How to scam: con artist tricks revealed

Most people who get emotional quickly will fall every time. And if they don't get worked up, I won't waste my time with them. If prospects are asking a lot of questions or tell me

they want to think it over or talk with their lawyer, I will hang up the phone. Victims don't ask a lot of questions; they answer a lot of questions. Victims don't read paperwork;

they wait for you to tell them what it says. Victims don't look for why the offer is a scam; they look for why the offer will make them money. They want you to make them feel good so

they can pull the trigger. Early on in my career I was selling bogus oil and gas units to investors. We were selling units for $22,500 for a quarter unit, or $90,000 for a full unit,

promising a 10-to-1 return. Sure, we had a well, but it was a dry hole, and we knew it — there was no chance of hitting oil. Every so often when I was pitching these deals, an investor would

ask if I was registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. I would always say, "Of course we are, and I want you to verify that the minute we get off the phone."

The truth is, we were never registered, but 98 percent of the people who ask that question never check. They just want to hear me say it. SCAMS TO WATCH OUT FOR If I were still in the scam

business, I would focus on reverse mortgages and precious metals. Home-equity and reverse mortgage scams are attractive now because a lot of seniors have paid off their house, and

that's like an untapped bank account. If your home is worth $300,000 and you paid off your mortgage a couple of years ago, you have $300,000 sitting in the bank, waiting for me to steal

it. A lot of TV and direct mail advertising tells you how to get money out of your house while you are still living in it. Some of these ads are legitimate; many are not. My ma asked me

once how her friends could avoid these scams. I told her two things. If someone is pitching a deal, ask yourself, "What's in it for him?" A common ploy is to get you to take

out a loan on your house, then invest the proceeds in a long-term annuity or some other investment in which they make a huge commission. It may not be a fraud, but it may be a lot better

deal for the salesman than for you. I also told Ma that when it comes to your house, never sign any paperwork until your attorney — someone you choose, not someone the salesman refers you to

 — reads the fine print. As for gold and silver scams, I worked in several coin rooms in the 2000s. We would sell gold coins at a 300 to 500 percent markup. So the victims would pay $25,000

for a bunch of coins, which they would receive, but years later, they would take them to a coin shop and learn they were worth only a few thousand dollars. This is a great scam, because the

coin industry is largely unregulated. Plus, because the victims receive the coins, they don't realize until years later that they've been taken. With the bad economy, these scams

are huge now. One of my victims was a successful engineer from California named Tim. He first talked to one of our salesmen, who gave him the generic pitch. Then he turned him over to me to

close. The first thing I said to Tim was: "Hi, Tim, this is Jim. How are you doing? Go get a pen and paper right now — I want you to write my name down." Tim immediately said,

"Oh, OK, I'll be right back." Bang. With those six words I knew that Tim was going to fall and fall hard. It wasn't just that he immediately complied with my request; it

was how he complied. The tone of his voice was high-pitched and squeaky, almost submissive. It's hard to explain, but over time you pick up the nuances and subtleties in people's

voices. It's the wolf sensing the lamb. He was signaling that I was in control and that he wanted me in control. OUT OF THE GAME, FOR GOOD All of those years I ripped people off, I knew

it was wrong. But I was making so much money, I didn't care. It wasn't until those agents busted into my office in Miami that it finally hit me: What I was doing was really bad. I

pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and went to prison for more than three years. I had a lot of time to think about my crimes. When I got out, I promised my

mother I would never go back to my old ways. It wasn't easy. The first year I was out of prison I was asked almost daily to work as a closer for the latest scam. Finally, I changed my

phone number so I wouldn't be tempted. In 2009, I spoke at a Washington, D.C., fraud-prevention conference sponsored by the Federal Trade Commission. Since then, I've been working

on the other side of the scam business: I shot a couple of television interviews and even did some role-playing with fraud fighters from the AARP Fraud Fighter Call Center. Today I am 44

years old, and I live in my parents' house. I owe the federal government almost a million dollars in restitution that I don't have a prayer of paying back. Thanks to years of

smoking and drug abuse, I have acute emphysema and I carry around an oxygen tank. I'm on the waiting list for a double lung transplant, but the clock is running out. Can you spell

karma? People sometimes ask me about remorse. I do understand that innocent people got hurt as a result of my actions. I think about my victims. I pray for my victims. And even though I have

spent the past four years trying to help people avoid monsters like me, I wonder if it has been enough. _Jim was convicted on charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud in 2006. Doug

Shadel, a former fraud investigator for Washington state's attorney general's office, is the author of _Outsmarting the Scam Artists: How to Protect Yourself From the Most Clever

Cons_ (AARP/Wiley); he is also currently AARP Washington's state director._ DON'T GET BURNED * Never make a buying decision when you've just heard the sales pitch. Always give

yourself at least 24 hours to think about it. This gives you time for the emotional effects of the sales presentation to subside — and time for you to do research. * Don't ever share

personal information about your family or about your worries with people who are trying to sell you something. * In any interaction with someone trying to sell you a deal, always ask

yourself, "What's in it for them?" In other words, if this is such a great deal, why are they calling you about it? Why don't they just do it themselves? BUT IF YOU DO: *

For investment fraud, file a complaint with your state securities regulator. * For insurance scams, file a complaint with your state insurance department. * For all other instances of

fraud, file a complaint with your state attorney general's office.