Con Artists and Their Marks How con artists exploit our tendency to overrate our intelligence and judgment. The relationship could have moved slow like a snail or become a breeze of wild love; there’s no time limit for these plays. And if the person asking for money is out of the country, then you can be assured you’re dealing with a scammer. I’m not going to teach you how to diagnose an ASPD or to distinguish them from a sociopath (or psychopath, or con artist). Until then, don’t do it. He told me one set of lies about my partner, and told a another set of lies to my partner about me. Con artists may be willing to disregard the truth, but according to Konnikova, it’s not due to any compulsive need. Once you’ve established a real face-to-face relationship for a period of time you’ll be able to assess whether sharing money is a good idea. How can you spot a con artist? When someone wants your money, if the offer is legitimate, it will still be around next week. Until then, don’t do it. The con artist wanted to keep us from reporting what was going on to the FBI. The con artist lies to get into your bed. A con artist will often pressure you to make a decision on the spot -- often using hard sell tactics, such as saying that the deal won't last. They may get nervous when you ask for something in writing, and will usually refuse to provide it. Posted Jan 05, 2016 New Yorker writer Maria Konnikova -- that's with a "K", not a "C" -- has made a study of con artists and their techniques. In order to do that he not only terrified us with threats of the complete loss of funds, but instilled a deep mistrust between us so that we would not confide in each other anymore. It’s simply when they’ve grown bored of one game, and are internally fueled for a new challenge. He's smooth and suave, and he says all the right things.