The wisest person to consult on this would be P.T. Barnum. While mostly known as that circus guy, he really accomplished a lot more than that and wasn't a bad guy. He wrote a couple of books, even. Most apropos is "The Humbugs of the World: An Account of Humbugs, Delusions, Impositions, Quackeries, Deceits and Deceivers Generally, in All Ages" https://www.gutenberg.org/files/26640/26640-h/26640-h.htm