5 ways to spot a con artist like Lee Cofield Jr. who stole $11m by impersonation

In April of this year, Lee Cofield Jr., a conman from Georgia, pleaded guilty in front of a federal court by admitting to stealing $11 million from a big-budget movie producer.
Cofield confessed to the judge that he got hold of a smuggled cell phone inside the maximum-security prison where he was held. With the phone, he was able to gain access to the bank account of the producer, impersonate him, and then arrange the wire transfer of numerous 1-ounce gold coins, which were then flown to Atlanta.
As per reports, the victim of the scam was Sidney Kimmel, who is the chairman and CEO of Sidney Kimmel Entertainment. The company is based out of Los Angeles and was involved in making acclaimed entertainment properties like 'Crazy Rich Asians,' 'Moneyball,' and 'Hell or High Water.'
Keeping the colossal magnitude of this financial fraud in mind, it's vital that people are aware of such con artists as Cofield who might be roaming amidst them. Hence, it's imperative that people know certain traits about conmen so that they can identify them in due time and take the necessary actions to prevent such incidents from happening.
So how can one spot a con artist?
They want to remain hidden
Con artists are aware that being themselves is detrimental to their business. Hence, they go to great lengths to hide and disguise their true and ulterior motives. They are known to often blend into groups of people, talk, and behave like members of that group, so they can build relatability and relationships. They are prone to forming relations quite quickly so that they can spread information about schemes and prey on unwary people who buy into them.
They prey on your insecurities
Con artists are experts at taking advantage of people's insecurities and personality traits like greed and fear. They make people feel devalued if they don't believe them and their schemes. They make people feel as if they are not confident in the abilities of the con artist, which is a classic tactic to make someone take a decision based on emotion rather than logic.
They are reachable, but only until the scam takes place
Conmen are very friendly at first. They will show personal interest in others' lives and happenings. They make calls and respond to others' calls in a timely fashion. This way, they are able to not only build a relationship but also pitch their schemes appropriately to get a positive response. However, once the motive is achieved, they begin to reduce their communication and then gradually stop contact altogether. They just vanish after that.
They sound too good to be true
It's a known fact that any type of investment is a risk that has advantages and disadvantages. Hence, con artists often propose schemes that have minimal to no downsides and only upsides. Conmen do this to attract people, especially unsuspecting investors, to buy into their false proposal.
PONZI and Pyramid schemes are conmen red flags
PONZI (Pay-Out Now, Zero Imminent) and a variation of PONZI, Pyramid schemes, are the bread and butter of con artists. At face value, these schemes look like they will result in significant monetary returns for the investor, but in actuality, they lead to fraud, which only benefits the conmen.
Cofield's scam is reported to be one of the biggest heists executed from inside a maximum-security prison in the US. This incident only sheds more light on the need for people to be aware of con artists.
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