Scams Are Good, Actually.Scam GoddessLaci Mosley Explains How 'Scamming Saved Me' in New Memoir (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Laci Mosley and her new book ‘Scam Goddess’.Photo:Running Press; Jonny Marlow

Running Press; Jonny Marlow

What does a religious childhood that turns into a career in Hollywood and selling snake oil out of the back of a van have in common? According to podcaster, actress and comedian Laci Mosley, more than you might think.

Running Press

Read — and listen to — an excerpt fromScam Goddessexplaining why scams are good, actually.

Listen to an excerpt of ‘Scam Goddess’

I’ve always been attracted to scams and cons because the system wasn’t built for people like me, so I had to learn how to operate in a way that’s most advantageous to me, myself and I. The problem is: I have a conscience and anxiety, paired with an unshakable desire to people-please.

I’m working on it, but it’s not an easy toxic trait to dump. And yes, it is toxic. We people-pleasers aren’t heroes. Ours is a self-harming form of control that often sprouts from a childhood of conditional love. “If they need me, they won’t leave me” ain’t cute, and when you say yes to things you don’t want to do, you’re saying no to yourself.

But I digress … back to the point: If I’d been a people-pleaser who wasn’t also obsessed with scams, I probably would’ve ended up married to a person I didn’t love, with kids I didn’t want, in a life I didn’t need. Scamming saved me and has taught me how to navigate a messy and unfair world while looking out for myself, too.

This is why I love confidence artists — people who are so secure in themselves that they have no problem wringing exactly what they want and need out of every situation. They are satisfied with just being in the moment, not deep worrying about how the other person is thinking or feeling … like people-pleasers do. Con artists aren’t scared of failing, losing it all, and losing the affection of those around them. If they were, they couldn’t run their scams.

That’s something I struggle with: I’m constantly in my head about everything. (Yeah, yeah, I know. Anxiety.) Even though I love a good party, I often find myself lingering at the entrance, stressing out at the thought of being around people, being out there in the world. Solitude is my safe space. Living that soft life with candles, ice cream, no one to please other than myself is a lot easier than being so extra all the time. When you bring other people into the equation, things get complicated.

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Laci Mosley, host and author of ‘Scam Goddess’.Jim Spellman/Getty

As a super, hyper-involved student, I learned to live a transactional type of lifestyle — someone always wanted something out of me and I always needed something out of them. Now, as an overly ambitious adult, I feel like if I don’t have something to offer people, they won’t like me. That’s why I always make sure I have something to offer — a laugh, emotional support, trips, flights, money.

Living a bold, but highly structured, Hollywood life gives me a chance to be in the world, around people, without the anxiety of being in the world, around people.

As an actor, comedian and podcaster, I have no problem projecting confidence. That’s why my career is my biggest scam. I love performing confidence. I can’t tell you how many people meet me and are like, “B—, take a seat. You need to be more insecure. You have too much confidence.”

But it’s all just a ruse, a scam. I can play a con artist, and play her well, but the reality is, behind closed doors, I am just a human who is soft and vulnerable, too.

Scamming is truly an art. That’s why they’re called scam artists. These people have costumes. Sometimes they do accents. They’re out there putting on a show 24/7. They are true performers. They’re mirroring people around them, cosplaying empathy, pretending to be human, when in reality they’re impenetrable aliens with zero feelings or concerns.

Believe me: it’s not easy; I’ve tried. But I have to say, my favorite thing about scam artists is that they make up all the rules of their world. I love that for them. I love that for me. I love that for us. Scam artists remind us that we made this all up! We decided, as a society, how things should function and then created a bunch of laws to make sure things keep functioning that way. And when I say “we,” I mean old white dudes.

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Actress and podcaster Laci Mosley.Jonny Marlow

Jonny Marlow

I wanna make up some of my own laws! Like:

These are rules I can get behind, but the rules we have here in America? The laws that have been enforced on us, both written and unwritten? I just can’t f— with them. I’m a dark-skinned Black lady, so you know these laws weren’t made for my benefit.

This is precisely why I live, breathe, eat and drink scams up. Scammers were born into a world with a set of rules that they actively choose to ignore. They were handed lives they didn’t quite fit into, or situations that they hated and set out to change those lives and situations. That’s what I did, too. I didn’t want to be lost in Texas, where no one knew who I was or where I was. I never wanted to feel like I was missing again.

So I dove into scamming. I made sure no one I met ever forgot my face or name, and it’s been a wild ride ever since. If scammers can do it, so can you. And you should — because at the end of the day, everything is a scam and everyone’s a scammer. Actors and directors. Award shows. Politicians. Taxes. C-suite executives. Subscription-based services. Tech bros. Cryptocurrency. Writers. This book. It’s all just a bunch of people trying to use each other to feel protected from the world, and that’s not always a bad thing.

source: people.com