By their very nature, con games have no rules and they don’t belong in a box.
One can identify objectives and elements of different cons, but successful scams vary in style, content, order, and execution. It can be an expression of the con artist or a response to the personality of the mark. It’s more difficult to understand something that shifts and changes depending on unknown factors like thoughts and feelings, but this is the nature of con games; they depend on human interaction and that is fluid by nature. It’s one of the things that makes them so resilient. Hustlers learn to adapt proven strategies to each scenario and through experience, they develop a toolkit of lies and tricks to achieve their goal.
As I noted at the outset, every one of us is a potential mark. Con artists often select their victims in an attempt to find the most vulnerable targets, but the truth is that we can all be susceptible to a well-timed scam or confidence trick.
Eradicating cons and scams completely would be impossible, but as a society, we can do so much more to defend against crimes of deception.
Knowledge, Empathy, and Acceptance
Con games prey on our hopes and fears, and unless we shed all emotion and learn to regard all of life’s interactions with cold logic, there will always be new ways to play old scams. Con artists depend on human nature; to give up those qualities that make us who we are would be a far greater loss than any amount of money, property, or self-respect.
Trust is an important aspect of a successful and productive society, and it would be impossible for a community to thrive without some faith in authority or in each other, and to regard all situations with automatic suspicion could be as damaging as blindly accepting anything we hear. The wheels of civilization need a little oil to keep turning or the machine will quickly break down.
Protecting ourselves and others from deception is important and there are three steps we can take that would quickly make con games more difficult and dangerous for those who would attempt them: spread the word, stop blaming the victim, and be honest with yourself.
Spread the Word
If you are willing to steal from others, you will quickly learn or devise any con game that is likely to work in your personal situation. The first question a smart grifter would ask is whether the public is aware of the con he is planning. The more a scam is in the public’s consciousness, the less effective it will be for potential scammers. Hence the con artist’s motto, “Never wise-up a mark.”
It is therefore important that, whenever a con game turns up, the public is quickly informed. The more people know about a new scam, the more difficult it becomes to safely hook new marks. This forces hustlers to adapt more quickly and the sooner any new twist is shared with the public, the sooner people will learn to identify further variations.
In the age of information there are many ways to share knowledge, but with so much digital noise, it is almost impossible to reach everyone. On the Internet there are many useful resources that discuss cons and scams for those who care to look, but not all of the information is accurate. There are many books that describe and expose con games, and occasionally there are entertaining TV shows that reveal scams in a memorable fashion. The problem is that none of these reach a large enough audience to have a significant impact on real hustlers.
Until we find a way to communicate with a larger percentage of the population, hustlers will continue to easily find victims who are unaware of their methods. Fraud and deception should be a regular feature on local, network, and cable news shows. There’s no shortage of heartbreaking, shocking, or ingenious stories, and if presented properly, with respect to the victims and in a manner that is entertaining and memorable, it could have a genuine, positive effect for the audience.
People understand the world in terms of stories, and when a scam is re-invented, it is the story that attracts and distracts the mark from the hustler’s true objective. It’s a common mistake when exposing con games to focus on the details of a scam, rather than the underlying strategy. The Spanish Prisoner game has evolved over time but the principles remain the same. Whether it’s a ship loaded with gold or a Nigerian bank account waiting to be transferred, the victim is convinced to pay a large amount in return for a king’s ransom. When exposing a con game, it should be described in terms of story, which is constantly changing, and objective, which is almost always the same. Once people learn to recognize the ingredients of a scam, no matter how it is presented, the sooner that scam will cease to be effective.
Stop Blaming the Victim
In 2009 I co-authored an academic paper with Professor Frank Stajano of Cambridge University’s computer laboratory, which had been studying con games in an effort to find a correlation with aspects of computer security. The similarities between scams and social engineering were obvious, but Professor Stajano went on to find strategies from my world that were clearly applicable in his. A key component of our study was the perspective of the intended victim.
Using con games from The Real Hustle, we were able to identify seven principles that illustrate why people succumb to deception; we used these to explain patterns in human behavior that have been exploited by hustlers for centuries. Our objective was to help designers of security platforms to understand the human element in order to anticipate possible weaknesses that often prove to be the most vulnerable aspect of any system.
Once we published our paper, the interest in our findings was surprising. We found the paper being widely circulated online with our list of scam principles often reprinted or summarized. It proved to me that there was enormous interest in the subject; more important, it showed me there was an opportunity to encourage greater empathy for victims, which is an important step toward protecting the public.
Con games can have a powerful, damaging effect on a mark. Loss of money or property is amplified by a loss of faith or self-respect. Because of this, few victims are motivated to admit what’s happened to them. Their primary fear is that they will be regarded as foolish, naive, greedy, or gullible. These are normal human frailties that are preyed upon by con men, and when the ride is over, the victim is suddenly faced with a naked truth that can cut deeper than any knife.
