How Do Con Artists Keep Fooling Us?

Guess what, mango?

What's that? Will?

Did you know that the con and con artist is actually short for confidence, so it's confidence artist or confidence man as they were first known.

Yeah, I actually did, but I never understood why.

Well, the confidence part actually comes from one con man in particular. His name was William Thompson, and he was the very first person to be called a confidence man. So he was this swindler in old New York, and one day in eighteen forty eight he hit upon a new type of scam that quickly became his go to. He would dress in his best clothes and politely approach

A pocket watch for the day.

Pocket.

Finally, he would ask, have you confidence in me to trust me with your watch until tomorrow?

What a line, and it's all it's hard to believe anyone fell for that.

Yeah, I might try it out, but you know, people did fall for it. And Thompson walked off with hundreds of fancy watches, so many that newspapers began reporting about this confidence man who played.

The city's streets. It's pretty crazy.

So with that in mind, we're going to dive into the fascinating history of con artists and try to understand a little bit about why everyone has a soft spot for them. So let's get started. Hey, their podcast listeners, welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined by my good friend Manguesh how Ticketter And before we dive in today's big topic, we've got

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All right, So let's get started. On today's show.

We're talking about con artists, those enterprising flim flammers of the world. We've made lifelong careers out of scamming the public, and we're going to try to pinpoint the golden age of conmen and see if we can figure out how to avoid being duped ourselves. We'll also dig into the psychology of con artists to see how they manage to win a target's trust and even sometimes their hearts.

Yeah, and that might sound ridiculous at first, like this idea that con men win people's hearts. But the more we looked into the topic, the more convinced I became that a lot of us have a big soft spot for con artists. I mean, first of all, which other class of criminals do we regularly describe as artists? Right, Like, that's a pretty big compliment for someone who's trying to rip you off.

Yeah, So we'll check out what's going on there, and of course we'll also take some time for a couple absurd quizzes along the way. Want to give the rundown of who's joining us today?

Mango?

Yeah, sure. So today we're talking to Maria Konnakova, a journalist and psychologist. She's also the best selling author of The Confidence Game. Maria spent years exploring the ins and outs of famous cons for a book, including why they work and why we keep falling for them, And so we're gonna have her on the program. We're also gonna be talking to Patrick Hoffman, this incredible crime novelist who's also a licensed private investigator.

You know, before doing our research for this episode, I actually didn't know that con artist was short for confidence artists, and before the public upgraded them to artists status, they were simply known as confidence men.

What I really like about the story of William Thompson is how well it sets up everything you really need to know about con artists and why we admire them. So think about how they can persuade all sorts of different people into giving up everything from like a watch to their life savings. And that's all just using their words in charm like they're almost improv actors with like looser morals.

Yeah, and while the end result is deplorable, of course, the process itself, I mean, it takes real talent to.

Pull this off, definitely. So con men are incredibly perceptive, which helps them read people quickly in order to come up with just the right story to like hook a particular person, which is why in addition to thinking them as like skilled artists, many researchers also consider them really good psychologists. And so you can think about it, they never actually steal something from you directly. Most of the time they're manipulating you into like handing over what you.

Have, right, And that's exactly what we see with Thompson. I mean, his question have you confidence in me? Is really targeting the stranger sense of pride or their civility. I mean he's basically asking, are you truly a proper gentleman as your appearance suggests? Are you the type of person who assumes the worst of their fellow man?

And it works. I mean, most people hate disappointing others, especially if doing so makes them seem greedy or distrustful, So we all feel that urge to save face even with a total stranger.

Well, and the other thing that we really love is a bargain, and con artists are very well aware of this. I mean, one of my favorite examples of this is George C. Parker. This was the guy you may remember that sold the Brooklyn Bridge twice a week for decades.

I love him so much.

Yes, So here's what Parker did so shortly after the bridge was completed in eighteen eighty three, he decided on a whim to try and sell the bridge to unsuspecting tourists and immigrants. These were folks who were new to the city or maybe even the country, but they'd heard about what amazing opportunities were available here. So when Parker approached them with this deal of a lifetime, the victims assumed they just stumbled into one of these lucky breaks they'd heard so much about.

But still, I mean, like buying the Brooklyn Bridge like that seems like such a tough thing to sell.

