Two weeks ago, I explained why I found Maria Konnikova’s book, The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time, worthy of study. Today I’m going to pick and choose among some of the parts of the book.
Konnikova has a Ph.D. in psychology and is a writer for The New Yorker and other publications. While this is not an academic treatise with numerous footnotes, there are a LOT of references to publications by academicians who have studied con artists and related subjects. I say this to note that this does not read like a novel. It’s a pleasant read. It’s a charming read. But it’s not easy going. I felt the struggle was worth it. If you don’t want to take the time to read it, a good hour-long interview may be found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARUntx62Lqk
Most people know who the typical mark is: “You can’t cheat an honest man” or “To be conned you need to be greedy.” According to Konnikova, these descriptions are totally false. The biggest predictor to who can be conned is: “Were you conned before?”
That makes me a good candidate to be conned again — a statistic that doesn’t set well with me at all. Many people, it seems, can readily pick out the foolishness that makes other people good marks, but if the con is chosen perfectly can be victimized themselves.
There are lists of people who have been conned that circulate, for high prices, among the con artists. (Creating such a list out of whole cloth sounds like it would make for a perfect con — but I digress.)
Apparently emotional, vulnerable people are among those easily conned — those who have lost a loved one or a job or are in some sort of transition in their lives. The actual cons described in the book largely came before the era of social media — but now it’s a lot easier.
People regularly post on Facebook and elsewhere everything that would make them a good mark. Many con artists befriend their marks on Facebook under a different name and learn a lot of interesting things that make their job easier and more successful.
I’ve been off Facebook for some time now over the reported risks. This book makes me even more wary of going back. It’s hard for me to know if that makes we wisely sensible or just an old fuddy-duddy. I suspect there would be votes on both sides of this.
The book goes through the anatomy of a con. How you identify a mark — or a grifter. The set up. The play. The disappearance. Now I know how to pull off a con, but I’m not sure I’m any more prepared to do it. A con artist is indeed an “artist.” Someone who is polished at what he does.
One thing that really hit me is that many victims really think they are special. Yes, they know that others have been conned — but this time it’s the real deal. Yes, they know that most psychics are fake — but believe they can tell the difference and this remarkable person is special.
Apparently, most of us think we are better looking than average. Smarter than average. Drive better than average. You know — special. It’s statistically impossible, of course, for most of us to be smarter than average. I certainly feel I’m extraordinary in a number of ways. Don’t you feel that way about yourself?
If you feel that way about yourself, then it’s not too far a reach for you to believe that you deserve good things. And if something is too good to be true for most people, well, if I’m special, then it might not be too good for me. Someone with that mindset is ripe to be conned.
Several interviewers of Konnikova can’t resist asking her if Donald Trump is a con artist? Whether you like that kind of question probably depends on whether you’re a Trump hater or a Trump supporter. I never heard Konnikova give a definite “yes or no” answer to the question, but she clearly agrees that much of what he says and does is very similar to what con artists say and do.
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I wonder if having something to be conned out of makes a big difference in how susceptible one is to being conned? I would think that the con artist would make sure there was something to be gained .
I took the Kindle book with me on a trip and found the information and descriptions of the different cons most informative and disturbing. Disturbing due to how easy it is for even the most sophisticated or intelligent to fall for a well-executed con. The bad guys are really good, well-practiced and feel no remorse after removing the mark from their money. Century old cons still work with or without a digital twist. If it is from beyond the grave, too good to be true, derived from privileged information, available only today and comes with a guaranteed high return hold your money tight, hang up the phone, get off the web page or turn and walk away.
“Century old cons still work.” So true.
As many times as management sent out “beware of theft” memos around the holidays, “don’t leave purses in desk drawers” and “don’t give your ID numbers”, etc., a colleague did just that–left her purse in unlocked desk drawer, office door open. Got a call from her ‘bank’ alerting her “Your ATM number may have been compromised, we need your number to verify and catch the person when he tries to access your account.” Yep, she fell for it, told her PIN, then hung up, then thought “Oops”, then saw her purse was gone. Oldest con in the office world, but the guy smooth, of course. She knew better, but…
I am retired from the Chicago Police Department. I spent my last 10 years as a Detective working a variety of assignments. The best and the boldest con I came across happened at our Police Station. The back story is a man dressed in a suit and tie (K-Mart style) pulled into a gas station a block down from the Police building. The guy looked, dressed and talk like a Chicago copper driving a beat up four door Chevy, black tires and a spot light. The car had “Police” written all over it, although it was “unmarked” He bought a pack of cigarettes, struck up some small talk with the attendant. He asked the attendant if he’d be interested in buying a brand new TV still in the box for 50 bucks. The “Detective” said they have recovered proceeds from a burglary but couldn’t find the owner. So, rather than send it to the evidence and recovered property section, why not sell it to a local guy. The attendant agreed, so the “Detective” told him to follow him down to the station and park by the front door. The “Policeman” got the 50 dollars from the victim, and told him he was going to park in the back parking lot and be out in 10 minutes with the tv. Well, an hour later, when no TV or Detective came out, the gas attendant went in to see where it was. Long story short, no tv no detective and Internal Affairs was called. The victim looked at every picture in the book for this so called copper but never could ID anyone. The same con was pulled at about a dozen other police stations over the next six months, but no arrests. We all speculated that maybe it was an ex cop, or someone familiar with our police stations but we never found out. We did have a fair amount of respect for the guy cuz it took some brass balls to do it. By the way, we all dressed in K Mart junk due to the type of stuff we got involved with. Don’t wanna get blood and guts on your Gucci’s