David W. Maurer, The Big Con / Leverage 1.01 "The Nigerian Job"
"My boy," said old John Henry Strosnider sagely, "look carefully at an honest man when he tells the tale himself about his honesty. He makes the best kind of mark. . . "
In most big-con games the initial approach is made to the mark on the basis of his fundamental honesty. . . Thus the mark's ego is flattered at the start, while at the same time he feels a sense of security in the deal because he is convinced that the men he deals with trust and admire him for his honesty. And once a man admits complete and unshakable faith in his own integrity, he is in an excellent frame of mind to be approached by con men.
Second, he brings into play powerful and well-nigh irresistible forces to excite the cupidity of the mark.
Then he allows the victim to make large sums of money by means of dealings which are explained to him as being dishonest. . . . In the mad frenzy of cheating someone else, he is unaware of the fact that he is the real victim, carefully selected and fatted for the kill.
. . . it should not be assumed that the victims of confidence games are all blockheads. Very much to the contrary, the higher a mark's intelligence, the quicker he sees through the deal directly to his own advantage. . . In fact, highly intelligent marks, even though they may tax the ingenuity of the con men, respond best to the proper type of play.
Often his rationalization mechanisms are so perfectly developed that he never admits, even to himself, that he is fundamentally dishonest.
Course, Dubenich must have read the spark-notes version, because he missed a crucial warning. . . .
Laughing marks are usually considered the most dangerous;
and there is an iron-clad maxim current among big-con men: "Never beat a mark when he is drunk."
Nonetheless:
Nate was not chosen to be the honest man. He was chosen to be the perfect mark.
