The cults target those who are vulnerable to their particular appeal. However, it's the idealism and the interpersonal trust that make them vulnerable. There are probably 5,000 or more such groups in America. The cult leaders are likely to be abnormal, and their methods so unscrupulous and deceptive that the recruit is successfully manipulatable. It is the cult leaders who are likely to be psychopathic, and the cult methods that are likely to be outside the creed of normal decent people.
Cults regularly use deceptive recruitment practices.
And to argue about its activities. Cults, do not permit such freedom and demand unquestioning obedience. In most Churches, the minister or rabbi is working for the congregation. Cults are the reverse. Finally, a genuine religion is one that poses no hazard to its members at least not for the benefit of the leaders.