It is therefore essential that society learns to treat victims with greater understanding and to be supportive of those who come forward. Friends, family, and authorities need to show genuine empathy. Once a scam has been successful, marks are only able to describe their own perspective—how things unfolded through their eyes. It is extremely difficult for them to convey the confidence they had in a lie once they know the truth, so to rely on the victims to explain why they were conned is pointless. Instead we can accept that they were deceived and perhaps learn how. With the benefit of hindsight, it is nearly impossible to fully comprehend how real a story might have originally seemed from the mark’s perspective.
How many times have you re-told a joke only to receive a polite reaction, but when you originally heard it, the audience cried tears of laughter? A con game takes experience, timing, and talent, and no victim will ever be able to tell a lie as convincingly as they heard it. We need to learn that con games prey on human nature and accept that we can all be fallible.
In our academic paper, Professor Stajano and I listed seven principles. This was never intended to be a complete list; in fact I have added three more since we published the original paper. Instead, I hope the list serves as a guide to understanding why and how people are deceived.
1. Distraction
Thieves use this as a tool to misdirect and steal belongings. In a con game, victims are focused on the bait or prize and distracted by their own desire. Hustlers manipulate perception by carefully directing the mark toward anything that builds confidence and encourages commitment.
2. Social Compliance
People are often predictable in common situations. When presented with authority, many will automatically comply or can eventually be convinced to do so. Scammers often take advantage of social conventions to play on peopl
e’s good nature or fear of confrontation. A con man might “play the victim” or act offended to manipulate a mark.
3. Herd Instinct
When we are part of a group, there is a powerful urge to follow the crowd in terms of action and direction. Scams like the jam auction condition people to behave in a certain way and respond to learned stimuli, encouraged by those around them (many of whom are stooges).
4. Dishonesty
We all have a streak of larceny that might one day inspire us to do something foolish or indiscreet. Sometimes it is used to explain the circumstances of an unlikely scenario such as cheap merchandise that may be stolen. In other cases it might be a questionable proposition that could leave the mark in a compromising situation after the sting. People are motivated by powerful, natural desires and might easily be persuaded to do something they might later regret.
5. Deception
Clearly, this is the foundation of all con games, but it’s important to understand and accept that hustlers are experts at making something seem real that might otherwise be easily dismissed. We need to accept that no matter how obvious or unlikely an idea or scheme might appear to be in hindsight or from a distance, inside the “con bubble,” it feels very real to the victim.
6. Need and Greed
Once a con artist knows what you want, he can take everything you have. We are often blinded by our desires, but it is a mistake to assume that most victims fall victim solely to greed. Scammers constantly target people with real needs, knowing that desperation can easily be used as a means to manipulate.
7. Time Pressure
A common way to secure commitment is to narrow a victim’s opportunity to think and consider his options. In retrospect, when a mark untangles everything that led to a sting, it can be difficult to understand how he was so easily fooled, but in the heat of the moment, it feels natural to him.
Throughout this book, I have illustrated how these principles are used, but I would like to add three more to our original list:
8. Situation
Individual needs and desires are often dictated by our position in life. Knowing what people want gives a hustler a powerful advantage, and an experienced con artist can assume a mark’s needs with a quick glance at him and his situation. This is why so many scammers target the elderly or those in obvious need. It might seem difficult to understand why anyone would respond to an e-mail from an African prince, but if you were consumed by desperation, prayed to God every night for help, and were willing to jump at any opportunity, that e-mail might seem like the answer to your prayers. We should always consider the conditions that contribute to a victim’s state of mind and judge not only what people believe but why they might be in a position to believe it.
9. Self-Image
Hustlers are natural psychologists and often have a knack for identifying how people regard themselves. Playing on this can be a powerful tool in the hands of a gifted deceiver. On my show Scammed, I deliberately played on Uncle Barry’s ego, which ultimately proved to be the best leverage I had. However, if this is done carelessly, a mark might easily recognize a clumsy attempt to pander or patronize. When connecting with a victim’s inner self, a hustler can foster strong emotions and genuine commitment. Romance scams or cons where a victim’s hopes and dreams are shattered can be the most painful because the mark feels a genuine sense of loss when abandoned by someone who seemed to truly understand him.
10. Denial
I’ve met many who have refused to believe they were being scammed. Once a mark is inside the con bubble, it’s very difficult to convince him that everything he believes might not be real. So powerful is this resistance to the truth that victims have allowed themselves to be scammed several times in the fading hope that a story might prove to be legitimate. Even if a mark begins to suspect trickery, he might persist in the hope of being mistaken.
Each of these principles applies to an aspect of human nature, and it’s important to accept that people can be easily manipulated in the right circumstances. If we can create a society that supports victims without shame or ridicule, then crimes of deception will be more difficult to commit and easier to eradicate.
