Con Artist

A Con Artist is a person who gains another person's Confidence in order to rob them of any personal assets.

History

The first known usage of the term "confidence man" in English was in 1849; it was used by American press during the trial of William Thompson. Thompson would strike conversations with strangers until he asked if they had the confidence to lend him their watches, whereupon he would walk off with the watch; he was captured when a victim recognized him on the street.

On Criminal Minds

Con Artists featured on the show.

• Season One
  • David Walker ("Won't Get Fooled Again") - Before becoming a copycat of serial bomber Adrian Bale, he was a career criminal specializing in counterfeiting money and checks, and forging antiques. He became a bomber when a mark threatened to expose one of his forgeries (a coin collection).
• Season Five
  • Bill Hodges ("Parasite") - He was responsible for a number of different cons that occurred for over a decade before settling on hedge fund schemes. He later devolved into a spree killer when the strain of juggling too many aliases caused him to begin having violent, psychotic fits.
• Season Ten
  • Colton Grant ("The Forever People") - The leader of a cult, his true goal was to discreetly fund a charity he headed by manipulating his followers into slowly giving all of their money to him. He was presumably arrested and prosecuted after it was realized he had been illegally harboring a child.
• Season Fourteen
  • Roberta and Everett Lynch ("Chameleon") - Roberta and Everett were a mother-son duo pair of murderous con artists. Roberta would marry men for their money, using her son as bait. Roberta would murder the men she married after they were no longer of use to her.

Real World

• Edward Edwards
• Jim Jones
• Larry Phillips, Jr. and Emil Mătăsăreanu
• Sante Kimes
• Frank Abagnale
• Juana Barraza
• Ray and Faye Copeland
• Mike DeBardeleben
• Skylar Julius Deleon
• Raymond Fernandez and Martha Beck
• Fritz Haarmann
• John George Haigh
• Alejandro Henriquez
• Bernard Madoff
• John Edward Robinson
• Jean-Claude Romand
• Helmuth Schmidt
• Joran van der Sloot
• Larry Phillips, Jr.
• Mark Hofmann
• H.H. Holmes
• Adam Worth