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Scams A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...
and confidence tricks are difficult to classify, because they change often and often contain elements of more than one type. Throughout this list, the perpetrator of the confidence trick is called the "con artist" or simply "artist", and the intended victim is the "mark". Particular scams are mainly directed toward elderly people, as they may be gullible and sometimes inexperienced or insecure, especially when the scam involves modern technology such as computers and the internet. This list should not be considered complete but covers the most common examples.


Get-rich-quick schemes

Get-rich-quick scheme A get-rich-quick scheme is a plan to obtain high rates of return for a small investment. The term "get rich quick" has been used to describe shady investments since at least the early 20th century. Most schemes create an impression that partic ...
s are extremely varied; these include fake
franchises Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...
,
real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
"sure things", get-rich-quick books, wealth-building seminars,
self-help Self-help or self-improvement is a self-guided improvement''APA Dictionary of Physicology'', 1st ed., Gary R. VandenBos, ed., Washington: American Psychological Association, 2007.—economically, intellectually, or emotionally—often with a subst ...
gurus, sure-fire inventions, useless products,
chain letter A chain letter is a message that attempts to convince the recipient to make a number of copies and pass them on to a certain number of recipients. The "chain" is an exponentially growing pyramid (a tree graph) that cannot be sustained indefinite ...
s,
fortune tellers Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical wi ...
,
quack Quack, The Quack or Quacks may refer to: People * Quack Davis, American baseball player * Hendrick Peter Godfried Quack (1834–1917), Dutch economist and historian * Joachim Friedrich Quack (born 1966), German Egyptologist * Johannes Quack (b ...
doctors, miracle
pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field and re ...
s,
foreign exchange fraud Foreign exchange fraud is any trading scheme used to defraud traders by convincing them that they can expect to gain a high profit by trading in the foreign exchange market. Currency trading became a common form of fraud in early 2008, according to ...
, Nigerian money scams, fraudulent treasure hunts, and charms and talismans. Variations include the
pyramid scheme A pyramid scheme is a business model that recruits members via a promise of payments or services for enrolling others into the scheme, rather than supplying investments or sale of products. As recruiting multiplies, recruiting becomes quickly im ...
, the
Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...
, and the
matrix scheme A matrix scheme (also known as a matrix sale or site, and as a hellevator, excavator or ladder scheme) is a business model involving the exchange of money for a certain product with a side bonus of being added to a waiting list for a product of g ...
.


The "Money-Box Scheme"

Victor Lustig Victor Lustig (; January 4, 1890 – March 11, 1947) was a highly skilled con artist from Austria-Hungary, who undertook a criminal career that involved conducting scams across Europe and the United States during the early 20th century. Lusti ...
, a con artist born in Austria-Hungary, designed and sold a "money box" which he claimed could print $100 bills using blank sheets of paper. A victim, sensing huge profits and untroubled by ethical implications, would buy the machine for a high price—from $25,000 to $102,000. Lustig stocked the machine with six to nine genuine $100 bills for demonstration purposes, but after that it produced only blank paper. By the time victims realized that they had been scammed, Lustig was long gone.


Salting

Salting or "salting the mine" are terms for a scam in which
gemstone A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, ...
s or gold ore are planted in a
mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...
or on the landscape, duping the mark into purchasing shares in a worthless or non-existent mining company. During
gold rush A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Z ...
es, scammers would load
shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which usually discharges numerous small p ...
s with gold dust and shoot into the sides of the mine to give the appearance of a rich ore, thus "salting the mine". Examples include the
diamond hoax of 1872 The diamond hoax of 1872 was a swindle in which a pair of prospectors sold a false American diamond deposit to prominent businessmen in San Francisco and New York City. It also triggered a brief diamond prospecting craze in the western United Stat ...
and the
Bre-X Bre-X was a group of companies in Canada. Bre-X Minerals Ltd., a major part of Bre-X based in Calgary, was involved in a major gold mining scandal when it reported it was sitting on an enormous gold deposit at , East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Bre-X b ...
gold fraud of the mid-1990s. This trick was featured in the
HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
series '' Deadwood'', when
Al Swearengen Ellis Alfred Swearengen (July 8, 1845 – November 15, 1904) was an American pimp and entertainment entrepreneur who ran the Gem Theater, a notorious brothel, in Deadwood, South Dakota, for 22 years during the late 19th century. Personal life Swe ...
and
E. B. Farnum Ethan Bennett Farnum (November 10, 1826 – after 1900) was one of the first residents of Deadwood, South Dakota, Deadwood (then in the Dakota Territory) who was not a miner or Prospecting, prospector; he was the owner of a general store. He was ...
trick Brom Garret into believing gold is to be found on the claim Swearengen intends to sell him. This con was also featured in ''
Sneaky Pete ''Sneaky Pete'' is an American crime drama series created by David Shore and Bryan Cranston. The series follows Marius Josipović (Giovanni Ribisi), a released convict who adopts the identity of his cellmate, Pete Murphy, to avoid his past life. ...
''. In season 3 of the TV series ''Leverage'', the team salts a mine with
coltan Coltan (short for columbite–tantalites and known industrially as tantalite) is a dull black metallic ore from which the elements niobium and tantalum are extracted. The niobium-dominant mineral in coltan is columbite (after niobium's original A ...
in order to run a con on two greedy and corrupt luminaries.


