Art of the Con

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Types of Cons

The inductees to the Hall of Infamy share more than just greed and a lack of scruples. In the prime of their cons, most spent their cash bounty with wild abandon, snapping up mansions, airplanes and fleets of fancy cars. Once exposed, they made national headlines for weeks on end. And, except for those who took their own lives to escape capture, each one of these men spent time in prison.

But for all they share in common, each one of these con artists has a distinct style. Some cultivated their schemes like a garden, planting promises of easy money and then carefully tending the spread of fresh investors. Others simply played the role of able executive while living large on the savings entrusted to them.

To organize this crew, we created five broad categories. As most of these crooks fit comfortably into more than one group, we focused on the strategies and styles that were most common and best described the inductees.

A note on the amount conned and inflation: To put the dollar amounts of historical cons and frauds in context, we have included a calculation of worth in today’s terms.  These calculations were made by plugging the dollar amount of the con and the year it went bust into the consumer price index (CPI) calculator of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor.  

• The Big Talkers

  The Con: Entice people with a foolproof scheme to make money; once they’re hooked, sell them something that either doesn’t exist or has very little value.
  The Character: Popular, charismatic, persuasive.
  

• The Gamblers

  The Con: Launch a bold scheme on shaky ground; hide that first lie under another lie (and then another) as the money pours in.
  The Character: Ambitious, short-sighted, reckless.
  

• The Dealmakers

  The Con: Trade cash for secrets and make deals for a distinct business advantage, often on the stock market.
  The Character: Unscrupulous, well-connected, privileged.
  

• The Creative Accountants

  The Con: Fix the company books to create revenue; inflate stock value to make a killing.
  The Character: Secretive, sly, poker-faced.
  

• The Thieves

  The Con: Treat the company coffers like your own personal piggy bank.
  The Character: Powerful, extravagant, fearless.
  
• The following are sub-categories – con artist clubs with enough members to warrant consideration.

• The Ship Sinkers: They brought down an institution, bank or company with their con.

• The Fugitives: They skipped the country to avoid arrest.

• The Holy Rollers: They took advantage of their victims’ spiritual faith.

• The Repentants: After prison, they devoted themselves to nabbing other con artists.