"Everybody gets something out of every transaction."
-Joe Mantegna in "House of Games"
In a previous posting I discussed Con Men and Religion, religion being defined as bullshit one makes up in order to feel good about oneself. Now, I certainly understand the desire to trust, it's a natural human instinct predators take advantage of. But one cannot safely trust in this world without an equal measure of self-honesty. If one insists on lying to oneself, expect your trust to be betrayed. A Fort Worth retiree learned that lesson the hard way recently.
The scam was a classic one and the perpetrators were professionals. An elderly Hispanic woman claiming to hold a winning lottery ticket said she had no idea how to claim her prize. She used the old "You look like an honest man to me" trick. The retiree even helped with his own self-con warning her to watch out for muggers. Now, who doesn't like to be told they are an honest person and then get to play the role of protective hero to boot? And in exchange for receiving the woman's compliments and good wishes, the man emptied his bank account.
An accomplice showed up dressed in a sharp and respectable manner. No rebel he but rather a man of good standing in the community, no doubt. Con men are always clean cut - that always means something to the self-deceived. He too wants to help: helping to "prove" the ticket is a winner and also to help cash it. In order to prove he wouldn't run off with the winnings the woman herself could not cash, he offered up good faith money of $12,000. This then made the retiree feel obligated to put up his own good faith money, the said $4,000.
He's showing me his cards.
He must trust me!
Complaining of hunger, the woman had them drive to a donut shop. The retiree went in and when he came back out, they were gone. Variations of this con have been used for over a century now. It continues to work because there's never a short supply of people who need to feel good things about themselves - even if it's false. The clean cut con man repeatedly affirmed to the retiree they were doing the right thing and God had sent them to help the old woman in her hour of need.
The family of the retiree was deeply embarrassed by the entire episode but wanted the story publicized in hopes of avoiding further victims. I suspect they had no idea how long the "good faith money" scam has been in operation, though. But like Michael Jordan, you can't hope to stop it, only (maybe) contain it. There's lots of guilty people walking around - mostly capitalists looking to atone for their dog-eat-dog philosophy (but not to give it up, of course!)
Even if you don't like the answers you get, it's always best to be honest with yourself. There's never an advantage to lying about anything. All lies are destined to die.
Watch and learn (check out Part 5 to see the actual "short con"):
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