I'm revising an old mystery manuscript of mine, and I find I don't know enough. There are plenty of stories of women marrying well-to-do men, fleecing them of their money, and vanishing. (I suppose this works in the other direction too.)

What I'm not sure of is how the con artist, male or female, manages it. An attractive woman marries a rather shy, lonely, older man; somehow she takes all his money, and disappears. How does she do it? Could she just talk him into putting her name on the checking and savings accounts? Talk him into putting some or all of his assets in her name to hide them from tax collectors, maybe?

I've tried Crimelibrary.com; while their coverage on murderers is great, it's not what I need here.

Please understand, I'm not asking for a step-by-step procedure or a cookbook for criminals! The con artist's actions in fleecing her target should sound realistic, that's all.

Any help appreciated!
.

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-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino

Woman marries rich man, man dies, no will, goes to closest living person kinda thing?

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-Justin

91 560 SEC AMG - other dogs dd
01 Honda S2000 - dogs dd
07 MB ML320 CDI - dd
16 Lexus IS250 - wifes dd

it's automatic.

Alas, no -- in my scenario, the man lives on to tell the story.
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* *
-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino

Google for "sweetheart scam" and you will get a few hundred thousand matches.

Pretty much all she'd need to do. Other options would be him buying stuff that's resellable (jewelry) and/or in her name (cars).

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1984 300TD

Thankfully, this is one problem I'll never have.

It depends on what 'kind' of money the guy's got. Is he rich for the era? Does he have valuable things or big bank accounts?

Of course if she is going to take it all vs some percentage ...

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-Marty

1986 300E 220,000 miles+ transmission impossible
(Now waiting under a bridge in order to become one)

Reading your M103 duty cycle:
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=831799&postcount=13
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showpost.php?p=831807&postcount=14

Long ago, I met this cute girl. We went out once or twice, don't remember. Nothing happened, but she was cute and friendly and gave the impression that something might. Next date she says something like this " I threw my car keys over to my friend and they hit the cars front windshield and broke it. I need $150? (can't remember) to fix it right now or my dad will kill me. Could you loan it to me?" I did, and I never say her or my money again. I imagine she did this type of thing all the time.

Google Anna Nicole Smith.

I think that's how they do it, whether a guy or girl con-person. They marry the person, get their name put on all bank accounts, withdraw all the money, then disappear.

Just rented the DVD this weekend called "Lonely Hearts", with John Travolta, Salma Hayek, and James Gandolfini that deals with this scenario.

Rent it.

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Paul S.

2001 E430, Bourdeaux Red, Oyster interior.
79,200 miles.

1973 280SE 4.5, 170,000 miles. 568 Signal Red, Black MB Tex. "The Red Baron".

Excellent suggestion..........

Part of it is that she cuts him out of the pack because he is naive, shy, dazzled by her, and she's aware that he has "some money." An easy mark with a middle-sized bank account is better, in her view, than a tougher nut with millions.

I'm inclined to go with the scenario that he spends more on her than he should, cars and jewelry, which she can turn into cash (as tankdriver pointed out). She's comfortable, and life's pleasant, so she sticks around until things get weird; his mother falls seriously ill, and he'll be spending money on, and time with, her. So she waits till he has to go out of town, then cleans out the accounts (that he was dumb enough to put her name on), and vanishes.

Someone else suggested that she might pressure/seduce him into putting her name on some investment property, "So I can feel secure" (telling him she was dumped and left penniless in her former marriage). Feeling protective, he does just that. Then when he's out of town, she sells the property and bugs out. . . .
.

__________________
* *
-- Paul W. (The Benzadmiral)
('03 Buick Park Avenue, charcoal/cream)
Formerly:
'97 C230, smoke silver/parchment; '86 420SEL, anthracite/light grey; '84 280CE (W123), dark blue/palomino

Very easy, she just undresses in front of him...there was a case similar to this on TRU t.v. this past weekend. Hubby who was rolling in the dough marries a trophy wife #2 and the marriage goes south. He wants to divorce her and changes his will to include his children and drop her. She gets wind of this, calls the insurance agent and for favors the agent changes the will back to her name. She hires a gun to bump off the hubby, she collects the 450,000 in insurance and disappears. The kids get nothing.

__________________
"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL

Women have such an unfair advantage over men. . . .

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" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Shock and horror, she loved that old man...

__________________
"It's normal for these things to empty your wallet and break your heart in the process."
2012 SLK 350
1987 420 SEL