If you think you’re not affected by tube advertising, then the Madison Avenue big shots are smiling. They believe you’re hooked.
And, using that same principle, William M. Francavilla, the author of The Madoffs Among Us: Combat the Scammers, Con Artists, and Thieves Who Are Plotting to Steal Your Money, quotes con artists who say that, if you are convinced you could never be conned, you’re already partly down the road to getting hoodwinked and you should check your wallet.
How bad is the scamming problem?
Francavilla, a CFP, cites various media reports, saying “scams exact a huge toll on consumers and society at large, with annual costs in the United States alone exceeding $100 billion.” He concedes that it is likely much worse—many people who are scammed are reluctant to report it.
The Madoffs Among Us is sobering and interesting. If you want to prevent your assets from ending up in somebody else’s offshore account, Francavilla argues that you have to be skeptical and dispassionate, do your research and due diligence and check in with third parties.
And much to his credit, he doesn’t argue his system or any system is completely foolproof. He doesn’t believe a foolproof system exists.
His advice is “merely an attempt to equip you, the consumer and investor, with tools to fortify and protect your wealth.” And you’ll need all the anti-scamming tools you can get.
It’s easy, Francavilla contends, to con an individual, a group, even a whole nation for long periods. Just look at distant and recent history.
He points to WorldCom’s Bernie Ebbers and Enron’s Kenneth Lay (President George W. Bush’s beloved “Kenny Boy”) in a pantheon of crooks and con artists who all seemed at one time to be brilliant successes—the toast of the political, investment and media elite.
Still, they had a lot of predecessors. Indeed, there have been Bernard Madoffs for centuries. Francavilla points specifically to the monetary madness of early French central banker John Law.