In this book, Tom recounts various incidents in his life when he or someone close to him was duped by someone or there was a breach of trust. He gives examples of experiences in personal finance, business transactions, dealings with friends and relatives, etc. Getting tricked does not necessarily mean something illegal happened. Both types of examples are given –legal and illegal, but the net result is the same: “innocent or unwitting” people end up losing. A few examples are also given, where he did not allow himself to be cheated, after learning the hard way in prior experiences.The author’s goal is to let readers, especially young, inexperienced people, who are just entering the world as adults and maybe vulnerable to be exploited by unscrupulous people, get forewarned of potential pitfalls they should try to avoid if possible. He wrote this book, primarily as a way of educating his own daughter, but then felt it might be useful for others also, so decided to publish it.