The Undercover Cop Scam Is a scam where a con man pretends to be an undercover police officer, and tells the mark, usually done by stopping their vehicle and showing a fake badge, about a case they are investigating, and that they are a suspect. The con man asks for money to be checked, when the mark is out of the vehicle, the con man gets into his and drives away, leaving enough time to escape as the mark has to walk back to his vehicle. This scam is usually done to tourists, variations include their whole luggage being transferred to the con man's trunk "to be checked at a police station."
David Maurer's 1940 book The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man, on which the film The Sting was loosely based, outlines what is now known as a Big Store scam. These scams often involved teams of dozens of con artists working together with elaborate sets and costumes.
The badger game is an extortion scheme, often perpetrated on married men. The mark is deliberately coerced into a compromising position, a supposed affair for example, then threatened with public exposure of his acts unless blackmail money is paid.
The Paranoia Scam is a scam that involves the con man telling the mark various lies about the different scams and instigating false attempts so that the mark (feeling worried and with no place to hide their money from fraud) turns to the con man for help.
Affinity fraud is a scam that is perpetrated to people in certain groups (i.e. religion, race, sex, etc). The con man gains the mark's trust through a deceptive ruse and when the timing is just right, the con man takes advantage of the mark's trust.
Change raising is a common short con and involves an offer to change an amount of money with someone, and at the same time taking change or bills back and forth to confuse the person as to how much money they are actually changing. The most common form, "the Short Count," has been featured prominently in several movies about grifting, notably Nueve Reinas and Paper Moon. A con artist, shopping at a gas station for example, is given 80 cents in change because he lacks two dimes to complete the sale (for example, the sale cost is $19.20 and the con man has a 20 dollar bill). He goes out to his car, and returns a short time later with 20 cents. He returns them, saying that he found the rest of the change to make a dollar, and asking for a bill so he won't have to carry change. The confused store clerk agrees, exchanging a dollar for the 20 cents the con man returned. In essence, the mark makes change twice.
The illegal investment scam is no different from millions of investment scams out there but, the con man tells the mark that this investment money is made via illegal means, thus the mark cannot go to the police.
Coin collecting scam is a scam that preys on inexperienced collectors, coins or otherwise. The con man convinces the mark by stating that a high-priced collection is for sale at a lower amount. The coin collector then buys the entire collection thinking it is actually valuable. This scam is most commonly found on the internet auction site eBay.
Online casino scam is a newer type of scam, dealing with online gambling. Many websites post advertising about some math student that has discovered a method or program to beat online casinos; the method is nothing but a variation of the martingale that is proven not to work. To improve the scam, the advertiser cites anonymous people that are supposed to have won using the method, or put fake amounts behind their claims. The method can reportedly be purchased for a low price, considering the sum that could be won back.
Another relatively recent type of scam is a romance scam which involves fraudsters targeting lonely and vulnerable men and women on Internet dating sites and then actively cultivating a romantic relationship, which often involves promises of marriage. However, after some time it becomes evident that the Internet "sweetheart" is stuck in his home country, lacking the money to leave the country and thus unable to be united with the mark. A wide variety of reasons can be offered for the fraudster's lack of cash, but rather than just borrow the money from the victim, the con man normally declares that they have checks which the victim can cash on their behalf and remit the money via a non-reversible transfer service to help facilitate the trip. Of course, the checks are forged or stolen and the fraudster never makes the trip. Instead, all that the hapless victim ends up with is a large debt and an aching heart.
The deceptive contest relies on a real contest whose true objective is to sell the victim a low-value item at a high price. The mark sees an advertisement asking poets to submit their poems to a poetry competition. A few weeks later, a return letter announces that the mark's poem has been selected by the judges to advance to the "semi-finals". (The mark may be asked to travel to a distant city at his own expense in order to "participate" in the semi-finals.) As per the contest rules, the poem is published in a hard-cover anthology once the contest has concluded. The mark is encouraged to order the book, at a high price, perhaps with extra costs for personalization. The scam is that many — perhaps all of the — contestants reach the "semi-finals" and it appeals to their vanity to buy a low-quality book for a high price.
In a drug dealer scam, the con man pretends he or she is selling illegal drugs and sometimes uses intimidation as part of the scam. Usually the victim hands over the money and is told to wait until the dealer comes back with the product. They never do. Some fake drug pushers will give out bags full of things such as acetaminophen, herbs, etc.