Yeah, but he managed to do it again and again.

This is how good he was at this, and sometimes for as much as fifty thousand dollars. So his routine was to introduce himself to a mark as he called them, and as the owner of the bridge, and then offer them a job running the toll booth he was about to build on it. From there, he would play up the fact that he was really more of a builder than a businessman, and that he'd be much happier to leave the toll taking to somebody else, and then he'd

This which is so devious, I know.

And some victims didn't even realize they'd been had until months later. Some continued paying the bridge in monthly installments. I love that when I read about this, only to learn the truth from police after they were trying to construct toll booths on the bridge that they supposedly owned.

So obviously this went on for a long time. But like, how many years was he selling the bridge for?

You're not gonna believe this.

So Peter ran these landmarks selling scams like this from I think it was the eighteen eighties all the way until nineteen twenty eight.

We're talking almost fifty.

Years when he was finally arrested, and then he was sentenced to life and sing sing prison. And although his specialty was selling the Brooklyn Bridge, he dabbled a little and selling other New York City landmarks like the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I think he tried to sell the Statue of Liberty a few times, even Grant's Tune, which he sold while posing as the General's grandson.

This guy's crazy, but it was so good at this.

I love it, but it really makes me wonder, like, who is falling for these schemes. It sounds like these marks were pretty naive. But also like bumping into the owner of like a world famous museum and then buying it off him for like a pittance, that that just sounds so dumb.

I do think we have to be a little bit careful here, But most experts agree that what makes the perfect mark really doesn't have anything to do with how

I mean, these are the people.

That are more likely to latch onto an opportunity that would otherwise seem too good to be.

True, which is interesting. I mean, in Parker's case, it seems like he was targeting immigrants because he sensed their emotional vulnerability and starting over in a new country. But I always assume con artists pick their marks based on like how people were dressed or how they carried themselves, the way Thompson always went after these genteel looking strangers for his watch scam.

Yeah yeah, I mean, I think appearance and body language definitely play a part, but it doesn't seem like the deciding factor. So, for instance, Parker adjusted the amounts he would accept for the Brooklyn Bridge based on how wealthy a particular mark looked. The most he got from a single mark was, of course, that fifty thousand dollars that we mentioned earlier, but he also sold the bridge.

For lower amounts.

You know, some people got a real discount, like five hundred dollars or even fifty bucks.

They got to buy the entire Brooklyn Bridge for fifty bucks. I mean, I might take that chance.

So he would choose his victims based on, you know, what he spotted, if he saw these telltale signs that their lives were in upheaval. But other factors still informed the specifics of how everything played out.

So I guess that's the beauty of selling something that you don't actually own, right, Because any price can be the right one, right, But what strikes me is how much effort and adaptability go into these cons Like, is it wrong that I find all of this kind of impressive?

Well, you know, right or wrong, you wouldn't be alone in that kind of feeling. So when Parker went to prison, he was treated like a celebrity, not only by his fellow inmates, but even by the guards.

They were there.

I mean, everyone loved hearing about his exploits and how he was able to sell such a crazy premise over and over.

Again, which actually backs up a study I came across in Scientific American that suggests we view unethical behavior less harshly if it also happens to be creative. So, for example, you tend to disapprove more strongly of someone who robs a man at gunpoint than someone who swindles money from them through this sort of like creative method. And it's almost like you feel bad for being duped, but you also have to imploud the ingenuity.

Yeah, yeah, I mean it makes sense.

Even though the guards that Sing Sing believed Parker had behaved unethically, they really couldn't help but admire his creativity and boldness that he displayed through all of these crimes he was committing exactly.

And while that kind of thinking is apparently pretty common, it's also somewhat worrisome for society.

Well why would you say that?

Well, so Francisco Gino, one of the researchers who worked on the study, put it this way. Quote. It seems that people view creativity as a positive, valuable trait that provides creative cheaters with a halo that makes their transgressions more palatable and more socially contagious. So because the creativity of a con is valued and appreciated by the public, we're actually more likely to imitate that kind of behavior.

Yeah, I mean, I can see the danger there, and it's certainly worth reminding ourselves that we are talking about ruthless people. I mean, these are ones who are knowingly wreaking havoc on others' lives for their own financial gain. But while we can do our best to avoid outright celebrating con artists, I really doubt we'll ever be able to avoid admiring them, at least a little totally.

