EXPLORING THE MIND OF A CON MAN - CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL

EXPLORING THE MIND OF A CON MAN ,  THE  DIAMOND HEIST AT ZAVERI BAZAR -  CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL

Hundreds of con men have walked this planet.

In this post I intend to explore the mind of a con man — and underscore the unique psychology which drives him. 

Con men force you to hand over your moolah at your own free will. He does NOT use violence or force.

All con men are bound by a tight set of rules and it is so dang easy to spot them , before they do the damage.

 

Con men are like rats who shit in the same place , the same time – once you recognize their methods it is so easy to ambush and bushwhack them.

A Bollywood movie “Special chabbis" produced by Ekta Kapoor, directed by Neeraj Pandey , starring Akshay Kumar is being made , based on a sensational true heist at the diamond store of Tribovandas Bhimji Zaveri at Hermes House Charni road on 19th March 1987. 

This Indian con-man gets my prize for circumventing the usual con man’s run of the mill method.

This suave guy had his own style and did everything with panache. Usually con men get caught—this man just walked away into the sunset with the moolah leaving an entire nation red faced.

A mystery man called Mohan Singh, checked in at Taj Intercontinental at 5.30pm on March 17 1987 and said he was coming from Trivandrum.  Within 48 hours he would scoot with 35 lakhs worth of cash and jewellery.

Just before arrival at the 5 star hotel hotel he inserted a classified advertisement in The Times of India seeking "50 dynamic graduates"  for the posts of RAW intelligence and CBI security officers. 

The squeamish snooty hotel did NOT allow such a large scale interview, but this man appeared to be well prepared.  He shifted the interview to Mittal House Nariman Point ,  as per plan B.

He interviewed more than 100 candidates , out of which he selected only 28. They were recruited as 'junior CBI officers'  on 18th March .

After a pep talk he ordered to come to the hotel again today at 11am on 19th March 1987.   They were NOT to reveal the selection or the programme to any friend of relative owing to the "secrecy"  of the task.

By noon, Mohan checked out of the hotel.   

He had booked a luxury coach through Taj hotel. The recruits and the con man proceeded towards Chowpatty in the coach at 12.30pm.  Mohan Singh stopped the bus and told the driver and cleaner to wait while he took his staff towards the beach ostensibly to have soft drinks and a pep talk.  

Mohan Singh distributed identity cards and at Chowpatty briefed them about the mock raid operation.

The bus then stopped in front of Charni Road railway station and the “CBI team” foot slogged to the jewellery shop.  

The arrived at the jewellery shop around 2.15 pm. 

The mastermind strode straight with a swagger to owner Pratapbhai Zevari, introduced himself as CBI officer Mohan Singh, and flashed a partly printed, partly handwritten authentic looking search warrant.  

With a practiced air, he ordered that the close-circuit camera be shut and that the jeweller surrender his licensed revolver.

No telephone calls were allowed as the recruits took samples of ornaments for investigation. The jeweller was told that the CBI was investigating the quality of gold sold in such shops. 

One eager beaver probationer was even asked to put up a board at the entrance stating that a raid was on.

The jeweller accompanied Singh and the others as they picked up assorted jewellery before sealing it in plastic packets with CBI seal and Ashoka insignia on it.  Money was also collected from the cash counter and stashed into briefcases.

35  minutes later, Singh asked two men to keep the heavy black resin bags into the waiting bus.  The rest of the 26 officers were asked to guard the shop and continue searching for incriminating documents as our con man Mohan Singh left to 'supervise' another imminent raid.

After four anxious hours,  the sweating shop owners ,the junior officers , 70 odd staff and 30 customers realized that they had been duped.  The jeweller immediately called the D B Marg police station.

The owner was all the time suspecting something amiss considering Mohan Singh wore a natty 3 piece suit but had on, cheap bumpkin shoes.   

The suspicious owner had wanted to know why the jewellery was being taken away.  In a well-rehearsed reply, Mohan Singh replied knee jerk , that section 22 of the jewellers' constitution ( sic) ,  gave CBI officers the right to seize ornaments in order to check their purity—all bull.

The driver of the luxury bus when arrested said that the conman was dropped behind Taj hotel, ( of Bade Mian sheek kabab and baida roti fame ) following which he vanished into the hot afternoon .

