All the World’s a Scheme

The best con men are always thinking of their next mark.The infamous mortgage fraudster Matthew Cox worked multiple angles: He stole strangers’ identities, tricked Social Security clerks and banks with forged documents, and swindled at least $12 million. “He was really in love with creating a story. The way he would talk about things, I used to feel like we were living in a movie,” a former accomplice of his. A con man, after all, should be, has said that her expertise did not stop her from .After Cox finally got busted for spinning tales, he refashioned himself as a storyteller—a true-crime author, his cleverest act yet.