And that's something our author Maria Kuonikova touches on in her work. In an interview with The Guardian. She said, quote, of course you have a grudging admiration for them, because they're really really good at what they do. The name con artist really does capture it. They're artists, and I have an admiration for all artists.

Yeah.

Yeah, Well, now seems like the perfect time to check in with Maria and get the lowdown on the works of some of her all time favorite con artists.

What do you say? I'm all for it.

So our guest today has been studying con artists for years. She's the author of Mastermind and The Confidence Game and the host and creator of a terrific podcast from Panopley called The Grift.

And I am addicted to this show.

I've listened to I think six of the episodes now and plan to listen to the others. But Maria Kanakoba, welcome to Part Time Genius.

Thanks so much for having me.

All Right, Well, you know, as I was saying, I've been listening to the show and it's really really interesting and it's fun to kind of follow these common characteristics. Not that every con artist is the same.

So I think one thing that people make the mistake of thinking is that you know, con artists are basically people who take advantage of other people, of other human beings. That's the mindset of a non con artist. Con Artists don't think if they're victims as humans really So there's even a term in con artist parlance. It's called the mark.

This particular time.

Guy calls and starts with the usual spiel, you know, you owe a lot of money on back Texas. The woman and hiss calling starts bawling. I mean, this woman gets hysterical. I don't know what I'm going to do.

I'm pregnant.

You know, we own a store that we can't really keep our payments up on. You know, I'm about to have this baby. What am I going to And she just keeps going, I'm going and the corn artist just says, lady, lady, stop, it's a cone nicely done. So that particular guy probably not a very successful con artist.

You know, when I think about psychics or fortune tellers, you know, I really had more of this image that people go and they throw down twenty dollars or thirty dollars to have their fortune told and then that's kind of the end of it. And yes, maybe they're ripped off, But I didn't really realize how deep some of these scams go oh, and you tell the story of this one poor college student who ended up getting scammed for you know, I think it was like one hundred and

Can you talk a little bit about that.

Absolutely, it's a skill that I think psychics specifically really have down to just this science almost and con artists have had it too. More broadly, and actually a lot of professions rely on it, you know, sales marketing. The better you are and is, the better you are able

So you walk into a.

Psychic realm right away, that's one huge clue. You are at a psychic's place. What kind of person goes to see a psychic?

Why are you there?

Maybe you're there on a lark and you think this is very funny, and yet you did it anyway, so that already says something. Maybe you look really upset. A lot of people go to psychics and they're upset. So right away we know that something happened in your life. What kind of a watch are you wearing? What kind of clothes are you wearing? What kind of bag are you carrying with you? If you're a female, are what

Unique than we like to think.

Every single person likes to think that there's no one going through what I'm going through. No one knows what it's like to be me.

And that's true as.

Far as it goes. However, we all all fit into these overarching themes. You know, a lot of people who are going through similar emotional problems are actually more alike in a lot of surface ways, surface ways that make

Interesting.

So one of the things you mentioned on your show is that carnivals are our first interaction with con artists, and I kind of love that idea. I'd never really thought about it that way, and could you talk a little more about that.

Yeah, it was actually really I was really upset to find it out because I have such vivid, wonderful memories of going to my first carnival as a kid and really really wanting to, you know, win those games and win those stuff animals. And it turns out that there are quite literally con artists in carnivals because a lot of carnival games are crooked, and a lot of carnivals

You know, there there are tons.

Of these that they're rigged, and so you can't win unless the person operating the game wants you to win, and they do that to kind of rope people in and get more money. And the more expensive the game,

Maria, I'm so glad that we conned you into to being on our show today.

I hope all of our listeners.

Will check out The Confidence Game as well as the terrific podcast The Grift.

But Maria, thanks so much for being on Part Time Genius.

Thank you guys so much for having me. It was a lot of fun.

You're listening to Part Time Genius and we're talking about some of the most outlandish con jobs in history and the no account scoundrels who managed to pull them off with style. So Mango, we've already covered a couple of notable con men for the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. You Know, there was one thing I noticed while doing the research for this show is just how many famous

Yeah, I'd said, late eighteen hundreds are probably the best contender for a golden age of conmen, at least here in the States. I read this interview on MPR with Amy Redding, the author of a book on the history of con jobs. It's called The Mark Inside, and she says the nineteenth century was the perfect time for con artists because the world was both smaller and bigger at the same time.

