Why students specifically

Students are targeted because the profile is useful: often new to handling money alone, frequently short of it, reachable in large numbers through one channel, and living somewhere unfamiliar where the usual reference points are missing. None of that is about being naive.

That last point matters. Nearly everybody who loses money this way was busy, distracted or being rushed — not foolish. Treating it as a character failing is exactly what stops people reporting it and warning each other.