A con artist is a person who deliberately builds false trust with you in order to steal your money, property, or personal information. The schemes they run are called confidence tricks, and they are prosecuted as fraud. The FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center logged more than 859,000 fraud complaints in 2024, with reported losses of $16.6 billion.1Internet Crime Complaint Center. 2024 IC3 Annual Report At the federal level, a single count of wire or mail fraud carries up to 20 years in prison, and up to 30 years when the fraud targets a financial institution.
How the Scheme Unfolds
Confidence tricks follow a pattern. Knowing the shape of it is often what lets a person spot one in progress.
It starts with the setup. The con artist makes contact and builds a relationship, gathering details about your finances, your fears, and what you want. The approach is tailored to you. The meeting can happen anywhere: a social event, a dating app, a cold call that lands at just the right moment.
Then comes the convincer. The scheme appears to work. You get a small payout, or you see a transaction that looks like proof of everything you’ve been told. That taste of success lowers your guard and pulls you in deeper, encouraging you to commit more money or more information.
The last stage is the sting. By now you have committed real resources on the strength of the trust built in the earlier stages. The money moves, and the con artist disappears. No contact information, no trail. Because the transaction felt legitimate at the time, you may not realize what happened until long after the money is gone.
Scams Con Artists Commonly Run
Investment Fraud
The pitch is high returns with little or no risk. The product might be worthless securities, a nonexistent business, or a cryptocurrency opportunity that sounds too good to pass up. Some operations pay earlier investors with newer investors’ money to create the appearance of profit, and the whole structure collapses when the flow of new money slows. Before investing with anyone, you can check their registration and disciplinary history for free through FINRA’s BrokerCheck or the SEC Action Lookup tool.2Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. BrokerCheck – Find a Broker, Investment or Financial Advisor
Impersonation and Digital Scams
Here the con artist pretends to be someone you’d trust: a bank, the IRS, a tech company. A message arrives saying your account is compromised or you owe back taxes, with urgent instructions to hand over login credentials or wire money. The IRS does not initiate contact by email, text, or social media; its first communication is almost always a letter sent through the U.S. Postal Service.3Internal Revenue Service. Heres How to Avoid IRS Text Message Scams Any demand for immediate payment by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency is a strong signal of fraud.
Romance Scams
Romance scams work through emotional investment. The con artist finds targets on dating apps and social networks, uses stolen photos and a fabricated life story, and spends weeks or months building a connection. Then a crisis appears: a medical emergency, a legal problem, a travel bind. Could you help? Victims often send money repeatedly, believing they are helping someone they love. A reverse image search on a suspicious profile picture sometimes shows the photo belongs to someone else entirely, which is a strong indication the whole relationship is manufactured.
Warning Signs
Confidence schemes share recognizable red flags, no matter the specific flavor:
- Urgency and pressure. You must act right now, with no time to think or consult anyone.
- Secrecy. You’re asked not to tell family, friends, or a financial advisor.
- Unusual payment methods. Legitimate businesses and government agencies do not demand gift cards, wire transfers, or cryptocurrency.
- Returns that can’t exist. Guaranteed high returns with no risk is not a real investment.
- Unverifiable identity. The person avoids video calls, won’t meet in person, and their online presence falls apart under basic searching.
- Upfront fees. You’re told to pay taxes, fees, or insurance before receiving a prize, grant, or inheritance.
If someone contacts you claiming to be from a bank or a government agency, hang up and call the organization back using a number from its official website. Not a number the caller gives you.
Criminal Charges a Con Artist Faces
Confidence schemes are prosecuted as fraud, and federal prosecutors have strong tools when the deception crosses state lines or uses electronic communications.
Mail fraud and wire fraud are the most common federal charges. Mail fraud covers any scheme that uses the postal service or a private carrier.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1341 – Frauds and Swindles Wire fraud covers schemes carried out through phone calls, emails, text messages, or other electronic communication.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 1343 – Fraud by Wire, Radio, or Television Both carry up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 per count for individuals.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 3571 – Sentence of Fine When the fraud targets a financial institution, the maximum climbs to 30 years and $1,000,000. Prosecutors routinely charge one count for each fraudulent communication, and those counts can stack.
When a con artist uses someone else’s personal information during the scheme, prosecutors can add aggravated identity theft. A conviction tacks a mandatory two years onto the sentence for the underlying fraud, and the judge cannot run that time concurrently.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 1028A – Aggravated Identity Theft Using stolen or counterfeit cards, account numbers, or other access devices triggers its own federal charge, with maximums of 10 or 15 years for a first offense depending on the conduct, and up to 20 years for a second conviction.8Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 1029 – Fraud and Related Activity in Connection With Access Devices
Many schemes involve more than one person. If two or more people agree to carry out a fraud and at least one of them takes a concrete step, every participant can be charged with conspiracy, which carries up to five years on top of the underlying fraud penalties.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 US Code 371 – Conspiracy to Commit Offense or to Defraud United States
State prosecutors typically charge con artists under theft or fraud statutes, most often theft by deception, which applies when someone takes your property by creating or reinforcing a false impression. The offense is usually a misdemeanor for smaller amounts and a felony once the stolen value crosses a dollar threshold that varies by state, with some set as low as $500 and others as high as $2,500. Courts commonly order restitution requiring the offender to repay what was taken, in addition to any prison term.
If a Con Artist Targeted You
Acting fast improves your chances of recovering money and limiting further damage.
- Call your bank immediately. If you sent a wire transfer, request a recall or reversal; the sooner you ask, the better the odds. If you shared card information, have the account frozen or closed.10Internet Crime Complaint Center. Account Takeover Fraud via Impersonation of Financial Institution Support
- File a complaint with the FBI’s IC3 at ic3.gov. You’ll need your contact information, details about the scammer, transaction information, and a description of what happened.11Internet Crime Complaint Center. Frequently Asked Questions
- Report the fraud to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. The reports are shared with more than 2,800 law enforcement agencies through the Consumer Sentinel database.12Federal Trade Commission. ReportFraud.ftc.gov
- If your personal information was exposed, go to IdentityTheft.gov for a free recovery plan that generates the letters and forms you need.13Federal Trade Commission. IdentityTheft.gov Helps You Report and Recover From Identity Theft
- Place a credit freeze with Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. It stops new accounts from being opened in your name, and placing or lifting a freeze is free.14Federal Trade Commission. Credit Freezes and Fraud Alerts
- File a police report. Your bank, insurer, or creditors may require one during the recovery process.
Keep every piece of evidence: emails, text messages, screenshots, receipts, bank statements, and any contact information the scammer used. You’ll need it for investigators and for any civil case you pursue.
Criminal charges are not your only option. You can file a civil lawsuit against the con artist for fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, and the burden of proof is lower than in a criminal case: you need to show the fraud “more likely than not” occurred, rather than “beyond a reasonable doubt.”15Legal Information Institute. Burden of Proof A civil judgment can award you the money you lost, and in some cases additional damages. For smaller losses, many states let fraud victims use small claims court, which typically handles cases up to $5,000 to $25,000 without the need to hire an attorney. The real-world challenge is collection: a judgment gives you tools like wage garnishment, bank levies, and property liens, but if the con artist has spent or hidden the money, recovery is not guaranteed.