How a con artist works...

LEDBE
Sigman
Thanks for the links- I learned a lot from LoveFraud there- it crystallizes many thoughts about sociopaths that I have had myself: I hope a similar page is available to help teach my children about them. I also think it will help me cope with some sociopaths in my life. Thanks again.
 
What they fail to stress is that the con artists are REALLY good at figuring out how geedy the mark (victuim) is. Most con artists are hit and run, and have dissapeared before you know you have been scammed. Others are masters of making it look like a mistake and count on only a fraction of the marks discovering the scam.

Some of the later variety are the fake invoices that many small companies get. It looks like an invoice for supplies, but includes a clause that sells you something. It could be long distance, it could be overpriced products, it could be a "service" that you don't realize you bought and that you'll never use.

In recent years, scams have been helped by identity theft. The con can be more elaborate if you can actually call the person at a phone number or send them a letter. Mail drops and stolen credit cards allow the use of disposable cell phones and untracable packages.

In general, the rule is that if it seems too good to be true, it's probably a scam.

anther notable scam:

"Roofing companies" that sell a space age reflecting sealant. It seals leaks and cuts back on air conditioning. The target is older folks in older homes. They go door to door. In reality it's a watered down white paint. You don't know it's a fake, since you can't climb up to look. This scam is run AFTER the rainy season.

Daniel
 
Charles Ponzi didn't necessarily intend to create a pyramid scheme, but his scheme took on that form. He first convinced people to invest in his business idea. When the business didn't make enough money to repay the investors, he got new investors and used their money to repay the original investors. This process repeated itself several times until newspaper and police investigations hurt his ability to draw new investors. Fraudulent banks have used this scheme as well, offering high interest rates on savings accounts to draw a lot of customers. The deposits of newer customers are used to pay the interest to the first customers, and so on, until the bank collapses (or the con artists flee with everyone's money).
Click to expand...

and

Many confidence tricks share some of the same traits, including:
"Too good to be true"
Preying on human frailties such as greed, desperation, or vanity
Immediate demanding of money
Over-exertion of sales demands
Vaguely answering questions and intentionally obscuring the details
Persistent pitching of sales
Secret offers
Behavior in a non-professional manner
Click to expand...

and

Interpersonal traits

• Glib and superficial
• Egocentric and grandiose
• Lack of remorse or guilt
• Lack of empathy
• Deceitful and manipulative
• Shallow emotions

Antisocial lifestyle

• Impulsive
• Poor behavior controls
• Need for excitement
• Lack of responsibility
• Early behavior problems
• Adult antisocial behavior
Click to expand...

It's surprising (even to me) just how much of this has *ahem* applicabity to current events here at CPF. Good links, Sigman.
 
The pump and dump they spoke about apparently still goes on today with real companies. I read about it when I saw a notice that a stock I hold was added to the naked short list. One reason investors are against making naked shorts (selling stock you don't have) illegal is that it keeps the pump and dumpsters in check.

The money-in-the-envelope con was used in the opening of the Sting. Didn't make as much sense in the article. Not that movies are directly on topic, but a great con movie is Spanish Prisoner. You'll think it's a Hitchcock movie.

Phredd
 
The money in the envelope trick has many variations;

One variation uses is to use it to exchange counterfeit bills for real ones.

Another has both the con and the mark put equal amounts of their own cash up as collateral to be held by a randomly selected third party while the "found money" or lottery ticket or check is cashed at a nearby bank. The random person disappears and the con acts like he was ripped off too.

I like looking for cons. I guess "Paper Moon" and "The Sting" were influences in my youth.

Minor Cons;

A bill from the magazine subscription firm to renew my subscription. They did "renew" my subscription; I ended up with two issues arriving avery month. They apparently charged me full price and paid the magazine on my behalf a discounted rate for a new subscription. They were not affiliated with the magazine.


Minor Con #2, pulled by the local phone company;

Old lady calls the phone company. She asks for "the basic service". She never talks on teh phone and just wants to be able to call 911 and her son. The Phone company service rep says "You want the Basic Package?" and of course she says yes. The "Basic Package" (TM) included $30 in extra services and features. This is a true story and the customer service reps were required to use that wording and were not allowed to expound on what they were really buying. A VP got fired over that one.

Minor scam;

Person selling "Xbox box" on E-bay. Yep, a cardboard box that an XBOX was shipped in.


There are a million of them.