Mohan Singh had got off the bus went to the hotel , asked the bell boy to call a taxi, and put the bags inside the vehicle.  The taxi headed towards Vile Parle where he got down and melted into the crowd with his bags .  

A massive manhunt was launched for him . The entire episode bore close resemblance to a pulsating crime fiction.  

The suspect appeared to be from Kerala in his early  forties, dark-complexioned, with a thick mustache.  He spoke good English with an unmistakable YEM YO YET YENTHER YO YEM south Indian accent. 

The only thing the harried police learnt was that a certain Mohan Singh had booked a room 415 at the The Taj Mahal hotel.

Let me now introduce to you another con man Christopher Thierry Rocancourt.

He made 40 million dollars by scamming affluent people by masquerading as a French member of the Rockefeller family.  Actually Rockefeller was the agent of big brother Rothschild who had a bloodline branch in France.

Wanna know more about the Rockefellers ?  see video above.

His mother was a French prostitute and his father was an alcoholic house painter who took Christopher to an orphanage in Saint-Germain-Village when the boy was 5, and then froze to death on the streets .  

Young Chris ran away and made his way to Paris where he pulled his first big con, faking the deed to a property he didn't own, then "selling" the property for USD $1.4 million.

Making his way to the United States, Rocancourt used at least a dozen aliases. He got the rich and powerful to invest in his schemes. He tapped into their inherent greed.  

Thinking he was a blue blood Rockefeller, the moneyed elite flocked to Christopher, begging him to invest their fortunes for them. Christopher complied, pretending he could double everyone's money in less than two weeks, as long as they supplied him with a cash advance.

He convinced them that he, too, was rich by paying for their lavish dinners in cash, sometimes as large as 80000 dollars . He travelled in stretch limousines ,often with police escort  that made others say, “That guy’s gotta be a VIP.” 

He would say “ The name is Rockefeller,” when asked his name, adding quickly and casually — “But please, call me Christopher.”

His movie with Naomi Campbell was shelved 

Rhonda Rydell, his gorgeous playboy model girlfriend says “ He would just walk into a room and everyone at the table, who were high, influential people, would drool and gush “Oh, Christopher’s here.”  

The new money wannabes were thrilled to be rubbing elbows with an old money name

Even in the image-conscious Hamptons, Christopher, who always had a gorgeous woman leaning on his arm, a splash everywhere  On a whim, he would charter a chopper to race him out to a seaside estate he said he was thinking of buying.  He was so rich, he could get away with his favorite uniform— jeans, a T-shirt and a baseball cap worn backwards— even in the fanciest places.

The tabs topped out at thousands of dollars. Christopher always picked up the bill and always paid cash.The bubbly flowed, as did Christopher’s non-stop chatter about his incredibly fabulous world.  He had jets, he had yachts, he had women coming from Monaco… and the cellphones were going off—the Kennedys are on the line, and Prince Albert was in that weekend.

As you can see in the picture above , he is a piece of shit with a PIGEON CHEST -- still he produced a child with Miss France.

He always had plenty cash money in his pocket. He passed out $100 bills to the waiters to the bartenders, to the valet parkers, to the press ... for them he was more than royalty. “Christopher,” the paparazzi would scream when they wanted a picture of him leaving the clubs late at night.

Rocancourt—the French Rockefeller with an accent so thick you sometimes need subtitles to understand him explains “They smell ze money like the shark smell ze blood.  Nothing else”.

In Los Angeles, he pretended to be a movie producer, ex-boxing champion or venture capitalist. He dropped names like "his mother" Sophia Loren or "his uncles" Oscar de la Renta and Dino De Laurentiis and was associated with various celebrities. 

He married Playboy model Pia Reyes; they had a son, Zeus. He lived for a time with Mickey Rourke and apparently convinced actor Jean-Claude Van Damme to produce his next movie.

In Paris, Christophe Rocancourt lived with former Miss France Sonia Rolland. They had a daughter together, named Tess.

Most children enjoy playing make-believe, but Rocancourt made a profitable career of it. He sold high-end real estate he didn't actually own.