Spanish Prisoner

The
Spanish Prisoner The Spanish Prisoner is a confidence trick originating by at least the early 19th century, as Eugène François Vidocq described in his memoirs. The scam In its original form, the confidence trickster tells his victim (the ''mark'') that he is ...
scam—and its modern variant, the
advance-fee scam An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and is one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the frauds ...
or " Nigerian letter scam"—involves enlisting the mark to aid in retrieving some stolen money from its hiding place. The victim sometimes believes they 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 black money scam, sometimes also known as the "black dollar scam" or "wash wash scam", is a scam where con artists attempt to fraudulently obtain money from a victim by convincing them that piles of banknote-sized paper are real currency that ...
). The classic Spanish Prisoner trick also contains an element of the romance scam (see below). Many con artists employ extra tricks to keep the victim from going to the police. A common ploy of investment scammers is to encourage a mark to use money concealed from tax authorities. The mark cannot go to the authorities without revealing that they have committed
tax fraud Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...
. Many swindles involve a minor element of crime or some other misdeed. The mark is made to think that they will gain money by helping fraudsters get huge sums out of a country (the classic advance-fee fraud/Nigerian scam); hence a mark cannot go to the police without revealing that they planned to commit a crime themselves. In a twist on the Nigerian fraud scheme, the mark is told they are helping someone overseas collect debts from corporate clients. Large
cheque A cheque, or check (American English; see spelling differences) is a document that orders a bank (or credit union) to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The pers ...
s stolen from businesses are mailed to the mark. These cheques are altered to reflect the mark's name, and the mark is then asked to cash them and transfer all but a percentage of the funds (their commission) to the con artist. The cheques are often completely genuine, except that the "pay to" information has been expertly changed. This exposes the mark not only to enormous debt when the bank reclaims the money from their account, but also to criminal charges for
money laundering Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...
. A more modern variation is to use laser-printed counterfeit cheques with the proper bank account numbers and payer information. This scam can be seen in the film ''
The Spanish Prisoner ''The Spanish Prisoner'' is a 1997 American neo-noir suspense film, written and directed by David Mamet and starring Campbell Scott, Steve Martin, Rebecca Pidgeon, Ben Gazzara, Felicity Huffman and Ricky Jay. It tells a story of corporate espion ...
''.


Persuasion tricks

Persuasion fraud, when fraudsters persuade people only to target their money, is an old-fashioned type of fraud.


Grandparent scam

A grandparent gets a call or e-mail from someone claiming to be their grandchild, saying that they are in trouble. For example, the scammer may claim to have been arrested and require money wired, or gift cards purchased for bail, and asks the victim not to tell the grandchild's parents, as they would "only get upset." The call is fraudulent impersonation, the name of the grandchild typically obtained from
social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
postings as well as obituaries listed either in newspapers or from a funeral home's website. Any money
wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San Fra ...
out of the country is gone forever.


