How To See Through Fraudsters

Not everyone can run a controlled experiment to bust a fraudster. Instead, there are a few ways that anyone can see through a con out in the wild.

Fraudsters have many tricks to confuse followers, but investigators have a few tricks of their own. Photo by Faris Mohammed on Unsplash

James Randi has performed as a magician and debunked fraudsters all over the world. Not everyone can travel to Peru to debunk an author’s alien invasion claims. However, everyone can draw from Randi’s experience to see through fraudsters they may encounter in the wild.

Flim-Flam! is a collection of Randi’s experiences throughout his debunking career. The subjects may change. He’s debunked claims of levitation and exposed people who fake ghost appearances by cleverly shaking tables in the dark.

Observing fraudsters and their fans can weed out most of the obvious and some of the subtle cons. A glance at numbers, conditions, and predictive ability are often all it takes to write a fraud off, even if they’re popular.