Agreed. And I understand wanting those beats, but... paying for it with a big chunk of the believability of the whole con was... not the best choice.
I think a lot of it was portrayed in a very wish-fulfillment way, despite how badly it all ends. The idea that you too could somehow con your way into this lifestyle for a while, or that someone could bring you along for the ride... Idk, I'm not terribly familiar with a lot of it, and bits of it still felt weird. I imagine there's plenty else that was off that I just don't understand well enough to see!