While walking through Dublin city, journalist Quentin Fottrell was scammed.

A pleasant sounding, nicely dressed man stopped him and started chatting. Didn’t Quentin remember him? After all, the man said, he had worked on his house some years ago. Not wanting to be rude and a little embarrassed at forgetting a face, Quentin continued the chat which slowly turned to the fact that the man had forgotten his wallet and needed some help to get home. It was only when he had walked away, €40 lighter, that Quentin realised he had been scammed.

He wrote about the experience in The Irish Times and his article elicited multiple replies from men who had also been scammed by the same man in Dublin city centre.

Donal Cronin was one such reader. Although he is a communications expert and deeply knowledgable in the psychology behind persuasion, he too fell victim to the smooth-talking scammer. He took a photograph of the man while they were chatting and Quentin was able to confirm it was the same confidence trickster.

This episode was first published in January 2025

Quentin and Donal came into studio to explain how the scam worked and how they feel now having being duped.

Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.