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Gifted Conman Pulls Off The Perfect 5-Star Hotel Heist

Juan Carlos Guzmán-Betancourt was an international swindler wanted by at least four states.

6 min readJul 5, 2022
Juan Carlos Guzmán-Betancourt | Photo Credits: Deseret News

Ever since Juan was a child, he had an undeniable charm. When he turned 14, he began exploiting it to scam people. Juan swiftly honed his deception skills and excelled at robbing luxury hotel guests of cash and valuables while eluding authorities.

This story is of a poor Colombian boy who became the world’s infamous con artist. So, how did Juan do it?

Runs Away From Home

Juan during his teenage years | Photo Credits: UPI

Juan was born in 1976 in Colombia. His mother, Yolanda Betancourt, worked as a housekeeper while his father was a farmer. Juan was only a month old when his father abandoned him.

It prompted Yolanda to remarry a real estate clerk named Harold Velasco. Even though he was good to Yolanda, he never liked Juan and mistreated him.

At 17, Juan had had enough, and he ran away.

Initially, he stayed in a deserted airplane at Cali airport, surviving on food discarded in garbage cans. On June 1, 1993, Juan snuck

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Jules
Jules

Written by Jules

Psychology Expert | MSc Social and Cultural Psychology

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