The Art of the Con

by R. Paul Wilson

  Accompanying the con artist to see the other piece, the mark would buy it for a large sum, believing he was about to make much more when selling his new pair, but upon returning home, the victim found that his original item was missing. It had been stolen by the con artist before leaving the house, then sold back to him as a supposed duplicate. In this variation, the bait is switched-in and sold to the person who already owns it.

  Separate and Lift

  Certain con games are designed to isolate the victim’s property so it can be easily taken. These scams can be as basic as the “watch my bag” distraction scam, or as complex as the scenario I devised for Uncle Barry in Charleston. Like the bait and switch, variations can come in all shapes and sizes but the principle remains the same: create a reason for the mark to be separated from his money or property, then take it. Making someone believe the story is the hard part.

  The real estate/money transfer scam is a good example. In this case, the mark is convinced to place his money into seemingly safe hands but is conned into giving the hustlers everything they need to collect it. The separation happens when the victim places his cash into the transfer system and the steal comes once he shares the paperwork.

  A similar scam used a flaw in the international check clearance system used by banks to process funds from overseas. Con artists would pay for goods and services but when their check arrived, it would be for too much money. A four-hundred-dollar invoice might be paid for with a four-thousand-dollar check. The scammer would ask the victim to simply cash the check and wait for it to clear, then send back the balance minus two hundred dollars more for their trouble. This seems perfectly reasonable and once the four thousand dollars appeared in the mark’s account, he is happy to comply. Unfortunately, even though an international check could clear in ten days, it actually takes longer, sometimes weeks, for the banks to work out that the original check was from an empty account. At that point, the four thousand dollars would be removed from the victim’s account while his own money, which he sent to the scammers, was long gone.

  In the Murphy Game, which is a twist on the white van scam, victims are shown an expensive item that’s apparently being sold to someone in a bar. When people become interested, they are offered the chance to buy the same merchandise but need to go to a second location to collect it. Assured by the person originally buying the item, the suckers quickly agree, but both the buyer and seller are working together. On the TV show, I played the part of someone buying an Xbox from Alex who supposedly worked in a nearby electronics store. As soon as our victims saw the Xbox packaging, they all wanted one, so Alex took us to the back of “his” store, collected the money, and asked me to come inside to help carry out the boxes while everyone waited for us to return. In a real con, we would have just walked straight through the store and into a waiting car, but we watched them for about thirty minutes until someone decided to look at the Xbox I had left with them. Inside was nothing more than a heavy ream of printer paper.

  For a mark to let someone walk away with their money—or to leave it where it might easily be taken—requires a careful balance between trust and expectation. The simplest separation scam might be an “exchange of trust,” where a mark is asked to keep an eye on someone’s laptop in a busy cafe while they step outside to smoke or make a phone call. Later, when the mark goes to the bathroom, he is inclined to ask that person to return the favor, and as soon as they’re out of sight, the hustler packs up both devices and heads for the door.

  A similar scam, for a much bigger score, was known as “van dragging” in the UK, where hustlers would pose as warehouse workers to redirect delivery vans to a second location where the goods would be off-loaded and whisked away. The most common reason given for sending trucks elsewhere was “broken loading bay doors.” Thanks in part to the lack of concern shown by many truck drivers for their load, this story proved to be extremely effective. Once the scam became well known, it soon died off until, several years later, a clever variation appeared.

  Drivers would arrive to find a sign explaining that there was a problem with the loading area and instructing them to call a phone number when they arrived. This went straight to the hustlers, who would appear dressed in a similar manner to staff from that store. They would convince the driver to offload in front of the loading bay, and once the truck was gone, the scammer would bring in his own vehicle, load it quickly, and be gone in a matter of minutes. All of this happened at the back of a busy store and several managers have opened their loading bays to find their new stock being loaded into someone else’s truck. The sign with a phone number was a clever convincer, but more brazen hustlers also approached delivery drivers in the days or weeks leading up to the theft, dressed appropriately and acting like they worked in the store.

  “Seeding a mark” is the process of convincing someone slowly by building a sense of familiarity. Walking into a loading bay and chatting with drivers, perhaps even bringing them a coffee or a snack, can pay dividends when asking them to later break their routine. In pulling the classic Jamaican Switch scam—made famous by George Roy Hill’s film The Sting—I used this technique to build trust with my intended mark. Over two weeks I regularly visited a local restaurant, chatted with the staff, and gradually created the image of a local businessman with a new store opening nearby. Each visit, I would sit at the bar and engage the manager with light conversation, so that by the time I was ready for the scam, I was well known to several members of the staff.

  The Jamaican Switch is a simple ruse where the mark is convinced to take a sum of money from the con artist and place it together with his own money. The actual switch varies but the principle remains the same: have the victim place all of his money and the hustler’s in the same package, then switch that package for a duplicate filled with paper. In the past, female grifters would tell victims that an ex-boyfriend was waiting outside a local bank to stop them from depositing money. The sucker would then agree to take the money to the bank and she would convince the mark to keep all their money in one package, illustrating where to hide it on his person. During this demonstration, the grifter would switch the bundle and the mark would later leave with nothing but newspaper.

