Fighting off skeptics as a means of "group control" is psychologically important to the scam artist.

In every group of victims, the scam artist's problem is that he must always be able to adequately "handle" those few skeptics who will emerge to plague him. A much different setting than when he's dealing with a single mark. Thus, his own interpretation of "conflict resolution" spells out as much different rules of engagement than that contained in any college curriculum. Here they are:

1. Always hide behind the conspiracy theory. Cite numerous cases of individuals, organizations, jealous competitors, and government agencies out to "get" you, through underhanded, collaborative means.