CONFIDENCE (CON) GAMES
To con is to defraud, dupe, or otherwise swindle. The economic survival of an individual may depend upon his or her ability to defend against a con game. Most one-on-one cons are designed to stimulate the target or victim to freely hand over some or all of their savings. Survival of our nation may rely upon not being duped by our politicians, foreign leaders, or special interest groups. By design and deception, we could be conned out of our security or our national wealth. Con games are an increasing threat.
The typical con game has a positive or a negative approach. A positive con is designed to convince the victim that he will receive financial or other reward as a result of taking certain actions or making certain investments. There is usually the hope of great gain or a prize that the victim has always wanted. But there are many subtle variations. For a one-on-one con, this might include requests for certain actions by con artists impersonating police officers or government officials. A negative con poses the threat of great loss should the victim refuse to undertake suggested investments or actions. Again, there are subtle variations. There are also con techniques that use a combination of positive and negative approaches.
At the present time, our whole world is a giant con game. Examples of cons in the United States include politicians making promises they do not intend to keep; the use of inflation as a hidden taxation device; deficit spending energy and other shortages created by withholding supplies; planned obsolescence, phoney investment and development schemes; faulty products; false claims; false advertising; bait and switch operations; manipulation of computer programs, chain letters, and many, many others. International examples include fight and talk strategies; signing treaties with the intent of secretly breaking them; planned defaulting on loans; economic and trade manipulation, and covert operations designed to influence the actions of other nations.
Con games are generally built upon dreams and confidence. They succeed because it is human nature to have confidence in anything that has the promise of giving us something we have dreamed of having. Confidence leads to trust, and trust leads to deception. The victim is conned before he or she realizes what’s happening. As previously suggested, this scenerio varies with the negative con where the victim thinks he is acting to protect something he already has. There are so many different cons, and different versions of each, that they are difficult to recognize and defend against.
Our defense against the con game is to develop chronic skepticism without being paranoid. Before investing time, money, or effort in anything, there should be a period of investigation, study, and contemplation. Make your decision and then have it confirmed as being correct by two separate and independent sources (persons) who have no interest in the outcome. The ability to accomplish the above task should be reinforced by making a conscious effort to constantly label fact from deception or fantasy. This will make you less vulnerable to any con. And, if you can also bridle any impulses of greed, you will further strengthen your defenses. Use of these same protective standards in politics will help to keep our country free. Adequate international intelligence collection, collation, and analysis will help prevent our being conned by foreign powers.
