The Second Phase of a Con Is Establishing the “Villan” and the “Victim.”

Going back to the scene from The Sting, the (1) narrative that unfolds in front of the (2) “Mark” creates a (3) villain and a (4) victim. A person robs and stabs a man creating a victim. The Mark sympathizes (emotionally connects) with the man who was both robbed and stabbed. The Victim then tells a narrative about how the mob is going to kill him if he doesn’t deliver money to them by 4:00 PM. The Mark now perceives the mob as the villain. The (5) Convincer (Robert Redford) adds to the narrative by pretending to be the moral and righteous third-party.

Let’s define each part of the manipulation or con.

1. Narrative – The Narrative is the storyline that is told to facilitate the manipulation. The narrative begins in step one but comes to fruition in phase three.
2. Mark – The person being conned is the Mark.
3. Villain – The Victim and the Convincer create a fictitious Villian. Incidentally, the villain is almost never a person. Vague groups make the best villains.
4. Victim – When the manipulators tell the narrative, they create a victim that elicits anger or sympathy from the mark. In many cases, you can uncover the manipulation by looking more closely at the victim. When the circumstances surrounding the victim begin to not match the narrative, the manipulation is exposed.
5. Convincer – The Convincer verifies the narrative. Most often, the manipulation will depict the convincer with grandiose terms like “Boy Scout” or “Honorable” to add credibility. You can also uncover the manipulation by looking more closely at the Convincer. Once you find misleading or dishonorable statements from this person, the con folds quickly.

The Manipulator Creates a Villain to Divert the Emotion (and Investigation) from the Manipulator.

The manipulator can’t be seen as the villain. So, he or she must create a villain. In some cases, the manipulator uses “projection” to divert focus from his or her bad actions to a different person.

Remember the purpose of the con — “manipulation of our beliefs.” The victim is really the villain. The villain is really the victim. Once the two get intertwined so tightly, the manipulator confuses and frustrates the mark so much that he or she doesn’t know what to believe anymore.

For instance, let’s say that a man cheats on his wife. His wife begins to get suspicious. So, at a restaurant, he suddenly says, “I saw the way you looked at the waiter!” Keep in mind that the incident is totally made up. The wife did nothing wrong. However, the cheating husband persists.

Eventually, the wife may begin to question whether she did or not. She might think, “The waiter is an attractive man. Maybe I did look at him a little too long.” Whether the wife actually begins to believe the lie is irrelevant, though. The manipulator will bring up the lie as a projection to cover up his own infidelity. When confronted with his cheating, he will respond with, “Well isn’t this rich. I catch you flirting with every waiter that smiles at you and you accuse ME of cheating.”

The manipulator has now switched the roles in the narrative. The cheating husband becomes the victim. The suspicious wife now takes on the role of the villain.

Full Show Notes: https://www.leadersinstitute.com/how-to-manipulate-people-7-signs-of-a-con-artist-you-need-to-know-to-avoid-being-a-victim/