A scammer stole $500 from me and in the end begged me not to tell his parents
Tell his parents is precisely what you should do.  That's what would lead to possible behavior change. Letting him get away with it validates the behavior and teaches that it's OK and he will be able to talk his way out of such things again.<p>It does everyone a disservice to not tell his parents.<p>The author got manipulated twice.  First convinced to hand over his money and then convinced not to tell the parents.<p>The scammer player the author like a guitar.  Right there is the psychopath's first big lesson - "people listen when I cry".<p>The genius of the scammer/budding psychopath being that the blogger thinks he "won".