THE CON ARTIST, AND HOW TO AVOID THEM

The Con Artist

Con artists can be a family member, close friend, neighbor or community member. They can seem like the nicest people and seem to genuinely care about you. Learning more about the Con Artist will help you recognize them and hopefully prevent you from falling victim too their schemes.

Character traits of a Con Artist

They will be extremely confident and charming. They have a natural ability to talk people into things. The word con comes from ‘confident’.

Con Artists are money hungry and desperate for success. They also may carry with them the traits of an addict. The con is addicted to conning people or to something that is forcing him to con people (addicted to money or addicted to drugs that need money to acquire them)

They will also show people their righteous side such as giving charity etc. and will push themselves into prominent positions such as members of the board in prestigious organizations.

They work very hard to come across as smooth, professional and successful. Con artists may dress like they are wealthy and work out of extremely impressive looking offices.

Some con artists may be not actually intentionally wish to scam people, they may just be delusional. They may believe that they have special power and capabilities to bring tremendous results and unbelievable returns on investments.

What are some of the tactics Con Artist use to win their victims?

Con Artists appeal to the dreamer in you. They promise you the investment chance of a lifetime and may add the fear of missing out (FOMO) for example, others will become rich and you will regret that you didn’t join them in this investment.

Con artists play at your heartstrings and work with your emotions. They will flatter you and sometimes try to get close to you so that they build your trust in them. They will use multiple persuasion tactics to manipulate you and sometimes even intimidate you.?

They may tell you that they have expertise in this field with proven results etc. They will not have a clear plan or any plan at all.

They may use name dropping tactics to show credibility. They will give you a name of a prominent, savvy and wealthy businessman that invested with them.?

Once you invest with them they may not let you talk with other partners / investors. This is a control tactic to make sure you don’t learn the truths.

Con artist may try to make you feel inadequate if you don't believe them. In addition, con artists know how to make you believe that if you lack confidence in them, this is a personal slight to their abilities.

They sometimes have so much control over you by the time you are ready to go into the deal that for some reason you don’t tell your close friends the details.

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Who are the victims of Con Artists?

Many of us think we are too smart and savvy to be a victim of a con artist, however history has proven otherwise.

Men are more prone to be victims because they are more emotional than women when it comes to money. This may be because men have the need to prove their success and because they carry the responsibility of the family (breadwinner). Men in general are grandiose they have an ego. For this reason, it may be wise to discuss the ‘once in a lifetime’ business deal with your wife before you jump in.

Victims are more susceptible to be conned a second time. This can be to prove that the first time was not a mistake and they will make the money the second time around. People would rather loose money a second time than to admit they were conned.

How to avoid the con artist and not fall victim?

The con artist generally will not have much paperwork, if any at all. Not putting anything in writing is a red flag. They will also not use logic in their investment. Ask for financial data and written information on the investment product or business and for all the paperwork. Review the paperwork thoroughly and verify all the information. Show the paperwork to an independent professional such as an attorney and or an accountant or investment specialist. Ask about the risks involved in the investment. Take the time to think things over. Don’t allow the pressure of time to suck you in to a bad deal.

They may be telling different people different things in order to get the most out of each relationship. Don’t be scared to ask the other partners or investors.

Never make a buying decision when you've just heard the sales pitch. Always give yourself at least 24 hours to think about it. This gives you time for the emotional effects of the sales presentation to subside and time for you to do research.

Don't take everything you hear or read at face value. Ask questions.

If you find yourself making investment-related decisions based only on your emotions, watch out!

Why do we get conned and why don’t we stop Con Artists when we recognize the red flags?

We as humans are born to see positive. We have a hard time recognizing and accepting negative about other people. Con Artists may do a lot of good for society and may be a good friend to you. They may not have evil intentions when they con you. The Con, many times is a delusional person that creates a fantastic dream that sounds really amazing. They are convinced they can entirely execute the idea and turn it into billions of dollars without formulating a plan. Did you ever ask yourself, why is it that many people run to buy the lottery when its at $500 Million and don’t have the same excitement to buy the lottery when it’s for $50 Million? The con artist creates the illusion of the $500 Million lottery. They dangle the dream of enormous sums of money and success in front of us and they rely on our greed to buy into their investment without thinking it through.

The con artist will stir your emotions. They will twist you so that you won't know anymore which way is up and which is down. Once they got you into this condition, it doesn't matter how smart or dumb you are. Like the airplane pilot flying in the clouds, without the special instruments he may not know his position if he’s flying straight or inverted (upside down). The body will convince the pilot that he is flying straight even when the gauge instrument shows he’s upside down.

SHORT TIPS

How to avoid the con artist and not fall victim?

·????????Ask a lot of questions

·????????Take out the emotion

·????????Buy time

·????????Read all the paperwork

·????????Show the paperwork to a professional