His house of cards began to collapse in 1997, and in 2002, he pleaded guilty to theft, bribery and other charges.

In March 2002 he was extradited to New York and pleaded to charges of theft, grand larceny, smuggling, bribery, perjury and fraud against 19 victims. He was fined $9 million, was ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution and sentenced to five years in prison.

Now let me introduce a celebrated con man Frank William Abagnale, Jr whose life has been made into a Hollywood movie “Catch Me If You Can” in 2002,  where he is played by actor Leonardo DiCaprio.  Abagnale himself makes a cameo as a French police officer.

Frank William Abagnale, Jr was a con man of the first order.

He became one of the most famous impostors ever, claiming to have assumed no fewer than eight separate avatars as an airline pilot, a doctor, a U.S. Bureau of Prisons agent, and a lawyer.  He escaped from police custody twice (once from a taxiing airliner and once from a U.S. federal penitentiary), before he was 21 years old.

Abagnale was one of four children and spent the first sixteen years of his life in Bronxville, New York. His French mother, Paulette, and father, Frank Abagnale Sr., divorced when he was 16.  At the divorce hearing, Abagnale ran away never to see his father again. 

His first con act was to screw his own father .  His father gave him a gas credit card and a truck to assist him in commuting to his part-time job.  Frank Jr. devised a scheme to help pay for his dates with women. He used the credit card to "buy" tires, batteries, and other car-related items at gas stations. He made a deal with the attendants in which they gave him cash in return for them keeping the products. Ultimately, his father was liable for a bill of several thousand dollars.

Abagnale's first confidence trick was writing personal checks on his own overdrawn account. This, however, would work for only a limited time before the bank demanded payment, so he moved on to opening other accounts in different banks, eventually creating new identities to sustain this charade.

Over time, he experimented and developed different ways of defrauding banks, such as printing out his own almost-perfect copies of checks, depositing them and persuading banks to advance him cash on the basis of money in his accounts.

Abagnale decided to imitate a pilot because he wanted to fly throughout the world for free. He got a uniform by calling PanAm, telling them that he was a pilot working for them who had lost his uniform, and going to get a new one with a fake employee ID.  He then forged an FAA pilot's license.  

Pan American World Airways estimated that between the ages of 16 and 18, Abagnale flew over 1,000,000 miles (1,600,000 km) on over 250 flights and flew to 26 countries, at Pan Am's expense, by deadheading. He was also able to stay at hotels for free during this time.  Everything from food to lodging was billed to the airline company. Abagnale stated that he was often invited by actual pilots to take the controls of the plane in-flight. 

He forged a Columbia University degree and taught sociology at Brigham Young University for a semester, working as a teaching assistant by the name of Frank Adams.

For eleven months he impersonated a chief resident pediatrician in a Georgia hospital under the alias Frank Conners.. After befriending a real doctor who lived in the same apartment complex, he agreed to act as resident supervisor of interns as a favor until the local hospital could find someone else to take the job. 

The position was not difficult for Abagnale because supervisors did no real medical work. . He was able to fake his way through most of his duties by using humor management and letting the interns handle the cases coming in during his late-night shift, setting broken bones and other mundane tasks.

Abagnale forged a Harvard University law transcript, passed the bar exam of Louisiana and got a job at the Louisiana Attorney General's office at the age of nineteen. . After making a fake transcript from Harvard, he prepared himself for the compulsory exam. 

Despite failing twice, he claims to have passed the bar exam legitimately on the third try after eight weeks of study, because "Louisiana at the time allowed you to take the Bar over and over as many times as you needed. It was really a matter of eliminating what you got wrong. You get an idea now how stupid the US law system is , right?

He was also known to use disguises as part of a ruse and was a master of manipulation; he once even eluded capture by posing as a federal agent. One of his most famous cons was using a security guard uniform to steal cash meant to go into drop boxes in which companies placed their proceedings, having put a sign on the box saying it was out of service and telling attendants to hand the money bags to the attending security guard 

He later pondered aloud "How in the name of Charles Bronson, can a drop box be out of service?"

Beats me too!

Abagnale was eventually caught in France in 1969 when an Air France attendant he had dated in the past recognized him and notified the police.

