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Ha, I remember one of my brothers and a bunch of people from my hometown got all into those perpetual motion machines. They bought the "plans" and went on and on about how revolutionary it was, what a good deal the few hundred dollars for the plans were, and how there's a global conspiracy by energy companies to stop this information from getting out. Despite trying and never quite getting it to work, I think my brother even today still believes in it.

I guess the answer to your question would be "normal every day folks." But, still, how does the thinking that leads them to believe this stuff even actually work? I don't get it.

People do. My brother's wife's sister's husband's father (yep) flew to Nigeria and gave them a suitcase full of money back in the day 20 years ago. He remains convinced that he will eventually get a huge return.

I was thinking it sounds exactly like the Nigerian 419 scams.