Romance scam

The traditional
romance scam A romance scam is a confidence trick involving feigning romantic intentions towards a victim, gaining the victim's affection, and then using that goodwill to get the victim to send money to the scammer under false pretenses or to commit fraud aga ...
has now moved into
Internet dating Online dating, also known as Internet dating, Virtual dating, or Mobile app dating, is a relatively recent method used by people with a goal of searching for and interacting with potential romantic or sexual partners, via the internet. An onlin ...
sites, gaining a new name of
catfishing Catfishing is a deceptive activity in which a person creates a fictional persona or fake identity on a social networking service, usually targeting a specific victim. The practice may be used for financial gain, to compromise a victim in som ...
. The con actively cultivates a
romantic relationship Romance or romantic love is a feeling of love for, or a strong attraction towards another person, and the courtship behaviors undertaken by an individual to express those overall feelings and resultant emotions. The ''Wiley Blackwell Encycl ...
which often involves promises of marriage. However, after some time, it becomes evident that this Internet "sweetheart" is stuck in their home country or a third country, lacking the money to leave and therefore unable to be united with the mark. The scam then becomes an
advance-fee fraud An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and is one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the frauds ...
or a
check fraud Cheque fraud (Commonwealth English), or check fraud (American English), refers to a category of criminal acts that involve making the unlawful use of cheques in order to illegally acquire or borrow funds that do not exist within the account balanc ...
. A wide variety of reasons can be offered for the trickster's lack of cash, but rather than just borrow the money from the victim (advance fee fraud), the con-artist 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 (
check fraud Cheque fraud (Commonwealth English), or check fraud (American English), refers to a category of criminal acts that involve making the unlawful use of cheques in order to illegally acquire or borrow funds that do not exist within the account balanc ...
). Of course, the checks are forged or stolen and the con-artist never makes the trip: the hapless victim ends up with a large debt and an aching heart. This scam can be seen in the movie ''
Nights of Cabiria ''Nights of Cabiria'' ( it, Le notti di Cabiria) is a 1957 drama film co-written and directed by Federico Fellini. It stars Giulietta Masina as Cabiria, a prostitute living in Rome. The cast also features François Périer and Amedeo Nazzari. T ...
''. Variants of these employ bots or even live people who offer to go to live cam sites to video chat with the mark. The sites almost always require a credit card to be entered. The scammer insists the site is free and the card is only for purposes of age verification. The scammer will aggressively push using the site instead of a more well-known service like Skype, Zoom, or Discord or using more rational ways to obtain age verification (such as asking to see a driver's license or
passport A passport is an official travel document issued by a government that contains a person's identity. A person with a passport can travel to and from foreign countries more easily and access consular assistance. A passport certifies the personal ...
). Typically these sites charge a relatively low fee, often close to US$25–$50. After the fee has been paid the scammer vanishes and the site ceases to exist shortly thereafter. This is common on quick dating sites like
Tinder Tinder is easily combustible material used to start a fire. Tinder is a finely divided, open material which will begin to glow under a shower of sparks. Air is gently wafted over the glowing tinder until it bursts into flame. The flaming tinder i ...
or free ones like
OkCupid OkCupid (often abbreviated as OKC, but officially OkC) is a U.S.-based, internationally operating online dating, friendship, and formerly also a social networking website and application. It features multiple-choice questions to match members. ...
, but has been seen on ones that require payment as well. In some cases, an online dating site is itself engaged in fraud, posting profiles of fictional persons or persons which the operator knows are not currently looking for a date in the advertised locality.


Fortune-telling fraud

One traditional swindle involves
fortune-telling Fortune telling is the practice of predicting information about a person's life. Melton, J. Gordon. (2008). ''The Encyclopedia of Religious Phenomena''. Visible Ink Press. pp. 115-116. The scope of fortune telling is in principle identical w ...
. In this scam, a fortune teller uses cold reading skills to detect that a client is genuinely troubled rather than merely seeking entertainment; or is a gambler complaining of bad
luck Luck is the phenomenon and belief that defines the experience of improbable events, especially improbably positive or negative ones. The naturalistic interpretation is that positive and negative events may happen at any time, both due to rand ...
. The fortune teller informs the mark that they are the victim of a
curse A curse (also called an imprecation, malediction, execration, malison, anathema, or commination) is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to one or more persons, a place, or an object. In particular, ...
, and that for a fee a spell can be cast to remove the curse. In Romany, this trick is called ''bujo'' ("bag") after one traditional format: the mark is told that the curse is in their money; they bring money in a bag to have the spell cast over it, and leaves with a bag of worthless paper. Fear of this scam has been one justification for legislation that makes fortune-telling a crime. See the "Blessing Scam" below. This scam got a new lease on life in the electronic age with the
virus hoax A computer virus hoax is a message warning the recipients of a non-existent computer virus threat. The message is usually a chain e-mail that tells the recipients to forward it to everyone they know, but it can also be in the form of a pop-up windo ...
. Fake anti-virus software falsely claims that a computer is infected with viruses, and renders the machine inoperable with bogus warnings unless blackmail is paid. In the Datalink Computer Services incident, a mark was fleeced of several million dollars by a firm that claimed that his computer was infected with viruses, and that the infection indicated an elaborate conspiracy against him on the Internet. The alleged scam lasted from August 2004 through October 2010 and is estimated to have cost the victim $6–20 million.


