Con Games

A con game is a form of mental chess that uses emotional manipulation, lies, deception,and pseudo reasoning to maneuver a "mark" into agreeing to a sale or exchange. The are often a form of "cultural affinity" crimes. Here the con plays on a person's affinity for sports, travel, politics, food, and the like. They often sound impressively knowledgeable. Conversations with cons are often a feel good situation wherein the feel-goodness disarms the "marks" prudent thought and behavior (purring).

A confidence game can be part of a con game but generally it is without the mental chess. A confidence game is so powerful a simple lie will suffice to execute it. In a confidence game the con and the mark develop an intimacy. Emotionally the "mark" gets entangled in this intimacy and loses perspective. In a confidence game there is a gradual leveraging of the "mark." He simply cannot say no to strategically spoken demands. This process is called in-tim-a ting or intimating.

See Playing Games

• Productivity
• Constructive Fraud
• Con Games, Confidence Games
• Fast Buck Artists
• Intimating
• Purring