Wait, how does that work?

And bigger?

Well, the US was expanding west, so there was this age of exploration going on that had all kinds of people striking out for places where the rules of society weren't firmly established yet, and they also didn't have a real way to get in touch with the rest of civilization. If they ran into trouble. In fact, Denver was kind of the perfect city for this, and why Denver Well to sharper's and conmen. The city was actually called the Big Store just because it was such an easy place

Wow, Lou really had to go there.

But it wasn't just Denver, of course, sure.

I mean, the con business was bustling everywhere, and as Amy puts a quote, it was easier for itinerant swindlers to move from town to town, practicing the same small cons within a given region without getting caught. So pretty much is the plot of the Music Man.

That's what I actually what I was gonna say, and I was reading about this one eighteen hundreds con artists who followed the exact plan to a t. It was this guy named Lamartine who traveled through Ohio in the spring of eighteen fifty nine, and he would pretend to attempt suicide in every town he stopped in. He worked out this whole routine where he would show up and book a hotel. He would look all depressed, and then he would call for a clergyman and point to an empty bottle of loudness.

While lying next to a suicide note. How terrible is that?

Which sounds like guess convincing enough, but how did any of that line in his pockets?

Well, he figured that his sad plight would evoke pity from you know, good Samaritans in town who happened to hear about him, and they would turn up at his bedside with gifts of cash to help raise his.

Spirits and get him back on his feet.

So Lamartine, you know, he made his way all across Ohio like this. He might raise thirty or forty dollars per town, and then he'd disappear again with a free pass on the railroad. To commit suicide at some other place.

Which is unbelievable. So, speaking of trains, one of my favorite convent is Elmer Mead. He's this legend and he ran this amazing con called the Magic Wallet, which we should talk about some other episode. But my favorite con that he came up with is the fixed foot race. And basically, people used to bet on races at the time. So he'd searched like a nearby town for an upstanding rich man who also happened to be a gambler, and he'd lure them to another town on the promise that

Oh what's amazing to me is how how much work some of these scams take.

You know.

But I think we found another characteristic of con men that probably helps endear us to them, and that's that they're entrepreneurs. I mean, we appreciate that can do spirit in America, even apparently in situations like this, when bending the rules to get the job done.

Yeah. So, Amy Reading actually has a great quote about common Let let me find it. She says, a con artist is, like quote, the bad boy cousin of the self made men, and a direct descendant of mythic anti heroes like cowboys or noir detectives who exploit the ragged

Yeah, that's pretty interesting, and I guess con artists makes sense as another kind of American archetype of the Old West. You had cowboys or frontiersmen, you know, rail riding hobos, and especially when you look how far back they go in our nation's history and how prevalent they still are today.

So I think one of the best examples of how intertwined con artistry is with the US past and present is actually the Nigerian email scam. And I know, if it's an email scam from Nigeria, how does it say anything about US history? But that's the thing. Those emails are actually a modern version of a classic con that dates all the way back to the French Revolution.

Well, and to be clear, you're talking about those spam emails we see all the time about a Nigerian prince or something who supposedly has a huge fortune and willing to share it if you just provide a small upfront fee so he can then safely move the funds out of his country.

That's what you're talking.

About, right exactly. So they're sometimes called the four one to nine scams because that's the legal designation for fraud in Nigeria. But the truth is that advanced fee scams like this are way older than email and weren't originally connected to Nigeria or it's princes.

Well, you said they started with the French Revolution.

And so that's when we see the first recognizable version of this con The Boston Globe did this great report on the scam a few years by, and they broke it down like this quote. A letter arrived describing and an aristocrat and exile, say the Marquis de whomever, who, in escaping from revolutionary violence, had thrown a chest full of jewels into a lake. His faithful servant, now writing this heartfelt letter, had come back to retrieve it and

Yeah, that is pretty much exactly the same as the Nigerian prints email so when did the scam make its way straightside?