  For our scam, we already knew that the restaurant took cash to the bank every Friday after lunch, and since Thursday evening and Friday lunch are traditionally very busy in London, we knew there would be a lot of cash in play. I therefore needed two things:

  A way to combine my money with theirs that would not arouse suspicion.

  A package big enough to contain everything.

  The solution was a large, plastic envelope with a locking zipper used for bank deposits. I arrived at the end of lunch and asked a member of the staff if he could place my envelope behind the bar for safekeeping. In conversation, I mentioned that I was heading to the bank afterward, but just as the manager was about to send someone to the same branch with the restaurant’s takings, I pretended to receive a phone call about an urgent problem at my store.

  Everything had been building to this moment and all I needed was a simple gesture from the staff, an offer of help. Concerned, I asked for my envelope, and as they handed it to me, I asked if they might be passing my branch on the way to their own bank. Of course, I already knew that my bank and theirs was the same, but I acted surprised when they confirmed this.

  “Could you possibly do me a huge favor?” I asked.

  “What is it?”

  “I’ve got to put this money into my business account,” I said as I unzipped the envelope and flashed a large amount of cash and a deposit slip. “If you could just hand this in for me, it would be a lifesaver. A water pipe has burst at my shop and I need to deal with it right away.”

  She needed a little convincing but soon agreed to help. Another member of the staff arrived with the restaurant’s money envelope and I asked if they could keep everything together. The mark was now holding the restaurant takings but uncertain about my request. Without hesitating, I simply t
ook the envelope from her hands, dropped it into my own, and zipped. I then offered her the combined package, which was still filled with money. I was ready to make the switch, but it is essential to do so naturally, without raising suspicion, so just as she was about to take the envelope I said, “Just don’t carry it in the open, like this—put it inside your coat or in a handbag, if you don’t mind.”

  She took the envelope and assured me she would look after it, and I rushed out to deal with an imaginary problem in my imaginary shop. Later, she would swear that the envelope never left her sight, but at the moment I said “put it inside your coat” I briefly placed the entire package inside my own jacket to illustrate and switched it for the duplicate that was trapped under my arm. The moment and timing had been perfect, and because they felt that they already knew me, there was no inherent suspicion to overcome.

  There seems to be an inexhaustible number of scams that separate and steal in this way. As times change, new stories, methods, and opportunities are quickly adapted to this type of con and old methods such as the Murphy Game, the Jamaican Switch, the Flue, the Jackpot, and the Broken Heart are constantly being re-invented.

  Opportunities, Not

  When engaging someone on a more personal level, creating the illusion of good fortune is a common and effective ploy. In the Pigeon Drop (where the mark and a hustler seemingly find a bag of money), the victim believes he has stumbled upon a windfall and pays dearly to hold onto the prize. Similar scams place the mark in a position where he needs to invest a large amount of money, certain that he will make much more in the long run.

  The Lost Ring Game is a perfect example of a manufactured opportunity. A pretty girl claims to have lost a diamond from her engagement ring in a bar or restaurant. She shows the manager the empty setting in her ring and claims that the missing stone is worth thousands of dollars. A brief search proves fruitless, so the girl leaves her number and promises to pay five hundred dollars to anyone who finds the diamond.

  Shortly after, her fellow con artist pretends to happen upon the stone but refuses to give it to the manager or wait for the owner to return. This situation forces the mark to either let the diamond go or offer to share the reward. In most cases, if the mark is well chosen, he will offer to pay a low amount himself in the hope of keeping the rest of the reward—which is exactly what the hustlers are counting on. The aim of this scam is to convince the mark to pay two hundred dollars for a worthless piece of glass because he expects to receive five hundred dollars from its distraught owner.

  A clever variation of the gold brick scam employs victims to act as a go-between for two con artists, where one is trying to sell something of great value to the other, but for some reason, the mark is needed to help communicate between the two parties. This man in the middle scenario forces the victim to relay information between the two hustlers and therefore repeat and represent everything he is being told.

  On The Real Hustle, we targeted a Greek businessman and created a scenario where Alex needed the mark to translate for him (Alex is part Greek and speaks the language fluently). Across a restaurant table, Alex and I tried to negotiate a deal but because we didn’t trust each other, the mark suddenly found himself in a position to help facilitate the transaction and make a lot of money in the process. All he needed to do was buy the item from Alex and then sell it to me. This would satisfy Alex’s concerns while I was happy to pay whatever was necessary.

  This strategy could be used with anyone acting as an intermediary, because the key to this scam is that it forces the mark to unknowingly repeat a credible lie and ultimately accept it for himself. Once the mark himself is convinced that the prize is real, the idea of taking advantage of this situation will soon become obvious to him.

