Download or read book A Brief Affair with a Con Man written by Kimberly Larsen and published by Page Publishing Inc. This book was released on 2021-11-08 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When a natural disaster puts Billy Malone at Nicole Freeman’s cabin in the woods, she soon finds that his offer to help her out of her predicament was simply a way of drawing her in to his web of deceit. Her loneliness and desire for a connection blinded her to the truth of how she was being drawn in to a relationship that was fraught with dishonesty. Before she realizes it, this dashingly handsome, younger-aged, charismatic charmer suddenly has her unknowingly wrapped up in his schemes. As she learns more about him and the danger that she may be in, she tries to back away, but Billy won’t have it. His self-destructive and manipulative ways keep her engaged, while his seizures and strokes tug at her compassionate side. Yet an overnight stay at the hospital gives her insight into a person that she couldn’t have predicted being capable of deceiving not only her but also everyone in town who ever crossed his path. Nicole barrels down a road of figuring out how to disconnect from a man whom she discovers has a violent past without putting herself further into harm’s way. She is aided by a local sheriff’s officer who sees the trouble she is in and takes it upon himself to bring Malone in once and for all.
Download or read book Duped written by Abby Ellin and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2019-01-15 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Abby Ellin was shocked to learn that her fiancéas leading a secret life. But as she soon discovered, the world is full of people who aren't what they seem. From Abby Ellin's first date with the Commander, she was caught up in a whirlwind. Within six months he'd proposed, and they'd moved in together. But soon, his exotic stories of international espionage began to unravel. Finally, it all became clear: he was lying about who he was. After leaving him and sharing her story, she was floored to find out that her experience was far from unique. People everywhere, many of them otherwise sharp-witted and self-aware, are being deceived by their loved ones every day. In Duped, Abby Ellin studies the art and science of lying, talks to people who've had their worlds upended by duplicitous partners, and writes with great openness about her own mistakes. These remarkable stories reveal how often we encounter people whose lives beneath the surface are more improbable than we ever imagined.
Download or read book Veritas written by Ariel Sabar and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2021-06-29 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning author comes the gripping true story of a sensational religious forgery and the scandal that shook Harvard. In 2012, Dr. Karen King, a star religion professor at Harvard, announced a breathtaking discovery just steps from the Vatican: she’d found an ancient scrap of papyrus in which Jesus calls Mary Magdalene “my wife.” The mysterious manuscript, which King provocatively titled “The Gospel of Jesus’s Wife,” had the power to topple the Roman Catholic Church. It threatened not just the all-male priesthood, but centuries of sacred teachings on marriage, sex, and women’s leadership, much of it premised on the hallowed tradition of a celibate Jesus. Award-winning journalist Ariel Sabar covered King’s announcement in Rome but left with a question that no one seemed able to answer: Where in the world did this history-making papyrus come from? Sabar’s dogged sleuthing led from the halls of Harvard Divinity School to the former headquarters of the East German Stasi before landing on the trail of a Florida man with an unbelievable past. Could a motorcycle-riding pornographer with a fake Egyptology degree and a prophetess wife have set in motion one of the greatest hoaxes of the century? A propulsive tale laced with twists and trapdoors, Veritas is an exhilarating, globe-straddling detective story about an Ivy League historian and a college dropout—and how they worked together to pass off an audacious forgery as a long-lost piece of the Bible.
Download or read book How To Become A Professional Con Artist written by Dennis M. Marlock and published by Paladin Press. This book was released on 2001-09-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A fool and his money are soon parted, so the saying goes. And if the job is done right, the fool doesn't even realize it's happened until the wily con artist has moved on to the next victim or the next town. In this entertaining and eye-opening book, Dennis M. Marlock, a retired cop and chairman of the board for the international law enforcement organization Professionals Against Confidence Crime, takes the reader into the mind and greedy heart of the con man. You'll learn the mechanics behind famous swindles such as the pigeon drop, the Jamaican switch, bank-examiner schemes, three-card monte and even fortune-telling. You'll find out why a good scam artist rarely gets caught and, if he does, how he gets away with the lightest punishment or no punishment at all. If you've ever read a news story about a sucker getting taken and wondered how he could have fallen for that, you need to read this book before an honest-faced stranger offers you a deal too good to pass up.
