I was scammed out of my $100k life savings by my heiress best friend. Here’s how I got the ultimate revenge
The day I realized I had been conned and lost all my money, I was devastated.
I went home and wailed as the pain and regret washed over me like a slow-moving hurricane.
How could I let this happen?
I thought Marianne ‘Mair’ Smyth was my best friend – until she took me for nearly $100,000, forcing me into bankruptcy.
At that point, I had no idea that there are, in fact, real professional con artists everywhere, living among us all.
They’re the new romantic partner in your life, the new co-worker or neighbor. They seem super nice and loving. They’re charismatic and fun to be with. You don’t know, until it is much too late, that they’re setting you up to rob you blind.
I met Smyth in 2013 at my Los Angeles apartment complex.
The tenants had lost access to our pool, and she offered to help. She claimed to be dating a politician and said she would use her connections.
Author Johnathan Walton (pictured) lost nearly $100,000 and went bankrupt after he was conned
Walton thought Marianne ‘Mair’ Smyth (pictured) was his best friend – until she took him for nearly $100,000
As we became close friends, she began unpacking her story. She said she was a member of an Irish royal family, and that she was in line to inherit €5million from her great uncle.
She took me and my husband into her confidence immediately. When I said part of my family had disowned me for being gay, Smyth pounced with a similar story that she, too, had been disowned by her family, and that some of her cousins were trying to get her disinherited.
That bonded us very closely. All of a sudden, we weren’t just two new friends in LA, we were two discarded souls unwanted by our families halfway around the world.
We spent Thanksgivings and Christmases together, and Smyth became like a sister to me.
She would show me texts and emails from her barristers, her uncle Patrick and her cousins Finton, Dermot and Tristan.
She would breathe life into each of the characters that, in the end, were completely fictitious.
Smyth was not from Ireland – she was born in Bangor, Maine. And while she was dating a politician, she was, in fact, scamming him too.
Smyth used multiple aliases and appearances (pictured) to dupe people
Smyth (pictured) was eventually sentenced to five years behind bars
Over the course of four years, she convinced me to loan her thousands of dollars to cover her rent, claiming her bank accounts had been frozen over the inheritance dispute.
Part of her story was that her billionaire family in Ireland had paid off a dirty district attorney to make it look like she stole from her employer.
When she was arrested, I loaned her $50,000 to fight the case.
She said the judge was accusing her of money laundering and was going to put her in jail for 30 days to teach her a lesson. Smyth told us she would get her inheritance after that.
But when I went to visit her in jail and logged onto the database, I saw she was there for felony grand theft.
I found out she had pled guilty to stealing $200,000 from the company she worked for, and then used the money she scammed from me to pay partial restitution.
I went to the police, to no avail. So I made a blog.
Initially, the platform was intended to warn people about Smyth. But then I began hearing from other Angelinos who also fell prey to her schemes.
I soon learned she had two dozen aliases.
Eventually, I had connected with enough victims that the police finally took me seriously. They arrested Smyth and charged her for scamming me. There was a trial in 2019, and she received a five-year sentence.
Smyth got out in less than two years, but had been extradited to Northern Ireland where she is facing trial for crimes she committed there.
Following the 2019 conviction, I heard from hundreds of con-artist victims.
They were asking me for help, and as I started investigating all these cases, I noticed similarities. Every single technique that Smyth used on me, these other crooks were using on their victims.
I turned all that knowledge into Anatomy of a Con Artist. The book explains the red flags con artists typically wave before they scam you.
‘I Just Want to Help’
A lot of con artists are what the FBI calls rescue merchants. They suddenly show up when there’s a problem, a disaster or unrest.
Be suspicious of a stranger who appears out of nowhere offering to help. Your inclination is to like them – maybe even love them. But those are the precise feelings a sophisticated con artist will weaponize in order to bleed you dry.
Too Kind, Too Quick
You meet someone new. They’re always paying for meals, giving you gifts and going out of their way to be as kind as possible. That is a major red flag.
When a professional con artist meets a new mark, their mission is to get that mark to love them. Because when you’re making decisions based on love, you’ll give them your money, your property – whatever they ask.
Drama, Drama, Drama
Once a con artist has gained your love and trust, that’s when the drama starts: a death in the family, an angry sibling trying to ‘get’ them, a car accident.
If you have any drama in your own life, they will use that to manipulate you. If you have a crazy boyfriend stalking you, the con artist will tell you they saw them drive by your house yesterday.
Isolation
For a con artist to successfully scam you, they need to lure you away from people who might talk you out of going along with their scam.
Smyth tricked me into believing my neighbor was a criminal on the run. She then convinced my neighbor I was mentally ill and violent. That way she could scam us both using different stories.
Anyone telling you not to talk to this person or that person is about the biggest red flag there is.
‘I’m Better Than You’
A professional con artist wants you to be impressed by them. They’ll brag about themselves. They’ll show off. They’ll paint a picture that they are the wealthiest, or most talented, or most connected person you have ever met. They want you to feel lucky or blessed to know them – paving the way for them to get their hands on your money.
Technology
Today’s working con artist relies heavily on technology. They’ll show you text messages from someone that tell a story, and emails to back that story up. You’ll even get phone calls from people you believe are real.
But they’re not.
They’re all just clever creations of a professional con artist.
Walton (left) fought tooth and nail to put Smyth (right) behind bars
Scarcity
The con artist says they can get you stock in a huge company before they go public next week. Obviously you need to get them the money before next week, right? And after the money changes hands, you will never see it again.
Beware artificial scarcity – I’ve even seen it used in love scams.
Beak Wetting
This red flag has a lot do with the belief that a person’s history is the best indicator of their future actions.
Con artists know this better than most. This is why, in the vast majority of investment scams, Ponzi schemes and love scams, the con artist will actually give the victim a little money up front. They’ll let them ‘wet their beak,’ as it were.
A Good Day Job
A scammer having what’s considered to be a solid day job is only a red flag if a bunch of the other red flags are also present.
Most professional con artists have, or have had at some point, a legitimate day job. They use those jobs to give their lives a patina of legitimacy. But don’t let your guard down – it’s just a cover. Their real job is conning you.
Money Wires
Once you wire money to someone else’s account, it’s gone forever. In nearly every con artist case I have investigated, when a large sum of money changed hands, it was usually through a bank wire.
They Move Around a Lot
Most professional con artists move a lot. They have to, because eventually they get found out and can no longer scam where they’re living. It’s not a red flag in and of itself. But if some of the other red flags are present, you can bet you’re dealing with a con artist.
Too Much Information
A professional con artist will share too much information (TMI) as a way of getting you to overshare as well. It’s a way to get close to you and earn your trust quickly.
Further, this technique will usually prevent victims from reporting the con to police – the last thing they want is for their scammer to tell anyone their secrets.
Excerpt adapted from ANATOMY OF A CON ARTIST: The 14 Red Flags to Spot Scammers, Grifters, and Thieves. Copyright © 2025 by Johnathan Walton. Excerpted by permission of Rodale Books, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
