The fraudsters: how con artists steal your money / Eamon Dillon [first edition]

THERE are as many ways to earn cash dishonestly as to make an honest living. Fraud is now an international industry, with a shadowy underworld network in which everything from songbirds and garlic, to designer goods and medicines are faked and sold on. The Fraudsters: Sharks and Charlatans How Con-artists Make Their Money details the con-tricks, identity theft, and exploitation, deployed every day by an army of these hard-working fraudsters. The con-artists come in all shapes and sizes psychopaths who have no understanding of how their crimes affect their victims, the white collar grafters who like to think there are no victims if an insurance company is hoodwinked and then there are the fraudsters who stick to their flimsy stories even when confronted with concrete evidence of their crime. Billions have been stolen by highly-organised gangs of fraudsters, who sell unlikely tales through internet chat room and forums. For some, the lure of illicit money is more potent than doing a day s work. Fraudsters pretend to be friends, a respected banker, or even a lover to win the trust they plan to violate. Arrogance, greed, gullibility and insecurity combine to make some people easy pickings for con-artists. The Fraudsters tells the stories of all these modern day con-artists and their victims.