Member-only story
The LA Chronicles
A Scam Artist Infiltrated My Circle. Here’s The Lessons I Learned
Nefarious people can sneak into your life if you aren’t careful. I’ll show you how to prevent that.
*Names have been changed
We were out at a hotel happy hour in Santa Monica when my friend Stephen introduced me to a guy named Dave.
I figured him out right away as I listened to him name-drop and brag about how much money his family had. In other words, I knew he was full of it.
Not long after first meeting him, we ran into Dave on the Sunset Strip one Saturday night. He bragged to the group of us that he could get us all into Skybar, which was considered quite a feat at the time. When we all showed up, he waltzed up, got himself in, looked back at us, and shrugged his shoulders. “Sorry guys. Don’t know what to tell you.” And he was gone.
We all knew the truth. The guy was flat assed broke. He drove a crappy beat-up minivan and was always sleeping on somebody’s couch.
Dave never believed in education. Instead, he touted seminars from Tony Robbins and “The Landmark Forum.” He also extolled the virtues of…
