Conman

There was a Dateline episode on last night about an absolutely crazy conman called Nicholas Rossi.

It was a disturbing story about fraud and rape and all sorts of other nefarious garbage.

What was mind-boggling about it is that the guy got away with it for years and separated a lot of people from their money.

The man in the story claimed to be a Harvard graduate - he got people to send him money each month for PR work, etc…

…and I was simply amazed by the con and the people who fall for it.

There are millions of people who fall for the story that a conman tells, and I find that absolutely interesting.

“People believe what they want to believe when it makes no sense of all.” 

What I find interesting about it is that eventually there has to be a moment when someone who has been duped thinks:

“Maybe this person is lying.”

And the conman’s playbook is also interesting.

“Never admit to anything even when you’re caught red-handed and when you’re accused of something, turn it back on the accuser, ten times as hard.”

As a nation we have watched a major con.

Everyone who has made an accusation has been painted as crooked or criminal.

The D.A’s are all evil.

The women who were sexually assaulted are all dishonest.

Political enemies are all painted as being the ones who committed the crimes.

Amazing stuff, and it’s easy to see a con for what it is if you aren’t the one being conned.

It’s a little harder to comprehend when you’re the mark.

“It has to be exhausting remembering so many lies,” I commented during the show.

“You don’t have to put any effort into remembering the lies if everything that comes out of your mouth is the next lie,” Kathy said.

I guess!

It’s all too much.

The nuns told me to never, ever lie!

Turns out they were running a bit of a con game as well.

Exhausting!