Profile of a con artist

Relating to your personality

Successful con artists know how to relate to you on an individual level. They are very intuitive about your weaknesses and insecurities.

For instance, regardless of your specialty or personal interests, a good con man is so diversely educated that he can make you believe he has the same level of knowledge and interest. A common interest is his foot in the door.

On the other hand, if you are seeking knowledge in a particular area, the con man has the ability to completely convince you that he is an expert in that area.

"The con man [or woman] will look you straight in the eye and lie to you, telling you he's a doctor if that's what you need to hear - or a lawyer, or a police officer, or a businessperson. And if you are desperate or distraught enough, you'll believe the con artist in a heartbeat." Chuck Whitlock, Chuck Whitlock's Scam School, © 1997, Macmillan, New York, NY, page 20.

An incredible memory for lies

The Insideman, as writer, editor, director, producer, and star, not only has the ability to write scripts on the fly, he can also remember every single lie he has told you. If more than one of you is involved, he can remember all the lies told to each of you in turn.

As an example, a few years ago a large financial scam was pulled on two partners. I was one of them.

The con artist wanted to keep us from reporting what was going on to the FBI. In order to do that he not only terrified us with threats of the complete loss of funds, but instilled a deep mistrust between us so that we would not confide in each other anymore.

He told me one set of lies about my partner, and told a another set of lies to my partner about me. And he managed to keep those lies straight for months while constantly changing the scenario!

Physical Description:

A con artist looks like a mother, a grandmother, a priest, a banker, an insurance salesman, a trustee, a photographer, an executive, a policeman, a doctor, a lawyer, a teacher, a mechanic, a craftsman, a diplomat, a foreign dignitary, a student. A con artist looks like me, a con artist looks like you.

Cons come in other guises as well - a magazine ad, a newspaper ad, a telemarketer, finance broker, television ad, free offers in return for personal information, telephone surveys that request personal information, lovers, companions, financial advisors, prize notifications where you have to send in money to receive the prizes, chain letters, and literally whatever else you can think of.

All in all, the con artist is a master psychologist. He is a psychological illusionist, able to convince anyone to viscerally believe in his illusions.