we avoid it?

Each time I'm asked for information online, I wonder, is this the time? Now will they (the nebulous "they") get into my account, my phone number, my email, my identity? What will I need to do to get it back?
          I feel like I'm getting paranoid about the car being stolen (difficult to get it from Timmins to Montreal to get it onto a boat; we joke that surely with only two highways out of town someone would spot it and say "Hey! Isn't that Karen's van?")
          The car thefts in big cities and the online scams have definitely increased, it seems; access to online news and social media does not help, with reports of thefts and  frauds and pyramid schemes all over the place. Some people try to avoid both internet fraud and social media overload by limiting their time online, but that's become nearly impossible now, especially as more and more in-person stores shut down. Even reviews of products and services, which initially seemed like an answer, can be fraudulent. And there's the embarrassment of getting caught: we don't want to admit that we fell for something, we feel stupid and/or naïve, when some of the scams are extremely personal and slick. I've found myself on the verge of entering Visa information, or responding to a text, then thinking, what am I doing? This is ridiculous!
          Some days, I want to shut the world out, feeling everything has gone absolutely crazy. Then again, there have always been swindlers, thieves, people out to take advantage of others. Did you know that real estate agents post their photos on billboards to show they are legitimate, because in the remote past people would "sell (nonexistent) land" and then disappear with the money? (Thanks, Terry O'Reilly).
          The only way I can see to forge ahead is to remember that MOST people are good, they want to help, they want to make the world better. That, and check the URL, figure out when something is too good to be true, check credentials, and never trust anyone who says they can only be paid in bitcoin. Sorry if you were hoping for more than that.