If you’ve seen the movie Catch Me If You Can Starring Leonardo Di Caprio, then you have perhaps understood already what a con man is. For those who haven’t seen it, the movie is about Frank Abagnale Jr.Frank Abagnale Jr. – one of the most successful con men in history.
Abagnale successfully conned people into believing that he’s a pilot, a teacher, a wealthy merchant, among others. During his elder years, he ended up becoming an asset of the FBI, helping law enforcers to catch criminals like him.
Though the get-rich-quick gurus that you’ve heard of might not be as notorious as Frank Abagnale, they do share a lot of similarities – they are master manipulators who can trick you into giving away your possessions, and make you think that the whole idea was yours, even though it was actually due to their cunning and cleverness.
The word “con” in con man actually stands for “confidence.” They are labeled as such because they are so good at winning your trust that you’d feel like you’re very close friends although you’ve just met the guy for just a few minutes.
In her book The Confidence Game, author Maria Konnikova writes, “The true con doesn’t force us to do anything. He doesn’t steal, we give.” She also explains that “Transition is the con man’s greatest ally.” It’s because it breeds uncertainty. The longer the transition process takes, the higher the possibility of the victim becoming even more ensnared by the words of the con.
In our generation where rapid transactions take place. The methods used by con men are revolutionized to the fullest as well. The hunting arena for fraudsters is becoming more fertile because of the endless opportunities within the digital realm. And people like you and me are very ripe for the taking, especially if we belong to the uninitiated.
Because of the connectivity algorithms used by social media apps and platforms, it’s easier than ever to identify those people who are easy targets for scams. For instance, your likes and viewing patterns about videos, and webpages are stored in your browser or mobile apps so that on your next internet sessions, you will be easily presented with multimedia presentations that pertain to those items that you like.
And if you have been viewing videos are ads that pertain to investing during the past sessions, similar of those videos will appear automatically on your news feeds – you don’t need to look for them. Sadly, the ads and infomercials from those internet gurus also appear on your wall. You are already being preyed on and you didn’t even realize it.
The moment when that happens, that is where the conning also takes place. Because real money-making often involves complex mathematics and analysis, it is often difficult, which makes it really hard for most people to truly understand it. And because there are only very few individuals who are truly equipped for such knowledge, only very few people can avoid being scammed.
Such a scenario is called the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Social psychologists David Dunning and Justine Kruger conducted studies in which people were tested in categories such as logic and grammar. The subjects were asked to rate themselves on how good they are in those fields.
Surprisingly, those who ranked themselves the lowest were proven to be those who know a lot, while those who ranked themselves high were actually those who were not very skillful in either aspect. What we can learn from the experiment is that the less you know about something, the more likely it is that you’ll end up being deceived.
So the less you know about money-making and investing, the more possibility of you believing that becoming rich can be easily achieved in just a few steps if you’d just pay for a certain amount of money. This is not to say that there aren’t really effective ways of achieving such an end, the only problem is that there are only very few of such genuine methods, and not to mention, and even fewer people who are genuinely helping others to achieve the real success they’re enjoying.
So how can you tell if the rich, money-making educator is not a con man or a scammer? To answer that question, let’s familiarize ourselves with the typical “to-do list” of con men. First, they identify their victims: from the streets, malls, bars, or online.
To make it so much easier for them, they utilize the power of browsers that can track your web surfing habits. If you’re someone who usually uses search phrases like “online investing” or “easy ways to make money” then you are already within their lists of targets.
The next step is delivering the metaphorical “payload” to the victim. The con man will befriend the victim, act like he truly cares, and proceed with the “showing-off” act. This is where the “I’m rich selfie, and self-video” comes in.
The fraudster will then show the expensive car he bought, his 10-bedroom mansion, his big swimming pool, etc. This one of the best ways to convince the marked target that the con man can really make anyone rich, much like himself.
Then, the scammer will begin telling that there is a quick and easy way to attain the success he got and that it can be achieved by anyone who’s willing to learn. To reinforce the idea, they would give out some social proof: some testimonials from people (conniving ones, actually), and the number of their followers from their social media pages.
Then there comes the money breakdown. They will spell out the cost of the training they’ll give, the price of their ebooks, and how much their coaching services are. Not too long after that though, you or any scammed individual will just find out that your money is gone, and the hope of being financially free never got realized.
And the really sad thing is that when you do take action and complaints about why you lost, you will end up as someone who doesn’t have enough faith in their system, or that you didn’t work hard enough. They will take all the credit, you take all of the blame.
If you’re going to look closely into the learning program that they ask you to pay for, you will eventually discern that there isn’t really enough substantial, helpful information there. What they’ll be actually saying are very generic pieces of information – not much deep research, just typical motivational statements.
Now, is that a con? Since most of the people who fall into the play will not be earning anything at all, then there will be a lot of declarations that the whole thing is really fraudulence. However, there will still be those who say that the methods are effective, mostly those fellow gurus or buddies of the scammer.
If we think of it, how much time and resources are actually spent on the promotion of the ad and the program compared to the giving of the actual lessons? And once you have decided to enroll in those courses they’re offering, you will be prompted to more lessons and subscribe to more services.
But although technology is making way for more con men to reach more people, it has never been easier for you as well to spot and report those scammers. When you do spot them, do your civic duty of informing the social media platform you're using, or the local authorities where they are closest to. In that way, the wicked acts they're spreading could be regulated significantly.
