Anatomy of a Con Artist: The 14 Red Flags to Spot Grifters, Schemers, and Thieves

Reality TV producer Walton recounts his experience of being scammed and offers advice on avoiding the same fate in this curious blend of memoir and self-help. In 2013, while campaigning to save his apartment building’s pool, Walton received an email from a stranger offering to help. Calling herself Mair Smyth, she proceeded to become Walton’s best friend over the next four years, feeding him a bogus story about her Irish ancestry, lavish inheritance, and married lover (whom it turned out she was also scamming). Meanwhile, she borrowed tens of thousands of dollars from Walton, convincing him that her family had frozen her inheritance and she would pay him back—though she never did. Acknowledging how improbable the situation seems, Walton candidly illustrates how he fell for every ruse and serves up useful advice for spotting the grandiosity of scammers. Some of the prose has the ring of a TED talk (“Remember, at that point in my life, I thought professional con artists were only something you’d see in movies”), but Walton’s story is undeniably fascinating. There’s enough here to entice true crime fans. Agent: Jenna Land Free, Folio Literary. (Aug.)