Probably one of the best shows to ever come from NBC’s financial network CNBC is “American Greed”. Hosted by 80’s “tough guy” Stacy Keach, this ongoing series that started in 2007 deals with all of the ways people are screwed over by schemers and manipulators and corporations and outright con-artists.
Now these are not dramatic recreations using fictional names in fictional circumstances based on current headlines like certain crime drama shows, i.e. “Law & Order”. No, these are real crimes with real criminals and real victims that happened in the real world. Some you may have heard of in the news, and others that were only infamous for a certain part of the country. You may have heard of Marty Shkreli and WorldCom, but probably not about the comptroller in a little town in Illinois who pilfered the local government revenue for her horse-breeding empire.
I’ve made references to this series in my column for years because I believe that knowing that these things happened and knowing the details of these crimes can help spot other criminal activities. If you find out the hard way that the “sweepstakes” you won was really a scam and you’re out money, sure, you may or may not learn something. But if you see it on a show like “American Greed” first, then you’d know not to fall for the con and you end up saving yourself endless grief and misery, not to mention your money.
Back in October of 2020, I did an article called “Beware the Con”, which talked about my experiences with grifters, as well as my effort to sway a certain family member from being conned as well. Well, she wasn’t the only person who fell victim to grifters. One of my late grandmothers got caught up in a sweepstakes con that started draining money from her late in her life. It was hard to convince her that there was no jackpot waiting for her and that the money she already gave the grifter was long gone. My family knew it was a scam because we saw it too many times on TV.
Sadly, those are the relatively easy ones.
Shows like “American Greed” go the full gambit of cons and manipulations and corruption. And, even though the circumstances vary, many of the criminals follow similar patterns.
Overpromise – A certain former president and former TV reality show host would start his reality show talking about his new “venture” and how this product would be the “finest, best, greatest, ever” in whatever the subject was. Didn’t matter if it was steaks, bottled water, peanut butter, an airline, or one of “his” buildings, it would always be “the best”. Of course, they often weren’t what was promised, but that is the trait of a con artist to overpromise, overestimate, and oversell. It’s just this particular malignant narcissist did it with wanton abandon to an absurd cartoonish degree.
But then there are the financial “experts” who promise a greater return than average on an investment. If the average rate of return is in the single digits, these “experts” will promise ten or twenty percent or even higher. If you give them $10,000, they promise you’ll get back $12,000. Then they sucker you in to give them $100,000, thinking you’ll get back $120,000. You get something back for a while and they soon convince you to give them everything you have. Eventually, of course, what you get back is peanuts compared to what you lose, which is everything else.
Money is not like peanut butter or bottled water or steaks. It’s relatively boring. Most people don’t want anything to do with it other than to know how much they have and how much they will get. That allows the con artists to sell their game, because they know that you won’t be interested in the details.
Overly Generous – The guy that takes all his business clients to the best restaurant in town and always picks up the check no matter how expensive the meals are; the guy that gives overly-generously to charities; the “player” who shows up at the strip club and “makes it rain”, not just once or twice, but every time. These are people trying really hard to impress.
Yes, if you won the lottery, you may be tempted to go to your favorite bar and yell out “drinks are on me” once or twice. But not every night, because eventually you run out of money fast. And the people who legitimately are “money masters” know you that don’t throw your money away like that.
In the 2020 movie “Wonder Woman 1984”, con artist Maxwell Lord was able to worm his way into the Smithsonian by making a overly generous donation that gave him VIP treatment and tours. Then we find out that his “winning business” that he promoted on TV and had a catchphrase was on the verge of insolvency. That’s someone trying really hard to “prove” something to others.
Overly “Successful” – There’s a saying that you should never trust an accountant who has a bigger house than you. Just like the con artist will be overly “generous”, they will often also be overly “successful”. Or at least they will give the illusion that they are.
These are the people that buy… not lease… their own Gulfstream jet. And sometimes not just one. They’ve got multiple luxury cars in their garage. They got multiple homes. They wear the finest clothes and the most expensive accessories, and they’re not afraid to show it off to their marks. It’s all part of the sales pitch.
I know this part first-hand. Every multi-level marketing company that tried to lure me in always started with flashing the wealth. One person showed off his expensive clothes. Another dropped a huge wad of cash on the table and said everyone in the room could make that much money in a day. Every sales video they showed would always start out with a yacht, a private jet, money, gold, diamonds, a stretch limousine, and women in bikinis. You know what else they all had in common? You’d never hear about that business after a few weeks. Oh, the “celebrity” pitch people would be back with the same hook, but for a different company. That itself should tell you something about this supposed “successful enterprise”. If it’s the same game but with a different name, then it’s still a con game.
Overly Secretive – It’s really simple… if you have a method to actual success, you should be able to share it with others, especially those in your own business. But if you’re the only one with the books, the only one that can “make the trades”, the only one that can “cut the checks”, then that’s a huge red flag that something isn’t right.
You know what exposed the local comptroller in Illinois who pilfered tax revenue for her horse breeding business? She went on vacation and a temp had access to the books.
Remember that certain malignant narcissist and former reality TV show host? He has spent years fighting to keep people from seeing his financial books. He would always say he’s “under audit” or “under investigation”, and it would take not one but two Supreme Court decisions to finally let the authorities see those books. But, then again, that’s been his thing. He wants to see your books but keep his hidden. Demand birth certificates while locking up his own. Demand school transcripts but bury his own. That’s the game he plays.
Overly Lies – Again, it’s really simple… if you claim to flip houses or flip businesses, anyone should be able to go to any of those buildings and see for themselves and talk to the people involved. If they don’t know you, if the buildings you claim to have “flipped” are still crap, if you don’t even own them, then all you are selling are lies.
Lies also include lying about forms and financial statements. And these can be tricky, because people can be really creative when it comes to forging documents or keeping duplicate books. But consider this: if the country is in the midst of an economic recession or depression, and businesses are going under, and money is being lost hand over fist, but somehow your little corner of investment is still churning out record growth like nothing ever happened, wouldn’t you wonder if the documents you’re getting aren’t honest?
Overly Aggressive – So you’re offering a “way out” for people who are on the verge of losing their homes. A way for people to keep living in their homes… but they have to agree to it right away. Oh, and they don’t need a lawyer to look things over, right? Just sign their names on the dotted lines of the forms that don’t look like the forms they originally were supposed to sign. Hurry up. Just do it. Time’s a wasting.
Remember the housing bubble of the 2000’s? All those “NINJA” loans? Loans that were secretly re-worked? Not everything was a matter of people “taking loans they can’t afford”. In fact, many of those people were convinced they could afford the loans, not realizing the fine print and deceitful manipulation would screw them over. And, yes, there was pressure for people to get homes. This commentator felt it from different corners during that time; not just from bankers or realtors. Thankfully I didn’t fall into that trap.
If you’re not being permitted to think it over, if you’re not allowed to let other people look it over for you, then it’s probably not a deal you want to take. Especially if it involves the biggest part of your life.
Let’s get brutally honest here… knowledge is power, especially when it comes to defending against con artists. That’s why there’s programs like “American Greed”. Not every grifter will show these traits, or at least not readily. But there is a reason why the word “con artist” was created. It’s short for “confidence man”, as in how they get to worm their way into your life and take away your trust, sense of security, and most importantly your money. Pay attention to the signs, and you won’t lose those.
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