Life gives us enough challenges without the scam artist, shyster, and con people. The picture I had of these people growing up was a tall, skinny man with a pencil thin mustache and slicked-back hair.
Obviously Prince is a musical artist and not a con artist, however it would be ironic if Prince were a con artist before his musical career took off (ie before he changed his name a bunch of times.) Then he would be known as “The former con artist now known as the artist formerly known as Prince.” Maybe that is why he tried to change his name to a symbol?
Prince is an incredibly talented musician, and truly deserves the title “artist.” However when we refer to con ‘artists’ and scam ‘artists’, we are somewhat glorifying a detestable breed of human scumbags. These people are self-serving, sociopathic parasites that steal from decent, trustworthy human beings.
I personally blame Paul Newman and Robert Redford. They were so good in the movie “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” that even though they were robbing banks and stealing innocent people’s money, viewers cheered them on along the way.
“The Sting,” also featuring Newman and Redford, glorified the image of con men by justifying their actions based on the fact that they were stealing from a crime boss. It paints an incorrect picture of a typical scammer.
“The Sting” also gave the world its classic theme song, “The Entertainer,” by Scott Joplin. When people talk about their “favorite songs to run to,” this is the only song that comes to mind for me. Probably because it is the only song I consistently run to, and it is to get ice cream. I run from fires and to ice cream trucks, that is all. I digress…
The reality is that Paul Newman was a selfless and inspirational philanthropist who loved salad dressing. Real scammers sit in their basements sending out emails to unsuspecting innocent people, and a lot of them live in countries other than the United States.
My first experience with a true blue scammer (i.e. not some ridiculously over-aggressive sales woman at Chico’s (long story)) was when I offered to put my brother’s hot tub up for sale on Craig’s list. The day after I posted the ad, I was very excited to see 5 emails regarding the hot tub.
Alas, upon reading the emails I knew they were scam attempts. I was previously unaware of the prevalence of this internet scamming problem, and I was truly taken aback at how easily people will take advantage of the innocent.
Taken aback is not an accurate description; I was pissed! In fact, I would like 5 minutes in the Octagon with every one of these people (but not in a row, because after 1 or 2, I would end up getting my face smashed in due to poor conditioning…)
Since I will never meet these people, and even if I did I do not even know where to find the closest Octagon, the only sense of justice I could obtain was by playing them at their own game; scamming the con.
The following is a video representation depicting real email conversations I had with Craigslist scammers to fight back for anyone who has ever been preyed upon by these worthless individuals. Enjoy some Good Idea justice!
For anyone unable to view the video on this site, I uploaded it to You Tube. Click here!
Good Idea John G 
Jon B,
Tell your associates to send the check to Jamel Smith, Cincinnati, Oh 45………
Classic! This reminded me of playing a nintendo game circa 1993… That song was awesome too! Do you need an assistant con scammer? I would be willing to help you catch these crooks if you will just help me get out of my country in Africa where I was a prince. You simply have to receive a check from my associates then transfer the money to me so I may be released and allowed to come to the united states.