Gold brick scams

Gold brick scams involve selling a tangible item for more than it is worth; they are named for the scam of selling the victim an allegedly golden ingot which turns out to be gold-coated lead.


Green goods

The
green goods scam The green goods scam, also known as the "green goods game", was a fraud scheme popular in the 19th-century United States in which people were duped into paying for worthless counterfeit money. It is a variation on the pig-in-a-poke scam using mo ...
, also known as the "green goods game", was a scheme popular in the 19th-century United States in which people were duped into paying for worthless
counterfeit To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...
money. It is a variation on the
pig-in-a-poke A ''pig in a poke'' is a thing that is bought without first being inspected, and thus of unknown authenticity or quality. The idiom is attested in 1555: I wyll neuer bye the pyg in the poke Thers many a foule pyg in a feyre cloke A "poke" is a ...
scam using money instead of other goods like a pig. The mark, or victim, would respond to flyers circulated throughout the country by the scammers ("green goods men") which claimed to offer "genuine" counterfeit currency for sale. This currency was sometimes alleged to have been printed with stolen engraving plates. Victims, usually living outside major cities, would be enticed to travel to the location of the green goods men to complete the transaction. Victims were guided by a " steerer" to be shown large amounts of genuine currency—represented to be counterfeit—which was then placed in a bag or
satchel A satchel is a bag with a strap, traditionally used for carrying books.Satchel
The Cambridge Dictionary. ...
. Victims then received offers to purchase the money at a price much less than face value. While a victim negotiated a price or was otherwise distracted, another accomplice (the "ringer") would switch the bag of money for a bag containing sawdust, green paper, or other worthless items. Victims would leave unaware of the switch, and were unwilling to report the crime, as attempting to purchase counterfeit currency was itself a crime and the victim accordingly risked
arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be questi ...
.


Pig in a poke (cat in a bag)

Pig in a poke A ''pig in a poke'' is a thing that is bought without first being inspected, and thus of unknown authenticity or quality. The idiom is attested in 1555: I wyll neuer bye the pyg in the poke Thers many a foule pyg in a feyre cloke A "poke" is a b ...
originated in the late
Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
. The con entails a sale of what is claimed to be a small pig, in a poke (bag). The bag actually contains a cat (not particularly prized as a source of meat). If one buys the bag without looking inside it, the person has bought something of less value than was assumed, and has learned first-hand the lesson ''
caveat emptor ''Caveat emptor'' (; from ''caveat'', "may he/she beware", a subjunctive form of ''cavēre'', "to beware" + ''ēmptor'', "buyer") is Latin for "Let the buyer beware". It has become a proverb in English. Generally, ''caveat emptor'' is the contrac ...
''. "Buying a pig in a poke" has become a colloquial expression in many European languages, including English, for when someone buys something without examining it beforehand.Brewer, ''Dictionary of Phrase and Fable'', 1898. In some regions the "pig" in the phrase is replaced by "cat", referring to the bag's actual content, but the saying is otherwise identical. This is also said to be where the phrase "
letting the cat out of the bag Letting the cat out of the bag (also ...box) is a colloquialism meaning to reveal facts previously hidden. It could refer to revealing a conspiracy (friendly or not) to its target, letting an outsider into an inner circle of knowledge (e.g., expla ...
" comes from, although there may be other explanations. In Portuguese or Spanish speaking countries, the "pig" in the phrase is replaced by a hare or jackrabbit. A victim thinks he is buying a hare, when in reality he is buying a cat, hence the expression "gato por lebre" (in
Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...
) or "gato por liebre" (in
Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...
).


