[bobbygoodlatte]

Con artists before the modern era were reigned in by their local communities. A grifter would gain a bad local reputation and find themselves unable to continue running their scheme as they'd run out of rubes to dupe. They'd have to leave to the next town if they wanted to keep grifting. But now with social media, grifters can instantly find a new audience of rubes who are unaware of their past exploits

[bawolff]

I think it was easier to be a grifter back in ancient times. Low communication among victims. No photographs to identify you , no permanant records (or at least not like the internet)

[vineyardmike]

Bigger distrust of outsiders, of course