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How Criminals Read People: The Hidden Skills Used by Con Artists, Thieves and Manipulators
Paperback
Series: The Psychology of Deception, Book 2
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: Jun 18 2026
Pages: 148
Weight: 0.46
Height: 0.32 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
The Hidden Skills Used by Con Artists, Thieves and Manipulators
Most criminals don't start by looking for money.
They start by looking for people.
Before a scammer sends a message, before a con artist begins a conversation, before a thief chooses a victim, a decision has already been made. Someone has assessed who is paying attention, who avoids conflict, who can be persuaded, and who is most likely to trust.
The unsettling truth is that many successful criminals are not simply exploiting opportunities. They are exploiting human nature.
Drawing on years of experience working inside prisons, alongside insights from business, psychology, persuasion, and mentalism, Luke Jonas reveals the hidden skills used by manipulators to read people, manufacture trust, and influence behaviour.
Inside you'll discover:
How offenders identify and select victims
Why confidence, fear and vulnerability are often misunderstood
The personality traits most frequently targeted by manipulators
How familiarity, rapport and authority are used to create trust
The psychology behind scams, social engineering and compliance
Why intelligent people fall for deception
Practical ways to become harder to manipulate without becoming suspicious of everyone around you
This is not a book about famous crimes.
It is a book about the human skills that make those crimes possible.
Whether you're interested in psychology, persuasion, criminal behaviour, social engineering, or simply understanding how people influence one another, How Criminals Read People offers a fascinating look inside the methods used by those who study human behaviour for a living.
Because the best defence against manipulation is understanding how it works.
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