I've seen a major spectrum of scam artists myself:
*The classic Gypsy crime family doing palm and/or tarot reading and curse removal
*The psychic, usually but not always, middle-class WASP, who offers to find lost children, pets, solve crimes, or perform healing
*The well-dressed in Rolex watches and Armani suits South African, Israeli, New Yorker, New Jersey, Brazilian, German etc. investment broker/inventor/agent looking for millions of dollars and promising millions in returns
*The "UFO engineer" who will show teenage girls the blueprints in his apartment
*The card handling magican who has cheated casinos
*The inventor of concealed computers for cheating casinos
*Any number of computer hackers, crackers, virus writers, etc.
*Shoplifters, drug dealers, tax cheats, skimming cashiers in restaurants and at gas stations, fences, addicts, contractors doing skim on repairs and equipment, shortchange artists, gigalos, dishonest auto repair shops, insurance scammers...
*Men and women who live off their lovers
I can probably come up with more. I guess I get around. Anyway, they tend to have certain traits in common:
*Secretive. That is, they don't like answering your questions, and will often respond with anger and accusations to your questions, very often going right to "You don't trust me?"
*Chatty. They love to talk. They will talk your ear off. Conversations don't end until they decide the conversation has ended.
*Flattering. They make a lot of eye contact with the mark, tell the mark that he or she is somehow special, intelligent, more understanding than other people, unique, spiritually gifted, sensitive, has a destiny.
*Very little about them on the Web.
*Avoid being recorded. They avoid providing documents, avoid signing anything, avoid being photographed. The name on the apartment, business, mail box, car registration etc. is usually somebody else.
*In love with the cell phone. Constantly making calls in and out.
*Mindful of appearences. The have tans, manicures, nice clothes, spiffy shoes, fancy car.
*Keep strange hours. Fail to keep appointments; you spend an unusual amount of time waiting for a call back, waiting for the office to open. They also will expect the mark to drop everything for a meeting, a call, an emergency errand of some sort.
*Borrow money. In return, they don't always pay the money back, but will substitute something else--take you out to dinner, give a cheap gift, provide sexual favors or the promise of sexual favors.
*Blame other people for failures. Always have a story why they're late and in a hurry to tell you what it is.
*Have an insane/drug addicted/disabled/somehow tragic family member that you probably never meet but for whom they supposedly lavish care and support.
*Have an insane/drug addicted/disabled/somehow tragic ex from whom they are hiding.
*Change cars frequently.
*Exagerrate their level of education, amount of travel, and the people they know.
I could come up with more...the first thing you will notice is the flattery, followed by the hostile response to questions.
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