Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsToo true.
Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2020
I got into this book for a fairly sad reason. A dear friend recently passed away. He had been suffering from heart and pulmonary issues as well as diabetes. Retired, well educated professional living alone. The attorney handling estate issues told me that my friend had been scammed. From the local bank account representing his emergency reserves he had sent $25k to a Western Union address, another $25k in gift cards. The autopsy showed he died from an overdose of his medications. (Note the police declined to follow-up other than checking the Western Union address and determining no information was available regarding who picked up the funds.)
Why, I wondered would someone this intelligent fall for this type of scam? This question led me to Maria's book which she answers quite well. Seems no one, no matter how educated, intelligent or careful is immune to the well executed con. She delves into the structure of the con, the stages involved, why they work or don't and why those scammed often continue to believe the con was legitimate.
Also includes some of the more interesting historical scams such as Ponzi, Madoff, etc. The book was well written enough that I have moved off to her examination of the world of professional poker. If cons are an area of interest for you, hard to beat this one.