Download or read book Hollywood Con Man written by A. Wiseman Lois a. Wiseman and published by iUniverse. This book was released on 2009-10 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To escape an abusive relationship is not necessarily to find personal Liberty. But for Anne Delaney, the protagonist of Lois Schwarz's contemporary novel Hollywood Con Man, this realization takes almost too long to discover. An unloved and abused child, Anne begins her quest for freedom when she first encounters affection at the age of six. Her methods for finding freedom, however, are merely escape tactics. When she is seventeen, married and pregnant, she leaves her hometown of Bridgeport, Connecticut for Hollywood, California. Rather than finding happiness and liberty there, she in only further abused by her controlling husband, who succumbs to the perfidious Hollywood addictions to sex and drugs. Anne, already accustomed to accepting physical abuse, soon learns also to endure emotional and sexual abuse. It is not until she realizes all that her husband killed within her that Anne stands up for herself. This is one woman's story not only of escape, but also of freedom and it's implications in her life
Download or read book Provenance written by Laney Salisbury and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2009-07-09 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A tautly paced investigation of one the 20th century's most audacious art frauds, which generated hundreds of forgeries-many of them still hanging in prominent museums and private collections today Provenance is the extraordinary narrative of one of the most far-reaching and elaborate deceptions in art history. Investigative reporters Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo brilliantly recount the tale of a great con man and unforgettable villain, John Drewe, and his sometimes unwitting accomplices. Chief among those was the struggling artist John Myatt, a vulnerable single father who was manipulated by Drewe into becoming a prolific art forger. Once Myatt had painted the pieces, the real fraud began. Drewe managed to infiltrate the archives of the upper echelons of the British art world in order to fake the provenance of Myatt's forged pieces, hoping to irrevocably legitimize the fakes while effectively rewriting art history. The story stretches from London to Paris to New York, from tony Manhattan art galleries to the esteemed Giacometti and Dubuffet associations, to the archives at the Tate Gallery. This enormous swindle resulted in the introduction of at least two hundred forged paintings, some of them breathtakingly good and most of them selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Many of these fakes are still out in the world, considered genuine and hung prominently in private houses, large galleries, and prestigious museums. And the sacred archives, undermined by John Drewe, remain tainted to this day. Provenance reads like a well-plotted thriller, filled with unforgettable characters and told at a breakneck pace. But this is most certainly not fiction; Provenance is the meticulously researched and captivating account of one of the greatest cons in the history of art forgery.
Download or read book Con Artist Dating written by Millie Osborne and published by Millie Osborne. This book was released on 2019-12-01 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Romance is supposed to be a mutually beneficial, genuine way to find true love and even marriage. Whether you find your partner online or unplugged, it is important to know the subtle yet life changing behaviors common to people who want you to love them so that they can take advantage of your will, your money, and even your body. Winner of two awards, this book is a personal guided tour that helps you explore the well-concealed world of con artists operating on people like you and me. The guide does not judge your romance decisions but, instead, provides enlightenment that boosts critical thinking and analysis-two progressive assets in all aspects of life, especially when building relationships. This self-help guide will empower you with the knowledge to judge relationships accurately and confidently for yourself. This is what people think after reading Con Artist Dating: "In an age of countless internet and social media scams, relationship scams may be the cruelest of all, because they prey on the need we all feel for love and affection. The combination of a lonely heart and a con artist who is good at being convincing is a very dangerous one. In this book Millie Osborne wants to give not just potential victims but also their families the information they need to determine when it's not really love someone is after." Tom Roussey, TV Reporter “Dr. Osborne is a psychiatrist, scholar and author who creates a portrait of a personality type personified by a lust for power and profit. Fascinating and often surprising, the book provides many valuable insights and compelling examples of just what it is that defines a “con artist.” The book is a pleasure to read, enlightening readers with all degrees of experience, including parents; and an indispensable guide to anyone interested in the dynamics of con-artistry