Con Men and Your Rights
Wednesday, October 8th, 2008Confidence Man: a person who makes money by defrauding an individual or a group of people.
A confidence man, also known as a conman, is someone who makes money by swindling others out of their own money. They don’t have a legitimate career other than to defraud other people and to take their money. Unfortunately, tons of people get taken by conmen every day and many do not know what rights they have and how to get their money or property back.
The Many Different Cons
As long as people have been making and using money, there have been conmen. There are a number of different types of tricks that conmen have up their sleeves. The first, and most commonly seen are the get rich quick schemes, which you’ve likely seen before. Any time you have seen the words “make money fast”, or “earn money doing nothing”, you may be dealing with a conman. There are a number of these different types of scams, including pyramid schemes, charms, chain letters, wealth seminars, and many more. These types of scams account for a great many of the scams that are done on a daily basis and can be difficult to defeat.
If, for instance, you signed up for a pyramid scheme (without realizing it was, of course), you probably had to sign a number of documents, binding you into the scheme and making it difficult to bring legal actions against the people who swindled you. If you discover the situation early enough, you may be able to get legal help to extricate yourself from the situation. Another way to protect yourself is to keep copies of every document you see to protect yourself. Also, if you have written any checks, put a stop on them immediately, and keep a close eye on your bank account as well.
Another type of classic scam is the medical scams that go on. Someone who is very ill may decide to look to alternative healers to cure them. Some of these healers are no better than conmen in disguise, trying to make it look like they are helping while doing nothing more than taking your money. The most well-known of these is the psychic surgery, where the con artist uses sleight of hand in order to make it look like they took something “toxic” out of your body when they did not. In order to avoid these types of cons, make sure that you take someone who is skeptical along with you. If you find later that you have been swindled, you should seek legal advice immediately to see what options you have available to you.
Being taken by conmen can be a devastating feeling. It can leave you feeling hurt and angry along with feeling broke. The best thing to do when you have been swindled is to seek legal counsel as soon as you can. The faster you do, the greater chance you will have in getting some of your money back.