After his release he approached a bank with an offer. He explained to the bank what he had done, and offered to speak to the bank's staff and show various tricks that "paperhangers" use to defraud banks. His offer included the condition that if they did not find his speech helpful, they would owe him nothing; otherwise, they would owe him only $500 with an agreement that they would provide his name to other banks. With that, he began a legitimate life as a security consultant.

He later founded Abagnale & Associates, which advises businesses on fraud. Abagnale is now a millionaire through his legal fraud detection and avoidance consulting business based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. 

Abagnale also continues to advise the FBI, with whom he has associated for over 35 years, by teaching at the FBI Academy and lecturing for FBI field offices throughout the country. According to his website, more than 14,000 institutions have adopted Abagnale's fraud prevention programs.

I guess this is what David Headley too has done— get on the right side of the US law, never mind that 164 people were shot down in India by Pakistani terrorists with his assistance.  

Plea bargain means he will NOT name the CIA , and "American friends in ISI" who are neck deep in all these subversions.

You are promised a certain product, service, or outcome which is close to your heart , but it is  never delivered.   Which means that a con man does fraudulent business.

So what is the thumb rule? Whenever somebody flatters you,  watch your wallet or your belongings .  Flattery is normally a prelude to an unusual or out-of-the-ordinary request, which will follow.  So next time a stranger or even a friend is EXTRA sweet to you, it is time to ponder- what is the fu#kin’ catch?

Flattery makes you feel all puffed up and great about yourself.  You feel like the cat’s whiskers . But this is a set up so you’ll agree more easily to whatever corny request or proposal which will comes next.

You are more likely to make a bad decision when you are sort of feelin’ overconfident.  Flattery is one sure way to build your confidence.  Old women are more vulnerable to this.  

A con man will build up a need in you. And the funny part is you would have never felt this need till then.

A compliment is normal, but flattery is not.  Flattery is normally a prelude to an unusual or out-of-the-ordinary request. 

The con man will establish himself as an authority. He is smart enough to exploit characteristics of the human psyche such as greed, dishonesty, honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility and gullibility.

He is now in a position to feed you with complicated information and mindless technical jargon that gets you overwhelmed, that you stop asking further questions.

The kinds of techniques a  con man  to build your greed and confidence in yourself and in him is situation based and what he reads of your personality.  Once your confidence is high enough,  you’re in a most vulnerable position. That’s how you get conned.

Remember this sociopath has special skills to whip up your greed and your dark desire to jump the queue in a unfair manner. He persuades you to  ignore common sense . Sociopaths have developed these skills to the point of instinct.

The con men have in common is an ability to get their victims thinking emotionally,  and getting your greed from observing and checking the hard facts. He makes you ignore your inbuilt defences that no business deal, no purchase, no request for payment should be taken at face value. 

Most con games work because people are just plain greedy. They convince them that he has found a shortcut , all under the cover of secrecy ,  to a treasure under the rainbow. And this treasure may not be there for ever if you tarry.

He gets your desperation to put a spoke in the wheel of your common sense.

The con man knows that he can get into the dark alley of your basest desires. The main thing that really makes people susceptible to con artists is the idea that we're going to get something for nothing.  So he really buys into your greed .

He will make you feel that you will miss the bus , for his offer is once-a-lifetime chance and that you may rue at leisure that you did not strike the iron while it is hot –rather sign up in his covert scheme. Some con artists even question the basic intelligence of their victims for letting go of such a golden opportunity. The victim just crumbles under this relentless mental and emotional pressure.

He is a bit of a psychologist and a reader of body language. It's an amazing paradox that a con man has incredible emotional insight, but without the burden of compassion.

A con man works on the principle that most humans want to have an unfair edge over other people.  He now forces you to judge the book , he has worked his ass off in bringing to you,  by its cover.  

Your needs and desires make you vulnerable. Once hustlers know what you need, they can easily manipulate you. If you don’t have a need they will force your greed and perceived scarcity,  to give instant illegitimate birth to a need.

They thrive on the simple fact that people tend to believe only what they want to believe.  The con man’s motto is: “ work smart instead of hard ”.

The missionaries who come to convert you are con men of the first order too.  He will exploit your need for salvation and to live forever in divine luxury in heaven . He will pretend to be God’s personal agent with the right to lock and unlock the gates to heaven.  

