Ep. 172 - Maria Konnikova: Am I a Con Artist?

I can't imagine walking into a situation like that... handing over $20,000. "You have too much attachment to money. Let me hold this in a jar," the psychic would say. "I'll give it back whenever you ask." Then of course you never get it back. "It's a slow building of a relationship, slow building of trust," Maria Konnikova said on my podcast.  "You have no idea how many times I've met people who said, 'I do not believe in psychics.... except my psychic. My psychic is the exception to the rule.'" Maria's a New York Times bestselling author, contributing writer for The New Yorker and a brilliant podcast guest. I read her book,  "The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It . . . Every Time," about the most common and dangerous con artists in history, what they plotted and how they got away with it. I got paranoid reading it. I thought she missed someone. Me. I kept thinking, "Am I a con artist?" There are 3 elements most people have in common with con artists. And a fourth element exclusive to con artists. It's the difference between Benjamin Franklin and Bernie Madoff. But before I tell you what these 4 elements are, you need to know how millions of Americans are being scammed everyday. And if you're one of them. Listen to my interview with Maria to find out the four elements of a con artist and never get scammed again. ------------What do YOU think of the show? Head to JamesAltucherShow.com/listeners and fill out a short survey that will help us better tailor the podcast to our audience!Are you interested in getting direct answers from James about your question on a podcast? Go to JamesAltucherShow.com/AskAltucher and send in your questions to be answered on the air!------------Visit Notepd.com to read our idea lists & sign up to create your own!My new book, Skip the Line, is out! Make sure you get a copy wherever books are sold!Join the You Should Run for President 2.0 Facebook Group, where we discuss why you should run for President.I write about all my podcasts! Check out the full post and learn what I learned at jamesaltuchershow.com------------Thank you so much for listening! If you like this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe to "The James Altucher Show" wherever you get your podcasts: Apple PodcastsiHeart RadioSpotifyFollow me on social media:YouTubeTwitterFacebookLinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.