Fake cripple, homeless or other "down on your luck" scam. Some people suspect that the panhandler in a wheelchair, the woman with kids along the freeway off-ramp or the homeless veteran might just be scamming. In India in 2006, three doctors were investigated for offering to sever limbs in order to increase public sympathy toward their clients.[1]
Get-rich-quick schemes are so varied they nearly defy description. Everything from fake franchises, real estate "sure things", how-to-get-rich books and wealth-building seminars, self-help gurus, sure-fire inventions, useless products, chain letters, fortune tellers, quack doctors, miracle pharmecuticals, charms and talismans are all used to separate the mark from his money.
The glasses drop is a scam in which the scammer will intentionally bump into the mark and drop a pair of glasses that have already been broken. He will claim that the glasses were broken by the clumsiness of the mark, and demand money to replace them.
Hydrophoby lay was a scam popular in the 1920s, in which the con man pretended to have been bitten by the mark's (possibly rabid) dog.
Insurance fraud is a scam in which the con artist tricks the mark into damaging, for example, the con artist's car, or injuring the con artist (in a manner that the con artist can exaggerate). The con artist fraudulently collects a large sum of money from the mark's insurance policy, even though they intentionally caused the accident.
Bad literary agent is a scam in which the con artist sets himself up to appear as a legitimate literary agent and then charges aspiring authors reading, editing, evaluation and marketing fees. The scammer may also include writer's "contests", listing services, publicity and pay to publish contracts. This should not be confused with vanity publication.
Lottery fraud by proxy is a particularly vicious scam, in which the scammer buys a lotto ticket with old winning numbers. He or she then alters the date on the ticket so that it appears to be from the day before, and therefore a winning ticket. He or she then sells the ticket to the mark, claiming it is a winning ticket, but for some reason, he or she is unable to collect the prize (not eligible, etc.). The particular cruelty in this scam is that if the mark attempts to collect the prize, the fraudulently altered ticket will be discovered and the mark held criminally liable. This con was featured in the movie Matchstick Men (film), where Nicolas Cage teaches it to his daughter. A twist on the con was shown in Great Teacher Onizuka, where the more than gullible Onizuka was tricked into getting a "winning ticket". The ticket wasn't altered, instead the daily newspaper reporting today's winning numbers was rewritten with a black pen.
Pig-in-a-poke originated in the late Middle Ages, when meat was scarce, but apparently rats and cats were not. The con entails a sale of a "suckling pig", in a "poke" (bag). The bag ostensibly contains a live healthy little pig, but actually contains a cat (not particularly prized as a source of meat, and at any rate, quite unlikely to grow to be a large hog). If one "buys a pig in a poke" without looking in the bag (a common colloquial expression in the English language, meaning "to be a sucker"), the person has bought something of lesser value than was assumed, and has learned firsthand the lesson caveat emptor. It is also said to be where the phrase, 'the cat's out of the bag', comes from, although there may be other explanations
The pigeon drop, also featured early in the film The Sting, involves the mark or pigeon assisting an elderly, weak or infirm stranger to keep their money safe for them. In the process, the stranger (actually a confidence trickster) puts his money with the mark's money (in an envelope, briefcase, or sack) which the pigeon is then entrusted with. The money is actually not put into the sack or envelope, but is switched for a bag full of newspaper, etc. The pigeon is enticed to make off with the con man's money through the greed element and various theatrics, but in actuality, the pigeon is fleeing from his own money, which the con man still has (or has handed off to an accomplice).
The fiddle game is a variation on the pigeon drop. A pair of con men work together, one going into an expensive restaurant in shabby clothes, eating, and claiming to have left his wallet at home, which is nearby. As collateral, the con man leaves his only worldly possession, the violin that provides his livelihood. After he leaves, the second con man swoops in, offers an outrageously large amount (for example, $50,000) for such a rare instrument, then looks at his watch and runs off to an appointment, leaving his card for the mark to call him when the fiddle-owner returns. The mark's greed comes into play when the "poor man" comes back, having gotten the money to pay for his meal and redeem his violin. The mark, thinking he has an offer on the table, then buys the violin from the fiddle player (who "reluctantly" sells it eventually for, say, $5,000). The result is the two con men are $5,000 richer (less the cost of the violin), and the mark is left with a cheap instrument. (This trick is also detailed in the Neil Gaiman novel American Gods and is the basis for The Streets' song "Can't Con an Honest John".)
