The Con Artist: Trying to Avoid Them

There are many forms of cons in the world today, especially with the advanced technology we posses, it makes cons even more stealthy and dangerous. The one that are most harmful to companies are credit card frauds but the most damaging – emotionally – are the ones on a personal level. Yes, friends and family could be conning you of your money, jewellery and personal items. The hardest ones to avoid are your close friends and family members because it is hard say “No”. However for the “friend” you just met, it’s a lot easier and there will be signs to help you avoid being conned.

The Con Artist is secretive, stealthy, observant, highly intelligent, and will lie to you to your face. They have only one objective that is what’s inside your wallet and stop at nothing to get it. They will first try and get friendly with you (like most con artists) but then the conversation will try and swerve towards your materialistic side (everyone has something they want) and see what is it that you want. They will then say they can get it for you at a price much lower than any retail store.

For example, you want a car with this model and make. They will say they can get it at half the price, but you will have to make instalments toward the car. This is where they get you, depending on the product you’re purchasing and they can say anything they want to make you pay more. Especially if you’re buying a car (people please, don’t buy a car from someone you met for less than a month, no matter how well you know the person.) they can say, “This is broken so you’ll have to pay to fix it.” Or “We are missing this part,” and the list goes on and on. 

The best aspect or rather the worse aspect of a con artist is their fluid mind and slippery tongue. They can make you believe anything they say even if you have doubts they’ll just talk your doubts away. They tell you why you need this and how this works to give you a false peace of mind. Meanwhile you keep giving them money for something you’ll never receive.

Some tricks can be used to tell if they’re telling the truth or not. These tricks can be found on any search engine on the web, but others written here will take patience and practice.

1. While talking, look them directly in the eye, if they are saying something that isn’t the truth, they will either look away or their eyes will blink rapidly.
2. Look at their body language see if they move a lot when they talk. If they seem to fidget a lot then something’s wrong.
3. Observe them carefully when they’re around other people, partners, friends, family. If they act differently with you than everyone else, something might be going on.
4. Take note of everything they do, repeat, EVERYTHING they do, because if they promised something but does something else you can call them on it. Example, they said pay a hundred dollars and then a month later it got changed to two hundred. Write it down and use it as proof of what they said.  
5. Lastly, they always forget about the lie, so if they say something, tell them to repeat it again a week or two later, that’s how you’ll know if they’re lying.

No one can bust a con artist easily, especially if they have a certain level of intelligence. It’s not that you aren’t smart enough, but they are smarter and have the experience. There’s nothing you can really do if it happens to you, but if it does then realize it and try to stop it.