Hope is such a bait, it covers any hook.

Hope will make almost anything look edible. That is what makes it powerful and also what makes it exploitable: the wish to believe arrives first, and the examination arrives late or never. Every con, every bad investment, every return to a situation that has already hurt you runs on the same mechanism. None of this argues against hoping, only against treating hope as though it verified something.

When a prospect makes you feel suddenly and warmly certain, let that feeling be your cue to slow down. Ask what would have to be true for it to work, then check that part specifically.