Thai gems

The Thai
gem scam The gem scam is a confidence trick performed usually against tourists. The most known version occurs in Bangkok, Thailand as well as other cities in the country. It is one of the most pervasive scams in Thailand. Most of the shops are gold or je ...
involves layers of con men and helpers who tell a tourist in
Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...
of an opportunity to earn money by buying
duty-free A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, w ...
jewelry and having it shipped back to the tourist's home country. The mark is driven around the city in a
tuk-tuk An auto rickshaw is a motorized version of the pulled rickshaw or cycle rickshaw. Most have three wheels and do not tilt. They are known by many terms in various countries including auto, auto rickshaw, baby taxi, mototaxi, pigeon, jonnybee, bajaj ...
operated by one of the con men, who ensures that the mark meets one helper after another, until the mark is persuaded to buy the jewelry from a store also operated by the swindlers. The gems are real but significantly overpriced. This scam has been operating for twenty years in Bangkok, and is said to be protected by Thai police and politicians. A similar scam usually runs in parallel for custom-made suits. Many tourists are hit by con men touting both goods. A similar trick in Thailand involves lying about the presence of
ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...
in ornaments. Tricksters offer a non-ivory ornament for sale next to a sign in English reading "It is strictly forbidden to transport ivory into the United States, and the seller assumes no responsibility". This may make the buyer believe he or she has stumbled upon "forbidden fruit", tempting him to purchase the ornament, usually small and easy to hide, and smuggle it out of the country. The buyer would later discover that the ornament is made out of bone matter with no trace of ivory whatsoever.


FInancial Condition Scam

In twists on the Gold-Brick Scam and the False Documents Scam, in the Financial Condition Scam the con artist convinces the mark through purported objective evidence that con artist is wealthier than he is. The 'gold brick' the scammer sells is himself. The trick was common in Manhattan commercial banking and insurance circles between the 1980s and the 2020s. The con relies upon the truth that commercial lending and insurance, despite third-party appraisals and
due diligence Due diligence is the investigation or exercise of care that a reasonable business or person is normally expected to take before entering into an agreement or contract with another party or an act with a certain standard of care. It can be a l ...
research, are based ultimately on trust between lender and borrower. The function of the scam is simple -- the grifters generate phony documents that show the applicant borrower meets or exceeds capital liquidity requirements needed to qualify for multi-million-dollar financing or insurance. However, banks and insurance companies expect some documents in their business to be fraudulent. The difficult part of the scam is to do many other things over long years that imbue the con artist and the documents he generates with an aura of wealth around the frontman. In the case of the
Trump Organization Trump most commonly refers to: * Donald Trump (born 1946), 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) * Trump (card games), any playing card given an ad-hoc high rank Trump may also refer to: Businesses and organizations * Donald J. T ...
, the phony financial documents were provided first to independent auditors who themselves then generated third-party documents based on those false representations. Meanwhile, much time and energy goes into "salting" the public sphere with purported soft evidence (in a version of the Salt the Mine scam) of wealth — including feeding phony information to financial journalists (even through phony press agents) in order to have the front-man ranked highly on lists of the nation's wealthiest people. The listing is then used to "prove" that the frontman is financially liquid enough. Other tactics include placing phony items with tabloid gossip columns that note the frontman's lavish lifestyle and profligate spending, and ensuring company "stores" where marks are fleeced have expensive-seeming "fits and finishes" (in reality, cheap carpet, tile, paint, countertops, lighting fixtures, etc.). In the Trump case, evidence in a trial at equity held in the Manhattan New York State Supreme Court showed that the operation had reported that one of its chief "stores," a tri-plex residential unit in
Trump Tower Trump Tower is a 58-story, mixed-use skyscraper at 721–725 Fifth Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, between East 56th and 57th Streets. The building contains the headquarters for the Trump Organization, as well ...
, while legitimately owned, was three times the square footage that it had in reality. The lie was key to the grift because that "proof point" was also part of pressure campaigns on financial journalists working on lists of the wealthiest people.