  Sales Scams

  Opportunity scams come in all shapes and sizes with a few managing to technically stay on the right side of the law. These scams all rely on creating the illusion that the mark can make a lot of money in return for a small investment. The simplest example might be a boiler room scam, where victims are made to believe they can buy shares that are somehow guaranteed to make money but prove to be completely worthless, perhaps even nonexistent. This type of con depends on convincing the mark that an opportunity is genuine before applying enormous pressure to force a decision.

  High-pressure sales tactics are often used by people who are fully aware that they are tricking people, but instead of leaving them with nothing, they sell items for much more than they are worth. The objective is to badger people until they commit, and the techniques used are reminiscent of a jam auction being played out in people’s homes.

  These companies don’t just con their customers; the people who work for them are often being manipulated too. A certain air-filtration/vacuum cleaner company employs people with the promise of hourly wages or shared profits, depending on which is greater, but the employee induction process has been cleverly designed to avoid paying most applicants. First there’s the training, for which no one is paid, but after which, everyone is given the opportunity to jump ahead and begin earning commission by simply organizing ten or more presentations for family and friends. The scam is simple and depends entirely on people being able to secure a few sales from their own contacts in the belief that this will catapult them into a real job with a genuine commission. Almost no one is able to sell enough products to be paid, and if they do, they will soon run out of friends and family willing to buy overpriced carpet cleaners.

  None of this proves that the manufacturer of these machines does anything to encourage such practices, but I noticed on their website a large red notice, warning potential buyers not to purchase their products from any source other than approved dealers and that any models being sold on the Internet are guaranteed to be fake. I question this statement and am forced to wonder if its placement on the site is just another layer to aid their high-pressure door-to-door salesmen. While researching this company (which shall remain nameless), I found an interesting claim on one review site regarding one of their most popular air-cleaners. This particular model uses an expensive filter and there is a warn ing light to signal when this needs to be replaced. According to the reviewer, this light actually works on a timer! This means that, no matter how much you use the device or the quality of your air, the warning light will flash after eleven months then stay on until an expensive new filter has been installed.

  A friend explained this employment scam to me several years ago. He once worked for his father, who had successfully operated one of these franchises for many years around the Midwest. He told me that the business depended on victims selling a small number of devices in the hope of getting a real job, which was always given to someone else, usually my friend who pretended to be one of the applicants. Anyone who stayed with the company did so on a commission-only basis, but despite promises to the contrary, were required to generate their own leads. One highly questionable method used by some franchises was to post familiar-looking brown and yellow slips of paper to people, claiming that a package was being held for them. Anyone falling for this tactic would quickly start receiving regular marketing calls until they agreed to an in-home demonstration.

  Last I heard, my friend’s father was still running the business. I found it interesting that in addition to being a salesman with highly questionable business ethics, he is also a popular preacher with a large congregation.

  The Panic Principle

  At one point, the Jury Duty Scam was considered to be one of the most common in the United States. People would receive a phone call from the clerk of their local court demanding to know why they hadn’t appeared for jury selection. The victim would immediately state that they never received any notification, but the clerk would tell them that it was already too late; a warrant had been issued by the judge for them to appear before the end of the day.

  By now, the mark is angry or upset so the clerk offers them a ray of hope. He can pay a fine and sign a form to state they received no communica
tion from the court, and if it’s simply been a clerical error, their money will be returned. The alternative is to appear before the judge and there’s a chance the mark might need to wait for hours and could even be detained if the judge sees fit. Most people choose the easy way out and a “courier” is quickly sent to pick up their money and have them sign a few fake documents.

  One of the most powerful lessons I learned while writing and producing The Real Hustle and Scammed is that people are much easier to manipulate when maneuvered into a compromising situation. This tactic has the benefit of both sinking and cooling out a mark who’s willing to give anything to get out of a jam or help a loved one. The setup is simple: convince a mark that he or someone he cares about is in trouble and offer him a resolution that will quickly expire.

  It’s easy to see how anyone might agree to pay a fine to avoid facing an angry judge or spending the day waiting at the courthouse, and this scam works because the situation is so plausible that the mark’s reaction is predictable, which is the key to many successful con games. If you heard that a loved one had been hurt or arrested while on vacation, how much money would you send to help? If you were suddenly found in a compromising position with someone, what would you pay to avoid shame or scandal?

  The panic principle is the basis of many scams, but it is also a powerful technique to sink or cool out a mark. In the black money scam, another buyer might appear offering to buy everything and forcing the mark to make a decision, or the mark might be threatened with legal consequences for attempting to buy “cancelled money.” In any situation where people tend to just react rather than stop and consider their options, con artists are able to anticipate and take advantage.

  Trust Abuse

  Trust can be grown, it can be earned, it can be assumed, and it can be stolen.