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Sep 26, 2019 · By definition, a con artist is a manipulator who cheats, or tricks, others through persuading them to believe something that is not true. Through deception, they fool people into believing they...
- Con Artists and Their Marks
In The Confidence Game, Maria Konnikova shows how con...
- The Era of the Con Artist
It’s not just about fame or fortune. At the root of their...
- Con Artists and Their Marks
From the man who sold the Eiffel Tower to the ex-cop who enlisted Mormons and mobsters to steal millions from McDonald's, learn the unbelievable stories of history's biggest conmen.
Feb 25, 2023 · What explains con artists’ impulse to deceive, repeatedly, even as the fictions they tell become harder to maintain? These questions have fascinated psychologists for years—and we’re ...
- 10 William Thompson
- 9 Oscar Hartzell
- 8 Hungry Joe
- 7 Lord Gordon Gordon
- 6 Henri Lemoine
- 5 Lou Blonger
- 4 William Elmer Mead
- 3 John St. John Long
- 2 Reed Waddell
- 1 Victor Lustig
The crimes of William Thompson weren’t particularly brazen. But seeing as how he was the first person described as a “confidence man,” they are historically significant. Thompson was active in mid-19th-century New York City. Sporting a genteel appearance and courteous demeanor, he would walk up to affluent strangers and strike up a conversation, ac...
In 1915, the mother of Oscar Hartzell invested $6,500 in a scam. Along with many other Americans from the Midwest, she believed that they stood to make a fortune by taking the British government to court over the improperly probated estate of famed 16th-century adventurer Sir Francis Drake. At first, the con targeted only people with the surname Dr...
Joseph Lewis (aka Hungry Joe) was a prolific swindler who was active in late 19th-century New York. His con of choice involved enticing rich marks into fixed matches of bunco, a popular parlor gameof the time. Lewis was so successful that he earned the moniker “king of the Bunco Men.” Hungry Joe’s notoriety came from some of his high-profile target...
His real name is lost to history, as are his origins. He was a 19th-century British swindler who posed as a nobleman and successfully convinced others to part with large sums of money. His first appearance in the record books happened in 1868 when he attempted to secure a Scottish estate by posing as Lord Glencairn. Eventually, he was found out and...
If you google “how to make diamonds,” you will find countless results of “surefire” methods detailing how you could manufacture your own diamondsin the comfort of your home. Turns out that this scam is over 100 years old and was first employed by French con man Henri Lemoine. In 1905, Lemoine claimed to have developed a technique of making diamonds...
Born in 1849 in Vermont, Lou Blonger joined the Union Army when he was just 14 years old. After the Civil War, he reunited with his elder brother, Sam. They made their way through the American frontier, engaging in the occasional prospecting, gambling, and grifting. By the late 1880s, the Blonger brothers had settled in Denver. They opened several ...
William Elmer Mead was an oddityamong the grifter community. Due to his strict fundamentalist upbringing, he never drank, smoked, or swore. He also attended church on Sundays. This earned him the nickname “The Christian Kid,” but it didn’t stop Mead from defrauding marks of over $2 million over a 40-year career. Mead was an innovator of the magic w...
History is full of quacks, and one of the most successful was John St. John Long. Born in Ireland in 1798, Long first studied art but soon discovered that medical fraud was more lucrative. In 1826, he announced that he had developed a cure for consumption (aka tuberculosis). His treatment involved two secret chemicals—one was inhaled as a vapor, an...
Born into a well-off family in Springfield, Illinois, Reed “Kid” Waddell didn’t seem like someone destined for a life of crime. However, a gamblinghabit forced his family to cut him off completely in his early twenties. Waddell arrived in New York City in 1880 and got involved with the green goods game. This con involved printing secretive leaflets...
Victor Lustig became infamous as “the man who sold the Eiffel Tower twice.” He also conned Al Caponeand got away with it. He repeatedly sold a tiny, useless box for tens of thousands of dollars. During his trial, a Secret Service agent aptly called him “the smoothest con man that ever lived.” According to prison interviews, Lustig was born in a tow...
Con artists can trick you out of your money by taking advantage of any weaknesses they can discover. Learn about con artists and con artist tactics.
- Ed Grabianowski
Jan 5, 2016 · In The Confidence Game, Maria Konnikova shows how con artists exploit our tendency to overestimate our intelligence and judgment, and examines the psychology of her victims.
Feb 25, 2022 · It’s not just about fame or fortune. At the root of their greed, they likely experience a sick satisfaction from exercising the muscle that comes from being a con artist.