So it caught on like wildfire. About a century later, during the Spanish American War, the scam became known as the Spanish Prisoner letter and was later modified for use all over the world. It only popped up in Nigeria in the nineteen eighties when paper letters began circulating there promising easy money from the nation's oil boom.

Nah.

And then came the Internet, of course, which really just seems perfectly suited for a scam like this. I mean, not only do you save a bundle on postage, but then you're suddenly able to reach millions of people all over the globe.

Yeah, there's no doubt technology is in the scamma Boost, But I think there's a deeper reason it's managed to survive in different forms for so many hundreds of years, and it's that at its core, the scheme relies on people's willingness to become small scale war profiteers, which is a pretty ugly side of humanity to prey on. Though it's probably the fact that it works so well that's even more upsetting.

It's a really good point, and it actually kind of gets me thinking, you know, maybe there's a little bit of con artist.

In all of us, which is definitely something worth pondering. But before we get into that, how about we break for a quiz.

And then.

So, our next guest is a private investigator. He's been a private investigator for over a decade now, but he's also a critically acclaimed author of The White Fan and every Man in Menace, and he's here to talk to us a little bit about being a PI and many of the other things that we have to ask him. But Patrick Kaufman, welcome to Part Time Genius.

Thanks for having me.

So, Patrick, I understand that you started out as a cab driver in San Francisco. I mean, how do you go from being a cab driver making this leap to becoming a private investigator.

It's funny. I think cab driving is the perfect background to become a private investigator actually, because you're learning a city. You know, you go everywhere in the city, you meet every type of person in the cab. You learn how to talk to every type of society, and that helps

That makes sense.

So you did this amazing interview in GQ where you talked about sort of this relatively mundane thing where you go to find and ask someone a question, but then there are all these menacing things happening around you. A guy wielding a wrench, and like people pulling up and watching you from a car. And so I was curious, when do you know when to be scared?

Well, I mean I'm scared all the time. Every time I go to knock on someone's door. Was a little bit nervous. I'm just I'm kind of shy to begin with. But I don't know how. You know, you just you know, you get a feeling. It's kind of like, uh, pornography, you know what when you see it, you know you

I don't want so that's that's that's really wild.

Yeah, I actually you always imagine that private investigators just have no fear at all.

It's really interesting to hear this.

I mean, has there ever been a time or a case that you were working on where you really just almost said, you know what, I'm not cut out to do this.

I can't do this work anymore.

I mean I often feel that way. Actually, you know, it's a tough job. But that case that you were talking about earlier was one case where I was feeling that way a little bit because it was a murder case and it was a gang that had done they had killed four people and one night just for fun. It wasn't even a gang saying it was. They were

Well?

I find the work really meaningful, you know. I think st ended up to helping someone who charged in a case is a great thing to do. The whole government coming down on someone and they can only rely on the lawyers and the investigators and the paralagels and the people trying to work for them against the power of the of the US government or the state government. I think it's just a really noble thing to do.

Which is awesome. And speaking of meaningful, we're gonna give you a really meaningful quiz right now.

What quiz are we playing with Patrick today?

Mango's. It's called spot the Con because our show is all about common and every answer has the word con in it.

All right, Patrick, are you ready to play?

I think so?

Okay, we got.

Four questions for you, all right. Question number one, This state has a law that, to be officially called a pickle, a brind cucumber must bounce. Also, its capital is Hartford, name that conque.

An nenunciate there we go, all right? Number two.

Since twenty ten, this breakfast meat has had a legal church established in its name in Vegas with over thirteen thousand congregants. Also strips of its star and a sandwich between lettuce and tomato.

Can you name that con bacon?

Yeah, you got it, all right.

See no need to be afraid of this quiz, all right? Question number three.

When Wilt Chamberlain scored his one hundred point game, he was wearing this classic sneaker brand, but you might recognize them by the Chuck Taylor patch on them.

Can you name that con convert? You got it? Three for three. Let's see if you can go for the perfect score. Number four.

When JFK was stranded on the Solomon Islands, he wrote a message on the husk of one of these hairy, hard shelled fruits.

And was rescued.

Name that con This is a hard one. By the way, it's hard to find the con in this one.

Is that coconut?

Yeah? Absolutely so. In fact, JFK actually kept his inscribed coconut on his desk as the paperweight.

Wow, all right, well, how has Patrick done today? Mango?