Such religious conmen thrive on their rapport building ability.  If you look at the people who get duped, you'll notice that they're extremely vulnerable. It's this vulnerability that leads them to believe in the dreams that are being sold to them by the conman.

In December 2008, Bernard Madoff, a pillar of the Jewish community and of Wall Street, admitted to having run a 50 billion USD Ponzi (Pyramid) scheme, the biggest scam in history.

Bernard Lawrence "Bernie" Madoff is an American former businessman, stockbroker, investment advisor, financier and white collar criminal. He is the former non-executive chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, and the admitted operator of a Ponzi scheme that is considered to be the largest financial fraud in U.S. history. 

In March 2009, Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies and admitted to turning his wealth management business into a massive Ponzi scheme that defrauded thousands of investors of billions of dollars. 

The amount missing from client accounts, including fabricated gains, was almost $65 billion. On June 29, 2009, he was sentenced to 150 years in prison, the maximum allowed.

Jeffry Picower, a fellow Jew rather than Madoff, appears to have been the largest beneficiary of Madoff's Ponzi scheme, and his estate settled the claims against it for $7.2 billion.  J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. may have also benefitted from the scheme—through interest and fees charged—by almost $1 billion.  

Madoff did not plea bargain with the government. Rather, he pleaded guilty to all charges. It has been speculated that Madoff pleaded guilty because he refused to cooperate with the authorities in order to avoid naming his high and mighty political associates and conspirators who were involved with him in the Ponzi scheme.  

Never imagine that a con-man works alone.  He exists everywhere.

Basically a con man is a psychopath.  Psychopaths do NOT possess the ability to show empathy for others and they have no feeling of guilt in scamming a harmless blind lady . This has something to do with bad DNA programming.

Just as a military commander looks for the enemy's less weak and least defended spots,  the con man is always on the prowl for blind spots and shadow sectors to exploit.

The con man is good in making the victim feel bad and guilty for questioning , after all the “trust” that has been built up.

They are mean and self-absorbed and believe that anything they do justifies a positive outcome for themselves. They can’t imagine or don’t care about the consequences their actions have for the people they may hurt.

They rationalize away any concern that they are harming other people . What’s good for them is, by their definition, what’s good… period--end of story.

Just as a battlefield commander looks for the enemy's less weak and least defended spots,  the con man is always on the prowl for blind spots and shadow sectors to exploit.

The con man has to gain the confidence of the victim. The con man must gain trust. The con man may have all the tools to cajole his victim into surrendering personal information ( like credit card info ) ,  which makes him vulnerable.  

By the way you may like to read how I dragged a con man by his nostrils all the way to China town. 

Punch into Google search  CREDIT CARD FRAUD BY YATRA DOT COM VADAKAYIL.

The con man is an expert in pushing the victim headlong into a “guilt trap “ for asking any skeptic questions , after all ze “trust” that has been built up.

They are mean and self-absorbed and believe that anything they do justifies a positive outcome for themselves.  They can’t imagine or don’t care about the consequences their actions have for the people they may hurt.

They rationalize away any concern that they are harming other people . What’s good for them is, by their definition, what’s good… period--end of story.

One con game does not fit all.  That means that there are different weaknesses in different people that are exploited by different con men.  Some folks are immediately turned off when approached by a fast-talker, but are more easily taken in by someone who lays out the story slowly and convincingly.  

Remember that a sociopath is patient and can adapt to situations like a chameleon.  He knows which buttons to push and when.

Con men are expert at generating emotions – good or bad – and can play a victim like a harp.  Watch out for anyone who tries to put you on an emotional roller coaster as part of a business proposition, in a veil of secrecy , particularly where there are few concrete facts to back up his proposal or where he’s rushing you  to prevent your from pondering about your other options.

A sociopathic con man is going to read you like a book and know your pressure points, no matter how good you think your poker face might be in business.  He’s gonna to tell you what you need to hear.  He’ll paint rosy pictures of your future when all he cares about is getting you part with your moolah.

