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The Con Artist as a Serial Criminal
The serial criminal
It's important to understand that delving into the
mind of a con artist is like peeling an onion. Financial con
artists are highly intelligent and ambitious. Their warped
personalities are as complex and demanding to individually profile
as that of any successful serial criminal.
Like any serial criminal, each con's modus operandi seldom changes. Once a con has found his niche, he works to perfect his system. The patter may change a little, but the basic scheme remains the same. In other words, there is a fixed, recognizable pattern that the
swindler uses over and over again, from city to city
and country to country.
Throwing everything into confusion
The con artist can be likened to a chess player as well. It's not only the
swindler's personality that is complex. His scam often is too. So complex that law enforcement is
occasionally at wit's end to unravel all the threads. Over-worked local authorities may be reluctant to dig very far into a time-consuming scam while violent, bloody crimes are screaming to be solved. The
swindler knows this and uses it to his advantage by crossing as many jurisdictions as possible, throwing everything into confusion for law enforcement.
Why fraud is referred to as a con "game"
So. Why do con artists scam? Because for
them it is a hugely amusing and challenging game. They get to
wake up in the morning and go out to play. It's a game that
hurts lots of people. When a child plays, he is learning the
rules of social behavior and the consequences of all his actions.
When a swindler plays, rules and consequences are mere whispers on
the wind. All that matters to the con artist is that it's fun
- a marvelous joke, a trick that can be played over and over again.
And you? Well you're the victim of that joke.
And that's not funny. But once you understand
the universal profile of a con
artist you are far better armed than most of the people in your
town and the harder it will be for a swindler to trick you.
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