Well, Patrick went an incredible four for four, which means we'll be sending him home with a Hardy Boys tote bag, the best way to show the world you know who the Hardy Boys are terrific.

Well, I hope all of our listeners will check out Every Man a Menace as well as The White Van.

But Patrick, thanks so much for joining us on Part Time Genius.

Thanks for having me, guys, I really appreciate it.

Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where today we're talking about some of the most notorious bunko artists in the business.

So you're really having fun with all these colorful nicknames from common like bunko artists. I think you called him no account scoundrels, flim flammers.

Flym flammers. I like that one.

I mean, not only are con artists the most well regarded of criminals, they're also the ones with the best nicknames. Actually, I looked into a few of my favorites to see where they came from.

So let's see.

There was a bamboozler, which started out as a slang word for chie in the seventeen hundreds, might have been derived from the Scottish word for bambay or Bombay's, which means to perplex. Another good one is bilker, which first used in the sixteen hundreds as a cribbage term for someone who spoiled another person's.

Score you love, you love my cribbage.

References, and later came to be, you know, to mean defrauder. But the Hussarus is full of them, swindler, fleecer, sharpie, shyster, smoothie, sly boots.

So there's actually one where I wouldn't mind talking about.

Oh yeah, what, what's that one?

Snake oil salesman?

Oh yeah, good. I don't know how I didn't think about that one. That should have come up already.

I know. So the term's kind of become synonymous with convent, and it brings to mind ideas of like these old timey traveling salesmen hawking fake curles from a covered wagon or whatever. But in fact, if you look up snake oil in the OED, it's actually defined as a quack remedy or panacea.

I don't get it. Why is that surprising?

Right? So it's because snake oil in itself can actually be a legitimate treatment for some conditions.

Okay, well, forgive me if i'm a little skeptical about this mango, But this is an episode about cons after.

That, so fair enough. But this is actually the real deal. Like thousands of the Chinese railroad workers who immigrated to the US during the late eighteen hundreds, they actually relied on snake oil to reduce inflammation in their joints after a long day on the job. It was this medical tradition that they brought over from their homeland, a bomb made from like the Chinese water snakes omega three rich oils, and it was super effective for treating conditions like arthritis or bersitis.

Yeah that's pretty cool.

So but wait, you're telling me that snakel salesmen are somehow victims of some long running smear campaign.

Absolutely not. They were total crooks. But once words started getting out about this Chinese snake oil, these enterprising American entrepreneurs or con men as you and I call them, started developing their own homegrown versions of the miracle drug. And the most famous of these was the salesman called Clark Stanley. Have you heard of him?

No, I haven't.

He was also called the Rattlesnake King, and he claimed to have found a way to put the oil from snakes to the same use as the water snakes. But Stanley snake oil had two problems, right, So the first was that rattlesnake oil is way less effective for treating inflammation. It only has a third of the active compound of a water snake oil.

Oh okay, all right, and you said there was a second problem.

Yeah, So the second was that Stanley snake oil didn't have any snake oil in all that.

That's a big problem.

That's a bigger problem. But this federal investigation in nineteen seventeen found out that his product was mostly made from mineral oil and some mix of beef fat and red pepper and turpentine. But once the secret was out, Stanley was out of the business, and snake oil salesmen have ever been linked to that fraud.

Okay, all right, And as you know, we've talked about con men as artists, actors, psychologists, storytellers, of course, not to mention criminals. But you know, that last story reminds me that a con man is fundamentally a salesman. I mean, their product is lousier, altogether non existent even But because that's the case, con artists are actually some of the best sales people ever.

Yeah, and I think it's that's that tenacity and that idea of making it on the strength of your own wits that people find so appealing. Like we all love an underdog, someone who's figured out this way to work the system to their own advantage. So in a way, we like hearing about con artists because we get to live vicariously through them in these like larger than life stories of people who've gotten there is one way or another.

Yeah.

Yeah, which brings me back again to something we touched on earlier. You know, at some level, are we all con artists, Because if we're responding to certain characteristics that typify con artists, maybe the same kind of duplicitous tendencies crop up in all of us, but you know, just in a less concentrated form.

Yeah.