White-van speakers

In the white van speaker scam, low-quality
loudspeaker A loudspeaker (commonly referred to as a speaker or speaker driver) is an electroacoustic transducer that converts an electrical audio signal into a corresponding sound. A ''speaker system'', also often simply referred to as a "speaker" or " ...
s are sold—stereotypically from a white van—as expensive units that have been greatly discounted. The salesmen explain the ultra-low price in a number of ways; for instance, that their employer is unaware of having ordered too many speakers, so they are sneakily selling the excess behind the boss's back. The "speakermen" are ready to be haggled down to a seemingly minuscule price, because the speakers they are selling, while usually functional, actually cost only a tiny fraction of their "list price" to manufacture. The scam may extend to the creation of Web sites for the bogus brand, which usually sounds similar to that of a respected loudspeaker company. They will often place an ad for the speakers in the "For sale" Classifieds of the local newspaper, at the exorbitant price, and then show the mark a copy of this ad to "verify" their worth. A "trade show" variation of a similar scam might involve a scammer pretending to have car troubles on the side of a highway, trying to hail passing vehicles. When a good Samaritan pulls over, the person claims to be a foreign citizen visiting the country to participate in some local trade show. The person claims that they are about to leave the country after the show (e.g., are on their way to the airport), but their car has run out of fuel and they have no local currency to refill it or hire a taxi. At the same time they demonstrate that the trunk of their car is full of goods, which they claim have been taken from their just-dismantled company booth after the show. These goods are typically compact popular items like electronics or power tools. They offer these items to the mark at a "significantly reduced" price, allegedly just to raise some local cash in order to "get to the airport". (Sometimes the scammer tries to sell a valuable personal jewelry item, like a gold ring off his finger.) In most cases the items are technically genuine, but worth incomparably less than what the scammer attempts to sell them for. In a well-prepared version of this scam the scammer is often a true foreigner, speaking with genuine accent and possessing good mastery of their respective foreign language. People shopping for bootleg software, illegal pornographic images, bootleg music, drugs, firearms or other forbidden or controlled goods may be legally hindered from reporting swindles to the police. An example is the "big screen TV in the back of the truck": the TV is touted as "hot" (stolen), so it will be sold for a very low price. The TV is in fact defective or broken; it may in fact not even be a television at all, since some scammers have discovered that a suitably decorated oven door will suffice. The buyer has no
legal recourse A legal recourse is an action that can be taken by an individual or a corporation to attempt to remedy a legal difficulty. * A lawsuit if the issue is a matter of civil law * Contracts that require mediation or arbitration before a dispute can go ...
without admitting to the attempted purchase of
stolen goods Possession of stolen goods is a crime in which an individual has bought, been given, or acquired stolen goods. In many jurisdictions, if an individual has accepted possession of goods (or property) and knew they were stolen, then the individua ...
.


Iraqi Dinar

Iraqi currency is sold to would-be investors with the belief that economic/financial circumstances will drastically increase the value of their investment. In fact there is no credible rationale or information to indicate that those circumstances will materialize or, if they do materialize, that they will have significant effect on the value of the currency. Moreover, the dealers sell currency to these investors at substantial mark-up such that a significant appreciation of the currency would be required just to make their investment break even.


Noorseekee

The Noorseekee (нурсики) scam is a multiple-round variant of the gold brick scam which has entered Russian urban legends from unverifiable incidents during the Afghanistan conflict. The scam consists of multiple "seller" and "buyer" rounds, the sellers and buyers both being Soviet officers in on the con. The "sellers" initially offered a small amount of a mysterious item—small shiny gold-colored cups called "noorseekee"—at a prominent bazaar for cheap ("seller" round). The first "seller" round ended with a minor deal, as the merchants were traditionally expected to buy at least a sample of a new and unknown good "just in case". Then the "buyers" visited the same bazaar demanding any noorseekee available and credulously paying more than the "sellers" had demanded. The merchants, making easy profits, were thus much more enthusiastic toward the next "sellers". Noorseekee were small, stackable, reasonably durable, light-weight and would neither spoil nor rust, making the trade especially easy. This went on for several rounds to build trust, form messaging pathways and establish the noorseekee as a special ware or even a Soviet-specialized secondary currency. On the pre-final round the "buyers" emptied the bazaar's collective supply of noorseekee and left with the announcement of returning soon with an exorbitant amount of money, while leaving an equally exorbitant order for more noorseekee (and even a down-payment). The "sellers" gladly agreed to provide the demanded amount of wares, but demanded a higher per-unit price citing e.g. the need to pay more hush money to their commanding officers. Then the "sellers" fulfilled the order and the merchants bought massive amounts (e.g. literal truckloads) of noorseekee expecting to make a large profit due to the size of the outstanding "order", regardless of the reduced per-unit profit and regardless of the high investment it demanded of them. The size of the final noorseekee order would usually exceed the bazaar's cash reserves, causing the merchants to access their savings and / or barter away stockpiled premium goods. Obviously, the "buyers" would never be seen again, leaving the bazaar's merchants with truckloads of noorseekee and no means to sell them. Establishing new contacts with the Soviets would then reveal the noorseekee as worthless brass caps from Soviet gunships' unguided air-to-ground missile packs (нурсики derives from the diminutive of НУРС, i.e. неуправляемый ракетный снаряд, or unguided missile). These caps were used during shipping and discarded when the missile packs were slotted into the gunships by the millions and were essentially worth nothing.


