Who is the swindler, or the Subtle art of cheating?

The charming descendant of the Janissaries and the son of a Turkish subject, Ostap Bender, claimed that he knew no less than four hundred ways of honestly taking money away from citizens. And it was not just bragging.

Suffice it to recall how he managed to easily capture Madame Gritsatsuev, impersonate the fire inspector, raise money for the mythical "Union of the sword and plow", and also carry out many other questionable operations.

Thus, the question of who such a swindler, you can answer briefly - Ostap Bender, so this literary character has absorbed the features of a classic swindler. Nevertheless, scammers, like the swindles they twist, are different, and the concept itself has changed over time.

The scammer: the meaning of the word

If we turn to the reference to encyclopedias and explanatory dictionaries, we learn that the term "swindler" comes from the French word meaning "business". And its original meaning was somewhat different than the one we are investing in it today.

In the past, scammers called entrepreneurs willing to take risks for the sake of making a big profit, and their deals - scam. You can, of course, argue about the moral appearance of businessmen, exposing the ruthless pursuit of profit, but from the legal point of view their activities can not be classified as fraud.

Today, a scam is a very negative concept. Under it mean scammers, charlatans, rascals, swindlers, scammers, stragglers, sharers, etc. In short, the list of synonyms for the word "swindler" is quite impressive, but the essence is one - it's about a person cheating gambling on the credulity of others.

Different, different faces

Practically in any sphere of human activity one can face swindlers. If fortune tellers, thimblers, card game makers, imaginary beggars and similar fraudsters are unlikely to be deceived by the majority of the population, then it is not so simple with other types of scams.

Let's recollect even scandalously known financial pyramid MMM and other "charitable funds". Thousands of citizens voluntarily gave their savings to financial scams in the hope of obtaining the promised profits.

Technology today provides scammers with such opportunities for weaning money, which Ostap Bender has never dreamed of. Calls by phone on behalf of the security service of the bank, electronic mailings about the win, devices that read data from a bank card, SMS messages on behalf of family members with an urgent request to transfer money - just do not count.

But there are scams who have chosen a romantic path. Who is the swindler? This is not necessarily a bigaman, you can earn money without tying yourself in the bonds of Hymen. Knowing perfectly the psychology of a single woman, scammers specializing in this field are beautifully looked after until they disappear forever, taking with them money or valuables of the lady of the heart.

What is the secret of their success?

Surprisingly, even the seemingly sober-minded people are often the victims of speculators. Why is this happening? Firstly, in order to succeed, the swindler should not only be well versed in human nature, but also be able to quickly change the style of behavior depending on the psychotype of the interlocutor.

Secondly, scammers emit such personal charm and magnetism, which is difficult to resist. And their external data goes to the background. Indeed, stories are known to marriage scammers with more than a mediocre appearance.

Who is a swindler in terms of psychology? In short, this is an antisocial personality, brisk in language, with the ability to quickly navigate in the surrounding environment. Such fraudsters are not aware of depression, remorse and anxiety.

White collars

A few years ago on American television there was a series "White Collar" about a former scam who helped the FBI investigate frauds of various kinds, including forgery of works of art and financial fraud.

This may seem paradoxical, but some former high-ranking white-collar employees convicted of fraud, having left prison, earn now at trainings attended by lawyers, auditors, and bank employees. The meaning of such seminars is this: to catch a fraudster, one must think like him.

Indicative in this respect is the example of Frank Abigneyl. Who is the swindler Abignale, you ask. He can be called a fraudster of a global scale. His major financial fraud, he crashed in the 60 years of the twentieth century. He spent only a part of his sentence in prison, after which he was released and brought to work by the FBI to identify fraudsters.

As you can see, even a yesterday's swindler can become a consultant of state bodies. The definition of this term has already been given above, it can only be added that scammers are often called the elite of the underworld, even if they do not belong to the privileged cast of white-collar workers.