Explores the psyches, motives, and methods of con artists to reveal why they are consistently successful, identifying common hallmarks of cons to share additional insights into the relationship between artists and victims.

While cheats and swindlers may be a dime a dozen, true conmen -- the Bernie Madoffs, the Jim Bakkers, the Lance Armstrongs -- are elegant, outsized personalities, artists of persuasion and exploiters of trust. How do they do it? Why are they successful? And what keeps us falling for it, over and over again? From multimillion-dollar Ponzi schemes to small-time frauds, Konnikova pulls together a selection of stories to demonstrate what all cons share in common, drawing on scientific, dramatic, and psychological perspectives. The book brings readers into the world of the con, examining the relationship between artist and victim. The Confidence Game asks not only why we believe con artists, but also examines the very act of believing and how our sense of truth can be manipulated by those around us.