The protection scheme takes advantage of the fact that there are con artists out there. The con man tells the mark that there is a web site you can register your credit card number on to keep it safe from stolen identity. The mark then willingly gives the con man their credit card number. The con man is then never seen again.
In pseudoscience and snake oil scams, popular psychology confidence tricksters make money by falsely claiming to improve reading speed and comprehension using speed reading courses by fooling the consumer with inappropriate skimming and general knowledge tests. These popular psychology tricksters often employ popular assumptions about the brain and the cerebral hemispheres that are scientifically wrong, but attractive and easy to believe. A common myth is that we use only 10% of our brain.[1][2] Similar scams involve the use of brain machines to alter brain waves, and intelligence amplification through balancing the mind and body. See neurofeedback.
Psychic surgery is a con game in which the trickster uses sleight of hand to pretend to remove bits of malignant growths from the mark's body. A common form of medical fraud in underdeveloped countries, it imperils the victims, who may fail to seek competent medical attention. The movie Man on the Moon depicts comedian Andy Kaufman undergoing psychic surgery.
Reloading scam: victims of a successful fraud often land into sucker lists to be further approached by other con men.
Salting
is the term for a scam in which gems or gold ore are planted in a mine or on the landscape, duping the greedy mark into purchasing shares in a worthless or non-existent mining company. For an 19th century example, see the Diamond hoax of 1872, for a modern example, involving imaginary gold deposits in Borneo, see Bre-X.
The Spanish Prisoner scam, and its modern variant, the Nigerian money transfer fraud, take advantage of the victim's greed. The basic premise involves enlisting the mark to aid in retrieving some stolen money from its hiding place. The victim sometimes goes in believing he can cheat the con artists out of their money, but anyone trying this has already fallen for the essential con by believing that the money is there to steal. See also Black money scam.
The Thai gem scam involves layers of conmen and helpers who tell a tourist in Bangkok of an opportunity to earn money by buying duty-free jewelry and having it shipped back to the tourist's home country. The mark is driven around the city in a tuk-tuk operated by one of the con men, who ensures that the mark meets one helper after another, until the mark is convinced to buy the jewelry from a store also operated by the scammers. This scam has been operating for 20 years in Bangkok and is alleged to be protected by Thai police and politicians. A similar scam usually runs in parallel for custom-made suits. Many tourists are hit by scammers touting both goods.
Three-card Monte, the "Three-card Trick", or "Follow The Lady", is (except for the props) essentially the same as the probably centuries-older shell game or thimblerig. The trickster shows three playing cards to the audience, one of which is a queen (the "lady"), then places the cards face-down, shuffles them around and invites the audience to bet on which one is the queen. At first the audience is skeptical, so the shill places a bet and the scammer allows him to win. This is sometimes enough to entice the audience to place bets, but the trickster uses sleight of hand to ensure that they always lose, unless the con man decides to let them win to lure them into betting even more. The mark loses whenever the dealer chooses to make him lose.
In the trust scheme, a con artist teams with another con artist or shill to lead the mark to trusting them. The con artist will convince the mark to scam people with him, but after the crime spree is over, the con artist takes the mark's share of the money and disappears.
Phishing is a modern form of scam in which the artist communicates with the mark, pretending to be from an official organization that the mark is doing business with, in order to extract personal information that can then be used, for example, to steal money. In a typical instance of phishing, the artist sends the mark an email pretending to be from a company (such as eBay). This email is formatted exactly like email from that business, and will ask the mark to "verify" some personal information at their website, to which a link is provided. The website itself is also fake but designed to look exactly like the business' website. The site will contain an HTMLform asking for personal information such as credit card numbers. The mark will feel compelled to give this information because of words in the email or the site stating that they require the information again, for example to "reactivate your account". When the mark submits the form, the information is sent to the scammer.
Free pet scam is a type of scam where the scammer places a classified ad promising a very cheap or free animal (that is usually hard to get or is expensive). The con artists often say they've moved away, and all they ask is that the victim pay for just the shipping cost (usually rather high) to send the animal to the victim. The victim is told to transfer funds via Western Union to the scammer. The victim does so but never actually receives the pet.
