Psychological Conning Principles (Part 2)

NEED AND GREED PRINCIPLE

Ever wanted something so much that you would do anything to get it???? Well, you are a con artists’ sweet dream target.

Most of us get carried away with items that are not only the latest fashion trend but also those that are beyond our financial reach.

Take the below scenario to further understand this principle:

You are walking through Nairobi streets when suddenly someone bumps into you. Obviously irritated, you turn around and in a span of a few seconds, he flashes you an iPhone from his jacket pocket with the phrase ‘bei ya kuongea’ and continues walking in the opposite direction as if an invitation for you to follow him.

You glance at your Nokia 2610 vs. the iPhone you just saw and it dawns on you that you seriously need an upgrade. You trail your eyes to look for him through the crowd and pray that he hasn’t disappeared and ‘luckily’ you are able to spot him. Feeling relieved, you quickly dash towards him and admit that you are interested with his offer.

Somehow, he doesn’t stop walking and insists that you both go somewhere less crowded since the device itself is ‘hot’ [meaning stolen for those who don’t understand gang slang]. You religiously follow him to a less crowded location since this maybe your only chance to get your hands on the over-popularized gadget at a fair price.

First things first, he tells you the price at which he is willing to dispose it off for i.e. shs10.000. The frustration on your face is clearly evident as you let out a semi-loud shriek. ‘’What!? that is too much for me’’, you say ‘’I’d rather just buy a new one for that matter’’

He smiles assuring you that as he said at first, the price is absolutely negotiable. So you both haggle until you come at a consensus that you are willing to buy the phone at shs4000 and additionally also put up your own phone as an enticement of closing the deal.

To re-assure you that the phone is in tiptop working condition, he gives it to you to try it out even allowing you to insert your own sim-card in it and make a call from it. The smile pasted on you in the process is so wide it makes your face hurt.

He requests you to give it back to him so he can show you other features it has. You are thoroughly excited by what he shows you. After his little presentation, he puts the phone back in his pocket and tells you that you should uphold your end of the deal before he transfers ownership to you. True to your word, you hand him the shs4000 plus your phone.

However, he tells you that since the ‘iPhone’ is ‘hot’, you should not try to use it now since the owner maybe around and so the best advice is that you should just put it away until you reach wherever you are going so as to use it.

The excitement of finally owning an iPhone clouds your judgment and you hurriedly receive the iPhone and put it in your backpack and thank him. You hurriedly walk away somehow wishing you could teleport yourself to your destination so that you can fiddle with your new acquired gadget.

After half an hour, you reach home and the first thing you do is remove the phone. You try switching it on but it doesn’t power up. You remove the back of the phone and get the shock of your life. In place of where the battery is supposed to be, in its place is a neat slab of clay precisely the same weight to confuse one to believe it’s a battery.

You cant believe your eyes realizing that you sacrificed shs4000 and your own phone just to get the iPhone casing with clay at the back. YOU HAVE BEEN HAD!!!

Come back for Psychological Conning Principles (part 3) coming soon……………………….