Why Con Artists Scam

Con artists scam because it gives them infinite pleasure to "put one over" on anyone who stands still long enough. The compulsion to scam is so strong that a con artist will produce a scam even if he/she gains no money out of it. Con artists even scam each other!

An unusually sick group

Quoting a study by Richard Blum Chuck Whitlock points out that most con artists are:

... Impulsive, amoral, uncontrolled and detached from normal

The essential feature of Antisocial Personality Disorder is a pervasive pattern of disregard for, and violation of, the rights of others...

This pattern has also been referred to as psychopathy, sociopathy or dissocial personality disorder...

Individuals with Antisocial Personality Disorder frequently lack empathy and tend to be callous, cynical, and contemptuous of the feelings, rights, and sufferings of others."

Chuck Whitlock, Chuck Whitlock's Scam School, © 1997, macmillan, New York, NY, pages 20, 21; Richard H. Blum, Deceivers and Deceived: Observations on Confidence Men and Their Victims, Informants and Their Quarry, Political and Industrial Spies and Ordinary Citizens, (Springfield: Charles C. Thomas, 1972), pp 49-50.

The danger of the missing gene

There is no guilt associated with a scam, not even the slightest twinge. A con artist is quite simply missing that particular gene. The con artist has no inbred stops, no conscience. That's what it means to be a sociopath. If anything, the con feels justified in taking your money, "You deserved to be taken. You asked for it."

Why is this dangerous? Because it means that the con artist will pressure you to the end of your resources, regardless of the pain and grief it causes you. Neither children, nor the elderly, nor the fragile of health are immune from his attack. It does not matter to the con that he may be taking your last dime, nor does it matter to him that you may need the promised wealth to pay for a dire need. This criminal will take your money to the detriment of your health by selling fake cures and false hopes, even knowing that his scam may ultimately cause your death.

What sets the con artist apart?

Scammers come from diverse backgrounds. They may come from a broken home or the most stable and well-adjusted of families. They may have been afforded an excellent education, or very little. Such backgrounds do not set them apart.

Nor are they set apart by their country of origin, sexual preferences, political bent, religious beliefs, or ingrained social values. Actually, pertaining to those last three, the con artist is a free spirit. His or her own personal welfare far outweighs standard social considerations.

What does set the scammer apart is the natural ability, often discovered at a very young age, to manipulate the people around them. Added to this is the fact that such manipulation leaves them without any feeling of guilt or remorse. On the contrary, it leaves them with an intense feeling of satisfaction - a particular glow that encourages them to continue manipulating to get whatever they want, regardless of the cost to the giver.

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