You might be flattered when the salesman offers “just for you”  a most “exclusive deal”  . He will insist that you shouldn’t tell anyone about this “ top secret, special offer” he’s designed just for you.  No legit salesman is going to cook deal so secret he’s afraid anyone would find out about it.

Con men are excellent conversationalists and have the gift of gab. They are good in forging a "mutual understanding" of sorts.  They give the victims the confident feelin’ that they are in total control,  holding  all ze four aces.  

He will share your anxieties and fill up the missing blanks, to make the victim believe that he has an edge over other people and the playing field is tilted in his favour..

A con artist will identify your needs and expectations, then pretend that he is the only agent capable of producing the satisfaction you need.

Recently we had Tahirul Qadri who has Blackwater security, daring all and sundry from inside a bomb proof glass container in Pakistan “ Shoot me first “.   Pahle haraare upar goli maarna , baad mein baaki sab ke upar maarna.

Outside Pakistan, Qadri is often presented as a “moderate” Sufi scholar who famously wrote a 600 page fatwa against terrorism in 2010 which won him international applause, especially from Christians and Jews. 

One video doing the rounds over the internet shows Qadri giving what appear to be two contradictory statements on blasphemy – the subject of so much controversy in Pakistan. In one clip he is shown speaking in English where he says: “Whatever the law of blasphemy is, it is not applicable on non-Muslims. It is not applicable on Jews, Christians and other non- Muslims minorities. It is just to be dealt with Muslims.”  

Yet then in Urdu in a different clip he shows strange inconsistency:  “My stance was that, and this was the law which got made, that whoever commits blasphemy, whether a Muslim or a non-Muslim, man or woman – whether be a Muslim, Jew, Christian, Hindu, anyone –  whoever commits blasphemy their punishment is death."

When you accost such people and point out their lies and dishonesty, they will retreat and pretend it is beyond their dignity to be in a state of defence.   They will rather classify you as ‘neurotic’, ‘paranoid’, or when lacking wisdom and knowledge, they will simply call you ‘ungodly’.

Narcissistic Personality Disorder - NPD , is closely linked to self-centeredness, megalomania, superiority complex, egotism, vanity, selfishness, and obsessive compulsive personality disorder.  People with NPD expose a pervasive pattern of grandiosity (either in fantasy or actual behavior), a need for admiration and respect. 

Our own ex-truck driver Anna Hazare fell victim to this, and he recovered the hard way ( like Japan after Hiroshima ) when his call for jail Bharo aandolan came a cropper , with the huge Mumbai grounds having only a handful of his own paid volunteers--instead of millions as expected..

Such people have --

A grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements

Preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love;

Believes that he or she is "special"  and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special people

Rarely acknowledges mistakes, imperfections/shortcomings

Requires excessive admiration and respect

Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his expectations

Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends

Lacks empathy - unwilling or unable to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others

Is often envious of others or believes that others are envious of him too

Shows arrogant, haughty behavior or attitude.

You have con men with NPD , working as managers of multi-national corporations  . Have you noticed the modus operandi of white-collar social climbers and the shenanigans that corporations use, in the guise of corporate “culture” and “changing the world”, to encourage naive young people to work three times as hard as they need to, for half the reward.

THE SHOW MUST GO ON ( sic!—puke! )

Never get brainwashed by such slick theories, like above -- you must know when to pull the plug and put an end to the bullshit.

A psychopaths’ minds tend to be as clear as anyone else’s. What characterizes the psychopath is a lack of conscience and an infinitely deep selfishness.  

Also, most of them are exceptionally skilled actors. Although their emotional growth tends to be stunted in childhood or adolescence, they can mimic as wide a range of emotions as anyone else.  In fact, they are superior to typical people at having the “right” emotions for various circumstances.  

Psychopaths have no tell-tale signs, and they don’t seem like “mean” people. They are effectively invisible.  Among the upper management of most companies, they are surprisingly common, yet never detected until after they’ve wreaked terrible irreversible damage.

Psychopaths are also at home in the white-collar social climbing theater of the typical corporation. The outsized rewards and pay packets for corporate officers feed their narcissism, the intrigues enable their cutthroat tendencies, and their superficial charm enables their effortless rise.