So that actually sounds a lot like something I read about in my research called microcons And these are the little white lives we all tell on a daily basis, Like it might be an insincere compliment you give to loved one, or like an ignored text we make it up an excuse for missing. We often stand to gain something from these FIBs, whether it's avoiding on wanted confrontation

Yeah, And I might be a little bit biased here, but I'm gonna go ahead and say no to that. But I do think you're right that micro cons are a thing we all do. But con artists really seem to be operating on a whole different level. I mean, there's a crazy amount of energy and thought that goes into being a con artist.

I read this Economist article by Alison Schrieger, and she really nails that difference between con artists and the average person. She writes, it's an amazing paradox. A conmen has incredible emotional insight, but without the burden of compassion, he must take an intense interest in other people, complete strangers, and work to understand them, yet remain detached and uninvested. That the plan is to cheat these people and ultimately confirm many of their fears cannot be of concern.

Yeah, without the burden of compassion. That that's an interesting way to put it, And it's that kind of effort and cold focus that I'm talking about. I mean, we aren't detached from the people. We carry out our own micro cons on it's usually just the opposite of that. And you know, we aren't knowingly hurting folks either, which is probably the biggest thing that separates us from con artists and also a reason maybe to rethink our love

Which is true. But I think you should keep your wits about you for this next part because it's about time to jump into the part time genius fact off.

All right, I'll start us off, and we talked about George Parker and his selling the Brooklyn Bridge multiple times, but it turns out there was a con artist pulling a similar stunt in Paris. This was a guy named Victor Luswig in the early nineteen twenties, and he decided to appoint himself the deputy director of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs.

What a title. It sounds official to me.

So he went around us scrap metal dealers telling them that the Eiffel Tower was going to be dismantled, and then he took bids on who was going to get the medal, and lots of people fell for this. In fact, the guy who ultimately won the bid he was too embarrassed by the whole thing to report, of.

Course he was. So I want to do a full episode on female con artists online because there are some amazing stories. But one of my favorite characters is Sophie Lyons, who this writer Jay Robert Nash calls America's first important con woman. She started as a prostitute and she married her way up, like she married a bank robber. But over the years she managed to builk over a million dollars out of people while outsmarting the police at every turn,

Oh wow, all right, Well, one of my favorite con artists is Princess Cariboo from the island of Javasu. Back in the early eighteen hundreds, this woman began wandering the streets of all men Bury, England. She'd be wearing all black and was clearly hungry and exhausted, and she was speaking a language no one could understand. So a wealthy couple takes her in and they try to find somebody

So I've got one for you. Are you familiar with the Nation of Celestial Space.

I can't say that I am.

Well, it's a real thing, or at least it was in the mind of this Chicago resident, Charles D. Mangan So one night, after pondering the ownership of outer space, he decided he'd claim all of out of space as part of the Nation of Celestial Space, which he founded in nineteen forty nine. But here's the weird part, right. Somehow, after a lot of phone calls and a lot of harassing, he submitted his charter of Celestia to the County Recorder of Deeds, and it was actually accepted by the state

No one answered his phone qull it seems impossible. That's so crazy.

All right, You're gonna be shocked when I tell you this. But you know those signs you see all over the place. They're on telephone polls, highway medians that say you can work from home and make tons of money. It turns out those are a scam. Ango.

I hate to tell you that. I know it's hard to believe.

So usually what those scammers do is get you to pay some sort of a fee for a starter kit of some kind, and then the only way you can really make money is to convince your friends or other people you know to do the same thing.

So perhaps the greatest impostor of them all would be Ferdinand Demara, who's often known as the great impostor. In his nineteen eighty two obituary in the New York Times and You're gonna love this, they gave a rundown of many of the identities he'd taken on the oh bit

That is impressive, I know, But.

This is the best part, right, Like the identity that actually got inbusted was the most impressive one. It was when he was a surgeon on the Royal Canadian Navy destroyer during the Korean War. He was a surgeon and after several wounded men were brought in from combat, it was on him to save them, right, And so the story goes he had this photographic memory and he'd go into a back room, look at a medical book, come

Yeah, and that is crazy. But back to what we were talking about.

At the beginning of the episode.

It's so impressive that you almost find yourself cheering the guy on total So I have to give it to you, Mango.

You win the trophy this time.

Thank you and thank you listeners for tuning in.

Thanks again for listening.

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