Shirleen Mukami wrote a compelling Twitter thread asking for help. With great detail, she gave an account of how everything fell apart during her pregnancy. She painted a picture of being alone and desperate. Still, in this state of helplessness, she found the strength to help others. She couldn't do it alone and enlisted the help of tweeps to donate to her cause.

The deception falls apart

Kenneth Kabuga, father to the child, could not help himself. He overestimated his abilities and inflated his 'accomplishment' of pulling off a successful con. He bragged to his friends in search of praise. This was the beginning of the end; he was soon exposed. One of his friends shared screenshots with Edgar Obare (gossip blogger) who blew the lid off the big lie.

One set of people was left feeling cheated and used. The other set seemed determined to ridicule those who had been duped. This article is not aimed at diagnosing you with impaired social judgment. Rather it is to help you identify a con artist and understand how they think so as to avoid deception.

5 Red Flags to Help Spot a Con Artist

The Halo Effect

What is the halo effect? It is an error in reasoning where an impression formed from a single characteristic, let's say physical appearance, is allowed to influence a variety of ratings of unrelated factors such as intelligence and integrity.

Psychologist Edward L. Thorndike, in 1920 carried out an experiment where commanding officers in the military evaluated subordinate soldiers on a variety of qualities. The qualities included leadership, physical appearance, character, intelligence, and dependability.

Thorndike found a positive correlation between one outstanding trait being used to form a favourable view of a person's whole personality. Politicians, cult leaders, and con artists understand this phenomenon. They go out of their way to look the part.

After the Shirleen incident, many noted how the photo she used to sell her story had filters, makeup was perfect and the angle made her look younger than she actually was. The grammar in her thread was flawless and her story was compelling. Not all people who are well dressed are scammers but let's be careful and avoid the trap of this cognitive bias.

Manipulation through trust

One key to fraud is gaining trust. A fraudster is definitely not honest but that does not stop them from presenting themselves as honest. Usually, they start with a story of what they do and why. In Shirleen's story, she is a single mother, shunned by the world. Despite her circumstances, she went out of her way to help others like her.

Con artists share these stories so that their audience can determine whether they are appropriate for trust or are a threat. They feed you with enough information so as to gain your confidence.

We can avoid this trap by not being too quick to reciprocate by opening up and not taking rushed actions such as donating. Always be keen to look at the story from different angles. Then you might find the chink in the armor or if genuine, a reason to help.

Urgent need for money

After Shirleen had gained our trust she made a passionate appeal. "Kenyans, kindly support our little 'Baby Shower Sisters' initiative. The target was to reach 100 girls by the end of the year. The call to action was made on the 10th of November 2021.

This definitely ticks the box for an urgent need for money, with only 51 days left to the end of the year. Scammers know they have limited time before their targets get suspicious. So they will spam you with requests for funds before they get found out. Take your time to think things through. It will save you the cost and embarrassment.

Reinforcing and conditioning

At this stage, the seed of deception is left to grow in the right conditions. Shirleen made follow-up tweets. She tagged national TV broadcasters thanking them for the support. She was sowing the seed of credibility.

She thanked those who had helped her and promised to keep them updated. Instilling the idea that she needed more help. She was conditioning us to believe that we are bad people if we don't give and if we give we are good people.

Brand new tools

Scammers recognize that our initial reactions are usually not the best. Rarely do we take the chance to take a step back to see the whole elephant. So when we are at our weakest they bombard us with information to take advantage of our emotions and biases.

They choose a tool and medium to attack. It can be an unsolicited email, text, or through a social media account. In Shirleen's case, the Twitter account used was only 4 months old. 50 years ago it was a new suit that could be easily disposed of. Now it's a social media account that can be disposed of as easily as it was registered.

Shirleen and her partner Kenneth created an account and waited for the right time to strike. Con artists use things they can easily discard after their goal is met. It's up to the would-be victims to be keen enough to realize this.

Paul encouraged the Galatians, "Let us not become weary in doing good..." Let's not allow ourselves to be as soulless as this world is. But as we endeavor to do good let us not leave caution behind.