Library:The Big Con
| The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man | |
|---|---|
| Author | David W. Maurer |
| First published | 1940 |
| ISBN | 978-0-385-49538-6 |
| Role | Analysis |
| Domains | Crime & Public Safety Business, Finance & Scams |
| Tactics | Fraud or Scam |
The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man is a 1940 book by David W. Maurer.
Summary
David W. Maurer, a linguist at the University of Louisville, published this study of professional confidence men in 1940. Maurer had spent years studying the specialized slang of the criminal underworld, and through that work he gained the trust of con men who described their methods to him in detail. The result is the classic account of the "big con," and a rare inside view of deception as a profession.
Short con and big con
Maurer distinguishes two kinds of swindle. The short con takes whatever money a victim, or "mark," has on them at the moment. The big con is far more ambitious: it sends the mark home to raise a large sum, often their life savings, and then takes it all. Big cons required planning, a team and considerable capital.
The big store
The heart of the big con was the "big store": a fake betting parlour or brokerage office, fully staffed and furnished, set up for a single mark. Every person in the room, from clerks to other customers, was part of the act. Maurer describes the main games: "the wire," in which the mark is persuaded he can bet on horse races with advance knowledge of the results; "the rag," a variation using stock market tips; and "the pay-off," another betting scheme.
The anatomy of a con
Maurer lays out the stages with precision. A "roper" finds the mark and wins his trust. The "inside man" presents the scheme. The mark is allowed to win at first, a step called the "convincer," which overcomes his doubts. He is then sent home to raise a large sum. At the decisive moment, the money is lost through an apparent accident or mistake. Finally the mark is handled so that he does not go to the police, a step later known as "cooling the mark out." Con teams also routinely paid off local police, an arrangement called the "fix."
Why marks fall
A key insight is that most marks were not naive. They were often successful businessmen, and what drew them in was their own willingness to profit from what they believed was a dishonest scheme. The con worked by exploiting greed, pride and the mark's belief in his own shrewdness.
Influence
The book shaped how a whole generation understood con artists. The sociologist Erving Goffman drew on it for his influential essay on how victims are "cooled out." The 1973 film The Sting drew so heavily on Maurer's material that he sued the filmmakers; the case was settled out of court.
Relevance to Bullshitopedia
This is the foundational text for the Fraud or Scam tactic. Its stages, from building trust to the early win to the managed exit, still describe modern frauds, including online investment and romance scams.