How the Old Time Con Game Works

Con artists, and scam artists, have been around for centuries. Not much has changed the game except that way a person is drawn into the “game” as a “mark”, a victim, then set up, told a tale to draw them in, and finally fleeced for every bit of money they have.

The difference between a con artist and an everyday criminal is that the art of the con never resorts to violence or intimidation.

A con artist must possess intelligence, high interest in their subject, and the ability to sustain and control how the person being drawn in will react at the next step of the game.

Today, many of the scams online are similar in nature. The con artist calls a person on their phone, or sends an email. The next step is to gather information that can be used to steal a person’s identity.

Often a juicy offer is at hand, and to receive the offer, or the results of a competition that the customer has apparently won, they must give out many details about themselves.

Every morsel of personal information is useful to an astute con artist. It’s a game of putting a jigsaw puzzle together about a person’s details. Bank name, bank numbers…