The Con explores the troubling tales of people taken in by claims and promises that proved too good to be true, from identity fraud and misleading romance to the high-profile college admission scandal and Fyre Festival. It will reveal how the victims were fooled and the cost of their false trust - emotional and financial. "The Con" will feature interviews with the key people caught up in the cons, including victims and eyewitnesses, and, in some cases, law enforcement and the perpetrators themselves. The series will lift the curtain on the people behind some of the most outrageous cons ever. |
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Ratings: | TVMaze: 5.0/10 | |
Released: | October 14, 2020 | |
Runtime: | 60 min | |
Countries: | United States | |
Companies: | ABC ABC News The Intellectual Property Corporation ABC News Studios | |
Cast: | Whoopi Goldberg | |
The first two episodes of The Con have been excellent as they really bring out the utterly amoral sociopathic nature of the con artist and why anyone can be a victim. The irony of course is that many of the people who appear in these documentaries are the ones who believed they were far too smart and experienced to fall for a lame con artist. Often they have the money, career and education that appears to back up that statement. I say appears, because actually those factors are often what attracts the con artist in the first place and that’s because the con doesn’t take place in the mind, no matter how brilliant, it occurs in the heart.
It’s on the level of emotional intelligence that they operate, manipulating your hopes, dreams and desires as much as your bank account, and that’s why the victims are so emotionally destroyed, long after they have recovered financially and sometimes legally.
PS> I wrote the above before the Fyre Festival con in episode 4 - these people were already conned by commodity fetishism, social media, celebrity and the illusion of fame long before they became willing marks for this particular con and I have zero empathy for them.
This is a very good show. Wow - what people will go through for the almighty dollar. Money is the root of all evil. There are some people I feel for but most I don’t because they wanted self gratification as well and they got ripped off looking for it. Eye opening for sure but some of these people are just down right “silly” (I’m being polite).