Word: conning
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...prosecution witnesses and 1,400 documents were enough for the jury last week to find him guilty. Assistant U.S. Attorney David Schindler called Symington a classic con man, who falsely inflated his net worth when he wanted to borrow and pleaded poverty when he wanted to refinance a loan on more favorable terms. Between 1989 and 1991, for instance, his declared net worth swung between $12 million and minus $23 million...
Immediately after being diagnosed in August of 1995, Matt began intensive chemotherapy treatment in New York. Originally from New Canaan, Con- ecticut, the Stauffer family began a transient existence as they tirelessly worked to have at least two people by Matt's side at all times...
Peddlers of phony investment schemes often troll for prospects by visiting churches, country clubs or senior-citizen centers, says Tallahassee, Fla., comptroller Robert Milligan. (Not only in Florida, either. The Olive Branch Center in Sun City has had to institute tight screening provisions to keep con artists out of its weekly meetings.) The scammers often perform a legitimate service, such as income-tax preparation, to win the confidence of an elderly customer before pitching a fraudulent investment...
State and local authorities are attempting to step up prosecutions of con artists and are joining A.A.R.P. and other organizations in distributing to the aged tips on how they can avoid being conned. Most of the advice seems rather elementary: Don't deal with anyone who demands that a certified check be put in the mail immediately; insist that dubious propositions be put in writing; above all, just hang up on an overly unctuous phone caller. For those who cannot bring themselves to be so rude, Somers has a softer tip: Ask the caller to hold on because someone...
Prosecuting the frauds, however, is difficult. Often there are no witnesses to a phone con except the scammer and the victim. The rare con artists who are convicted seldom get sentences anywhere near as long as O'Donnell's 16 years. Far more typical are the prison terms of one to three years imposed on operators of one New York State pyramid scheme. The House in July passed a telemarketing-fraud bill that for the first time sets minimum jail terms for federal convictions. But the minimum will be only six months, or 15 months if the victim is over...