Be Honest (with Yourself)
Sharing knowledge and understanding victims are two sure ways to protect our communities, but as individuals, there is one important step each of us can take to make ourselves much more difficult to con.
I always tell my clients “if you think you can’t be conned, you’re just the person I want to meet!” As any good magician will tell you, it’s often easier to fool someone who thinks he can’t be fooled. Con artists prefer an easy mark, but a self-proclaimed expert or puffed up know-it-all might be just as ripe in the proper circumstances.
Confidence is what a con man tries to give his mark, and any sucker who already has a rich supply could prove easier to take down. Once a self-assured victim is on the hook, he might never admit to being conned (to himself or others), which in itself makes them an attractive mark.
The simplest and most effective step anyone can take toward self-defense against deception is to fully accept that he could one day be deceived. It can happen to anyone and whoever you are, I guarantee that smarter people than you have been stung by the simplest of scams.
Con games are about objectives: stepping stones toward a desired outcome. How someone is hooked, the line he is given, and when he is finally sunk all depend on how a hustler engages with that particular mark. Even though a victim’s actions might ultimately be predictable, a con artist must manipulate circumstances to achieve the desired result. This takes talent, skill, and experience. It also requires an ability to lie without hesitation and steal without remorse.
Understanding these goals and the principles employed to achieve them helps us to protect ourselves and those we care about. It can make con games more difficult and less profitable.
Eventually, scams evolve to adapt to new conditions, and there’s just no way to be constantly on guard without locking ourselves in the proverbial basement. There will eventually be some weakness or vulnerability that a professional deceiver can find or some advantage worth playing upon.
Con artists have been compared to method actors, but I believe that being a successful scammer requires a natural talent for duplicity and a mind for deception. Intelligence can also be important, but I’ve met many professional liars who can appear completely convincing without being able to generate a single original thought. Whether he’s a grifter or a gold digger, a hustler’s willingness to say or do anything to get what he wants will ultimately determine his success.
A con game can hit like a falling piano or creep up like an expanding waistline, but once entangled in the con man’s web, it’s easy to become wrapped up in the lie. Waking up to a scam is extremely difficult because the mark must reject not only what they have come to believe but their own feelings of desire, commitment, and self-worth.
Deception is not a single thing. By nature, it is amorphous, adapting to each scenario depending on interaction between human beings. It is affected by the past, the present, and perceived notions of the future. Emotion, expression, and expectation can all determine what we might believe and even the simplest of scams can be a singular combination of elements derived from any particular moment. Ultimately, it is impossible to define a comprehensive theory of deception. Instead, we can accept that it is effective and observe the elements and principles that deceivers use to achieve their goals.
An artist can express his or her own thoughts and feelings but cannot reveal or delineate the nature of all art. The artist’s objectives are easier to define—to inspire emotion, to make a statement, or to sell for money.
Hustlers are as individual as the people they prey upon, and while each might follow a long-established line of actions and reactions, how they dance around that line before the music stops is impossible to define or predict. The art of the con, like any other art, is full of contradiction; simple objectives are achieved by
complex actions, contrived situations seem natural or ordinary, and intelligent people are easily manipulated.
Learning to think like a con artist might one day help to protect you, your business, or your family; if you study the principles and understand the craft, you might know it when you see it.
There is no golden rule or surefire way to defend against all forms of deception. Instead we can be better informed so that even if we cannot anticipate every type of scam, we might be able to detect one before it’s too late. Whether you find yourself dealing with a criminal mastermind or being preyed upon by deceitful dunces, there is one aspect of all con games that can be easily recognized. All you have to do is to stop, think, and look in the mirror.
A NOTE ON SOURCES
The contents and conclusions of this book are the culmination of thirty-six years of fascination and obsession. Ten of those years have been spent exploring and experimenting with every conceivable type of con game from street scams to casino take-downs. Along the way I have met and befriended people on both sides of the law. I’ve cheated myself (literally), I’ve watched criminals at work, and I’ve spent great amounts of time and money to pursue any nugget of information about the art of the con. Some of my sources can be named, others cannot. Often I have decided to use nicknames or initials, but even those might be changed to protect the guilty.
It’s true that I’ve crossed the line a couple of times, but I’m happy to admit that I don’t have what it takes to be a real con man. If I did, I’d care only about what works, never how—and the last thing I’d want to do is reveal anything that might get the money.
It’s important to emphasize that my perspective has been motivated by a lifetime of study and practice. I came to the BBC show as a producer, director, writer, and expert on the art of deception. My co-stars on The Real Hustle were the charming chameleon Alexis Conran (originally an actor, now also a presenter, magician, mentalist, consultant, speaker, commentator, anti-gambling campaigner, and gambler) and the very beautiful Jessica-Jane Clement (model, actress, and presenter). They would certainly have their own opinions about the show based on their personal experiences and motivations. For me it was a chance to experiment and to learn; being on camera was just a means to an end.
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