They acquire (misplaced) trust quickly, on account of their unusually high skill at emotional mimicry. They they dress their intentions in such a way that the people in power will read whatever they want to see. Like “psychics”, they hedge what they say with the purpose of being right by those in power on account of flexible interpretation. 

They seem to have “vision” and character because they can exploit the “just like me” fallacy of their superiors. In reality, they are the worst kind of mercenary turncoats. Their “vision” is of themselves on top of something, but that could be a mountain of gold or of bones. They don’t care, as long as they win and others lose.

After a psychopath has run his course, the company where he worked is usually damaged immensely and the brand dented . Billion-dollar losses can occur, top executives can be jailed, and thousands of jobs can be cut.  Psychopaths burn whatever is no longer useful to them.  

After this, people tend to back-reason their interactions with that person. “I knew he was up to something.” “I never liked him.” In most cases, that’s not accurate. 

What really happened is this: it was obvious that this person’s actions were risky, harmful, or even criminal, but the person was so effective at making it seem that he had the right intentions that people ignored the obvious warning signs.  

They made excuses.  They misinterpreted the person’s superficial charm as a sign of good intentions, and the babies got burnt. 

Con men politicians understand enough about how the mind works to exploit its vulnerabilities. Our fascination with hustlers is insatiable and, despite being criminals, they are frequently portrayed in movies and novels monopolised by Big Brother in a flattering light—like John Galt..

A con man is the non-violent version of an intelligent  psychopath.  Unlike his physically violent cousin the conman hurts mentally terribly in the end by misleading sweetly before.  

From seducers of chaste women to smooth swindlers to demagogue politicians , conmen come in all shapes and forms and may look like anything from a slovenly rough sleeper to an impressively well-dressed and presented international financier to a prospective great prime minister like Winston Churchill .

The suspect is too well-spoken and seems to read our mind and address our most secret yearnings and desires-  mind you, this is often not because he is reading our mind but because he has some trade secrets ( together with fortune tellers and stage magicians ) regarding how most people’s minds tick and what most regret or yearn after. 

Among all telltale signs of demagogy and con is talking too much too smoothly often coupled with not looking one directly in the eye.  Because his speech is so smooth and hypnotic that most listeners fail to notice the self-contradiction but keep lapping up what he keeps pouring out.  

Punch into Google search WINSTON CHURCHILL , HENCHMAN OR HERO  VADAKAYIL

A con man is invariably well dressed and clean. If you notice closely, they will have a parasitic lifestyle, yet they brag about their good character. 

They have an abundance of charm, an inflated sense of his self-worth, an inability to accept responsibility, difficulty forming deep relationships despite an accentuated ability to fake commitment, heightened skills for manipulation and lack of empathy and guilt. 

Most career con men have above-average intelligence, and that may help them stay a step ahead of the law, concoct complex money-making schemes, or adopt new technologies to use as tools better than other folks.  They possess good organizational talents and are manipulative and are flawless pathological liars. 

Con men who “enjoy” their work often prey on fresh victims even when they have money in the bank and no need to steal more at that moment. To keep the biggest share of the cash pie, they involve as few people as possible in the game. 

The good news is that most con men get caught because they are so good at convincing people of mistruths that they con themselves into believing they won’t get caught. 

Over-confidence is what traps most of them. They over-reach their skills or underestimate the victim. Conversely, they may become too ambitious, have too many “irons in the fire,” and trip themselves up.

“There’s a sucker born every minute,” but there’s no shortage of con men in the world to take advantage of them.

Most of the NGOs in India are run by con men.  Here it affects the nation's security and fabric. Punch into Google search FOREIGN FUNDED NGOs RIDING ON ANNA HAZARE'S SHOULDERS- CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL


Below video -- con man Bunty Chor's luck ran out today after more than 500 burglaries .

The con man has a warped and complex personality and  delving into his mind is like peeling the layers of an onion.  Like any serial criminal,  he has a signature modus operandi .  Once a con man has found his niche, he works to perfect his system.  

The pattern may change a little, but the basic scheme remains the same.  For him sometimes it is play— since he lacks compassion, he does NOT care that it badly hurts vulnerable people. When a swindler plays his bizarre game , rules of fair play are mere whispers in the wind.  

Grace and peace!

CAPT AJIT VADAKAYIL
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