Con men are performers of persuasion and exploiters of trust. They hold a deep, enigmatic fascination for all of us. But how do they are doing it?

Be it a suspicious-looking email or a multimillion-dollar global swindle, Maria Konnikova investigates the psychological concepts that underlie each stage from the self-confidence game and the profile of both con designer and his tag. We understand how grifters can be so persuasive, even to people of us who consider ourselves immune system, and how exactly we can teach ourselves to discern the indicators of a tale that isn’t quite what it appears. Insightful and entertaining, telling fascinating tales about some of the most seductive imposters ever sold, The Confidence Video game takes us into the world from the con to examine not only why we believe in confidence artists but how our feeling of truth could be manipulated by those around us.