and its pernicious impact on the victims." Lorraine S. Roth, M.D., Editor of ‘Current Psychiatry’ and Henry J. Roth, Ph.D., Author of ‘Tales from Time Out’ and ‘Climbing Jacobs Ladder’ “Millie Osborne, M.D., psychiatric consultant, is expertly qualified to write a book that guides readers through the world of con artist dating. It has been her passion to relieve human suffering through knowledge and information that enlightens readers. Any woman or man hungry for love should read this unique self-help guide to personal growth and development. It could save them the heartache of emotional and financial harm that results from becoming a victim of deceit. Therapists might want to recommend this book to their heart-broken clients.” John C. Russotto, Ph.D., Mental Health Consultant "Soul searching...a relentlessly honest and powerful guide that leaves you shaken and thankfully educated. This book takes a deep dive into illuminating the unforeseen, unanticipated and unsettling social and moral consequences involving manipulative behaviors. This is required reading that will leave you empowered and strengthened.” Yvonne L. Taylor, Ph.D., MSN, NP “Human relationships are dominated by people who take advantage of human gullibility and perceived needs masquerading as wants. As long as humans want to believe things for reasons having nothing to do with facts and evidence, there will always be unscrupulous people who come along and take advantage of that by feeding such beliefs which do not require any demonstrable and credible evidence. Skepticism is the virtue which is far more likely to save one from being conned by creeps everywhere and in all aspects of life, not just dating. Finding the right people in life in whom you can place your trust is everything, and the only way to find them is by seeing how well their actions match their words - basically facts and evidence, just like one would use to determine if a certain factor is the cause of an observed outcome. Anyone can say anything, but it is what one does - well that is your evidence.” -Anonymous
Download or read book Fake written by Stephanie Wood and published by Random House Australia. This book was released on 2020-09 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Women the world over are brought up to hope, even expect, to find the man of their dreams, marry and live happily ever after. When Stephanie Woods meets a sweet, sophisticated man who owns land and businesses, she embarks on an exhilarating romance with him. He seems compassionate, truthful and loving. He talks about the future with her. She falls in love. She also becomes increasingly beset by anxiety at the lavish three-act plays he offers her in the form of excuses for frequent cancellations and no-shows. She begins to wonder, who is this man? When she ends the relationship Stephanie switches back on her journalistic nous and uncovers a story of mind-boggling duplicity and manipulation. She also finds she is not alone; that the world is full of smart, sassy women who have suffered the attentions of liars, cheats, narcissists, fantasists and phonies, men with dangerously adept abilities to deceive. In this brilliantly acute and broad-ranging book, Wood, an award-winning writer and journalist, has written a riveting, important account of contemporary love, and the resilience of those who have witnessed its darkest sides." --Back cover.
Download or read book The Confidence Game written by Maria Konnikova and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-01-10 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "It’s a startling and disconcerting read that should make you think twice every time a friend of a friend offers you the opportunity of a lifetime.” —Erik Larson, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Dead Wake and bestselling author of Devil in the White City Think you can’t get conned? Think again. The New York Times bestselling author of Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes explains how to spot the con before they spot you. “[An] excellent study of Con Artists, stories & the human need to believe” –Neil Gaiman, via Twitter A compelling investigation into the minds, motives, and methods of con artists—and the people who fall for their cons over and over again. While cheats and swindlers may be a dime a dozen, true conmen—the Bernie Madoffs, the Jim Bakkers, the Lance Armstrongs—are elegant, outsized personalities, artists of persuasion and exploiters of trust. How do they do it? Why are they successful? And what keeps us falling for it, over and over again? These are the questions that journalist and psychologist Maria Konnikova tackles in her mesmerizing new book. From multimillion-dollar Ponzi schemes to small-time frauds, Konnikova pulls together a selection of fascinating stories to demonstrate what all cons share in common, drawing on scientific, dramatic, and psychological perspectives. Insightful and gripping, the book brings readers into the world of the con, examining the relationship between artist and victim. The Confidence Game asks not only why we believe con artists, but also examines the very act of believing and how our sense of truth can be manipulated by those around us.
