Whether they are online scams or in person card tricks, confidence games - better known now as cons - have been around for as long as we have. But while humans remain fundamentally gullible, the tricks of the trade have changed.

Today, Kate is Betwixt the Sheets with writer and successful poker player Maria Konnikova, who tells us how confidence games have developed, what the most successful ones have been, and what makes the perfect victim.

*WARNING there are naughty words in this episode*

Produced by Charlotte Long and Sophie Gee. Mixed by Anisha Deva.

Betwixt the Sheets: The History of Sex, Scandal & Society. A podcast by History Hit.

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This podcast includes music by Epidemic Sound.