Daniel
 
gadget_lover said:
Person selling "Xbox box" on E-bay. Yep, a cardboard box that an XBOX was shipped in.
Click to expand...

Yes, read the eBay listing carefully. Last December when the PS3s were selling for $thousands, there was a listing "PS 3 of them". The winning bidder received 3 Playstations.

Phredd
 
The phone company example is still being used on people now....
This time it's broadband service contracts.

In Quebec, Videotron offered an unlimited usage account for their cable modem for 1 year contract at 30.00/month. Unlimited turned out to mean user can view an opened webpage for an unlimited amount of time. DUH! Nowhere was it mentioned that there was a 2 GB bandwidth monthly limit. Everyone who signed up was lead to believe it was unlimited bandwidth. Imagine getting a $100+ bill for the 1st month?!?
Oh, if you try to cancel, there's a penalty charge.

Verizon is now also trying to pull the same scam on their broadband customers by removing the use of 'unlimited' in their ads and placing a 5 GB cap on its current subscribers. They claim "that's a lot of bandwidth for anyone."
 
Thanks for the verizon heads up. I wonder how that would go down in a court? The 2 year contract VS the change of terms of use should be good for another Class Action suit. Would it be "Bait and switch" to sell an "unlimited access" and later apply a limit?

Downloading from CPF is extremely data intensive. The main thread pages are almost 2 MB. That means that 2500 page views a month would exceed their quota. That's only 83 threads per day.

5 gig ain't what it used to be.

Daniel
 
I have 100 copies of a great book on how to avoid becoming a victim. I will offer them for free, just send me $8 for shipping to paypal: hownaiveareyou.com.
 
Here's a scam that's been going on in the UK:

A warning for you and any of your friends who may be regular customers at Tesco (large UK supermarket). Over the last month I became the victim of a clever scam while out shopping.

Simply going out to get some shopping turned out to be quite traumatic.

Don't be naive enough to think it couldn't happen to you!

Here's how the scam works.

Two seriously good looking 21 year old girls come over to your car as you are loading your stuff into the boot.

They both start wiping your windshield with a rag and Windowlene, with their cleavage almost falling out of their skimpy T-shirts.

It is impossible not to look.

When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say 'No' and instead ask you for a lift to another shopping centre.

You agree and they get in the back seat.

On the way, they start kissing and fondling with each other.

Then one of them climbs over into the front seat and performs an sex act on you !, .........while the other one steals your wallet.

I had my wallet stolen on Feb 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th, Mar 2nd, 4th, three times on the 5th, three times just yesterday, and very likely again this upcoming weekend as soon as I can buy more wallets.

Please pass this message on to all the men you know to warn them about this scam !
 
I'm booking a flight as we speak. I'll need to do some extensive research so I can add a chapter about this to my book.
 
Essexman said:
Here's a scam that's been going on in the UK:

A warning for you and any of your friends who may be regular customers at Tesco (large UK supermarket). Over the last month I became the victim of a clever scam while out shopping.

Simply going out to get some shopping turned out to be quite traumatic.

Don't be naive enough to think it couldn't happen to you!

Here's how the scam works.

Two seriously good looking 21 year old girls come over to your car as you are loading your stuff into the boot.

They both start wiping your windshield with a rag and Windowlene, with their cleavage almost falling out of their skimpy T-shirts.

It is impossible not to look.

When you thank them and offer them a tip, they say 'No' and instead ask you for a lift to another shopping centre.

You agree and they get in the back seat.

On the way, they start kissing and fondling with each other.

Then one of them climbs over into the front seat and performs an sex act on you !, .........while the other one steals your wallet.

I had my wallet stolen on Feb 4th, 9th, 10th, twice on the 15th, 17th, 20th, Mar 2nd, 4th, three times on the 5th, three times just yesterday, and very likely again this upcoming weekend as soon as I can buy more wallets.

Please pass this message on to all the men you know to warn them about this scam !
Click to expand...
I can't wait for that scam here!!!
 
An interesting con that happened here in Calif;

A mortgage broker managed to embezzle several million dollars by helping people "refinance" their homes. The only hitch was that he was not paying off their old loans. He pocketed the cash. I believe he even diverted the old mortgage payment statements to his company so he could keep paying the mortgages for a month or two while he bilked others. He disappeared, probably going out of country.

The victims were stuck with TWO valid mortgages that were legally enforceable. I don't recall if the escrow company had to make good on anything.

This one struck close to home. We had refinanced with this company the previous year.

Daniel
 
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