Download or read book Charmers Con Artists written by Sandra Sue Scott and published by Winepress Publishing. This book was released on 2000 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A psychological study of charmers, con artists, and their hidden alter-ego, the abusers -- how they got that way, various profile examples, and how to recover from their artistry of killing you softly with their charm. Is there someone in your life who: -- Is liked and admired by everyone, but who is privately manipulative, controlling, and abusive? -- Asks, begs, expects you to forgive and forget the same hurtful acts repeatedly? -- Knows exactly what to say or do to keep you from holding him accountable and in turn makes you look like the problem? If so...then this book is for you!
Download or read book The Art of Desperation written by Sara Lea and published by Porkchop Publishing LLC. This book was released on 2021-06-17 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Love can be obsessive… Ever since Beth’s best friend was murdered, her life has been spiraling out of control. Clinging to Charlie, she struggles to cope with the loss. But Charlie is hiding something- and the more he tries to avoid the truth, the more he loses touch with reality. As Beth begins to discover the truth, she starts to wonder… who does Charlie think she is? Charlie’s desperation to be with her and to start a family has become an obsession. When the truth is finally revealed, Charlie takes things into his own hands. He can’t let Beth leave. He won’t lose the woman he loves again, and he will stop at nothing to make sure that doesn’t happen. Keywords: domestic thriller, thriller, psychological thriller, cheating spouse, guilty spouse, murder, cheating, possessive husband, stalker, mystery thriller, romantic thriller, gritty thriller, childhood trauma, young couples, marriage, secrets, lies, lovers, secret pregnancy. Readers also enjoyed books by: Kiersten Modglin, Frieda McFadden, Sally Hepworth, Britney King, A.R. Torre
Download or read book Operation Flamenco written by Mark Simmons and published by Lulu.com. This book was released on 2019-07-12 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: MI5 agent Rob Nicolson is sent to Spain, he is an IRA target after his last mission. Just sit in the sun, get some R & R until it blows over. There is a small job he can do to pass the time. Look up Commander Styles, an ex-pat, an old Firm agent, raising a stink. It is another 'easy job' that goes wrong as Rob arrives on the Costa del Sol to find Styles dead. Murdered; why and by whom? Rob soon feels he is being manipulated. The only person he can rely on, a young woman of Welsh/Spanish descent, a Flamenco dancer. His dilemma, should he bring her into his dangerous world?
Download or read book The Con Artists written by Luke Healy and published by Drawn & Quarterly. This book was released on 2022-06-07 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is going to be Frank’s year. He’s going to do it all: find love, become a famous comedian, and responsibly parent his plants. But then, Giorgio gets hit by a bus. Self-assured and utterly entitled, Giorgio has always seemed like “Frank, but better.” Moving in with and caring for his estranged childhood friend quickly starts to chip away at Frank’s sense of self, as well as Giogio’s carefully curated online persona. Is Giorgio’s penchant for overindulgence truly aspirational? Or is it ultimately a red flag? The further Frank is pulled into Giorgio’s orbit, the quicker his existential dread blooms. Expectation and reality soon collide in a singular tale about trust and confidence. Luke Healy’s playful, hilarious third graphic novel uses crisp lines and physical comedy to portray an uneasy friendship between two young men on the cusp of adulting. Snippets from Frank’s middling stand-up routines are punctuated by the subtle farce of Healy’s mise-en-scène and the lively, at times scathingly pointed, banter of old friends. The Con Artists is a stylish character study that asks the question of who fools who once everyone is off-camera.
