Thursday, November 8, 2012

Scam is NOT hereditary, but grandpa types can be dangerous

Previously we've explored the possible link between scam and psychopathy (i.e. lack of empathy for others).

[Read Are Scammers Sociopaths or Psychopaths? ]

Is this hereditary? Apparently not. Take Andy Bowdoin for example.

Andy Bowdoin headed the ponzi scheme "Ad Surf Daily" and scammed tens of thousands of people out of hundred million dollars, by padding his resume with fake entries, exaggerating his accomplishments, and generally got people to give him money on false pretenses (fraud).

[Read Profile of Ad Surf Daily Scam ]

According to his son Scott, Andy Bowdoin even cheated his own mother (Scott's late grandmother) in a credit card scam, leaving her penniless. As reported on PatrickPretty.com
“He uses religion — always,” Scott Bowdoin, 42, said flatly of his 75-year-old father, noting he had not spoken to Andy Bowdoin in about 15 years because the elder Bowdoin had ripped off his own mother, Scott’s late grandmother, in a credit-card scheme.
The elder Bowdoin left his own mother “with nothing,” Scott Bowdoin asserted. “The electricity was about to get cut off, the water was about to get cut off. He is a man with no conscience.”
Willingness to cheat one's own mother would seem to suggest a certain level of psychopathy, or lack of empathy, even for one's own family.




Yet the initial impression of Andy Bowdoin is a slightly frail "grandpa" type person that you would not expect to be a huge scammer. (pix courtesy of Tampa Bay News )



But then, same can be said for Paul R. Burks, of Zeek Rewards Ponzi:


Or even the greatest Ponzi of them all... Bernie Madoff


In other words, don't let the "grandpa" look fool you.


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