Download or read book Scam Me If You Can written by Frank Abagnale and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-08-27 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Are you at risk of being scammed? Former con artist and bestselling author of Catch Me If You Can Frank Abagnale shows you how to stop scammers in their tracks. Maybe you're wondering how to make the scam phone calls stop. Perhaps someone has stolen your credit card number. Or you've been a victim of identity theft. Even if you haven't yet been the target of a crime, con artists are always out there, waiting for the right moment to steal your information, your money, and your life. As one of the world's most respected authorities on the subjects of fraud, forgery, and cyber security, Frank Abagnale knows how scammers work. In Scam Me If You Can, he reveals the latest tricks that today's scammers, hackers, and con artists use to steal your money and personal information--often online and over the phone. Using plain language and vivid examples, Abagnale reveals hundreds of tips, including: The best way to protect your phone from being hacked The only time you should ever use a debit card The one type of photo you should never post on social media The only conditions under which you should use WiFi networks at the airport The safest way to use an ATM With his simple but counterintuitive rules, Abagnale also makes use of his insider intel to paint a picture of cybercrimes that haven't become widespread yet.
Download or read book The Con Man s Daughter written by Ed Dee and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2007-09-03 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An ex-cop must solve his own daughter's kidnapping in this grittily authentic thriller by the incomparable Ed Dee. Ex NYPD detective Eddie Dunne must search his own past for clues when his 35-year old daughter Kate is kidnapped from her suburban New York home. While the cops wait for ransom demands and hunt down a stolen car seen leavingthe driveway, Dunne is a step ahead. He's sure that the disappearance has to do with his previous employment as a general fixer for Anatoly Lukin, legendary Brighton Beach crime boss. And while Lukin was involved in non-violent activities like Medicare fraud and gas gouging, his chief rival, Yuri Burodenko, engineered sales of Russian military weapons and was capable of extreme violence. The search turns more desperate when Dunne's former partner's head lands on his front yard. Now Dunne will do anything to find Burodenko, but there's another gangster with a score to settle with Eddie....
Download or read book The Smack written by Richard Lange and published by Mulholland Books. This book was released on 2017-07-18 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rowan Petty is a conman down on his luck. He's flat broke, living out of cheap hotels, and wondering how it all went wrong. His car quits on him in Reno, and he takes a job there on the bottom rung of a lousy phone scam. When he's not swindling lonely widows, he tries to turn nickels into dimes at the poker table. One snowy night, he crosses paths with a sweet-talking hooker who's tired of the streets, and sparks fly. When an old friend of his turns up spreading a rumor about two million dollars in army money smuggled out of Afghanistan and stashed in an apartment in Los Angeles, it seems like a chance at the score of a lifetime. So Petty and the hooker head south, and straight into trouble. A wounded vet, a washed-up actor, and Petty's estranged daughter are all players in the dangerous game they find themselves caught up in. For the winner: a fortune. For the loser: a bullet to the head. Propulsive, suspenseful, and written with a searing lyricism, The Smack shows once again that "Lange is a writer firing on all cylinders who belongs in the top tier of novelists working today" ( Omaha World-Herald).
Download or read book The Big Con written by David Maurer and published by Anchor. This book was released on 2010-10-27 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The classic 1940 study of con men and con games that Luc Sante in Salon called “a bonanza of wild but credible stories, told concisely with deadpan humor, as sly and rich in atmosphere as anything this side of Mark Twain.” “Of all the grifters, the confidence man is the aristocrat,” wrote David Maurer, a proposition he definitely proved in The Big Con, one of the most colorful, well-researched, and entertaining works of criminology ever written. A professor of linguistics who specialized in underworld argot, Maurer won the trust of hundreds of swindlers, who let him in on not simply their language but their folkways and the astonishingly complex and elaborate schemes whereby unsuspecting marks, hooked by their own greed and dishonesty, were “taken off” – i.e. cheated—of thousands upon thousands of dollars. The Big Con is a treasure trove of American lingo (the write, the rag, the payoff, ropers, shills, the cold poke, the convincer, to put on the send) and indelible characters (Yellow Kid Weil, Barney the Patch, the Seldom Seen Kid, Limehouse Chappie, Larry the Lug). It served as the source for the Oscar-winning film The Sting.