Extortion or false-injury tricks


Badger game

The
badger game The badger game is an extortion scheme or confidence trick in which the victims are tricked into compromising positions in order to make them vulnerable to blackmail. Its name is derived from the practice of badger baiting. The trick was partic ...
extortion was perpetrated largely upon 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.


Bogus dry-cleaning bill scam

A
mail fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to defraud another, and are federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the federal government if the illegal activit ...
that is typically perpetrated on
restaurateurs A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspec ...
, this scheme takes a receipt from a legitimate
dry cleaner Dry cleaning is any cleaning process for clothing and textiles using a solvent other than water. Dry cleaning still involves liquid, but clothes are instead soaked in a water-free liquid solvent. Tetrachloroethylene (perchloroethylene), known in ...
in the target city, duplicates it thousands of times, and sends it to every upscale eatery in town. An attached note claims a server in the victim's restaurant spilled food, coffee, wine or salad dressing on a diner's expensive suit of clothes, and demands reimbursement for dry cleaning costs. As the amount fraudulently claimed from each victim is relatively low, some will give the scammers the benefit of the doubt, or simply seek to avoid the nuisance of further action, and pay the claim. The scam's return address is a drop box; the rest of the contact information is fictional or belongs to an innocent third party. The original dry cleaning shop, which has nothing to do with the scheme, receives multiple irate enquiries from victimised restaurateurs.


Clip joint

A
clip joint A clip joint or fleshpot is an establishment, usually a strip club or night club (often claiming to offer Striptease, adult entertainment or bottle service) in which customers are tricked into paying far above market prices for low-grade goods or s ...
or "fleshpot" is an establishment, usually a
strip club A strip club is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease or other Erotic dancing, erotic or exotic dances. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or Bar (establishment), bar style, and can also ...
or entertainment bar, typically one claiming to offer
adult entertainment The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related ...
or
bottle service Bottle service is the sale of liquor by the bottle in mostly North American lounges and nightclubs. The purchase of bottle service typically includes a reserved table for the patron's party and mixers of the patron's choice. Bottle service ca ...
, in which customers are tricked into paying money and receive poor, or no, goods or services in return. Typically, clip joints suggest the possibility of sex, charge excessively high prices for watered-down drinks, then eject customers when they become unwilling or unable to spend more money. The product or service may be illicit, offering the victim no recourse through official or legal channels.


Coin-matching game

Also called a coin smack or smack game, two operators trick a victim during a game where coins are matched. One operator begins the game with the victim, then the second joins in. When the second operator leaves briefly, the first colludes with the victim to cheat the second operator. After rejoining the game, the second operator, angry at "losing," threatens to call the police. The first operator convinces the victim to pitch in
hush money Hush money is a term for an arrangement in which one person or party offers another an attractive sum of money or other enticement, in exchange for remaining silent about some illegal, stigmatized, or shameful behavior, action, or other fact abou ...
, which the two operators later split.Staff report (November 9, 1913). Coin matchers of Times Square are doing rushing business; Detective Says He Knows No Less than 100 Professionals in That Line, Who Feel Safe Because Few Ever Get "Sent Up." ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
''


Fraudulent collection agencies

A consumer inquires about a payday loan or short-term credit online and is asked for a long list of personal information. The lender is a shell firm; the loan might never be made, but the victim's personal information is now in the hands of scammers who sell it to a fraudulent collection agency. That agency then launches into a series of harassing phone calls at all hours (often to the victim's workplace), attempting to obtain bank account numbers (allowing the account to be drained through direct withdrawal) or impersonating police (sometimes with
caller ID spoofing Caller ID spoofing is the practice of causing the telephone network to indicate to the receiver of a call that the originator of the call is a station other than the true originating station. This can lead to a caller ID Caller identificati ...
) to threaten the victim with arrest. Fake debt collectors often refuse to provide a legally required written "validation notice" of the debt, provide no evidence a debt is actually owed and demand payment using a money transfer service like
MoneyGram MoneyGram International, Inc. is an American cross-border Peer-to-peer, P2P payments and electronic funds transfer, money transfer company based in the United States with headquarters in Dallas, Dallas, Texas. It has an operations center in St. L ...
or
Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...
with poor traceability and no chargeback protection. The underlying debt either does not exist, is not valid due to a
statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In m ...
or does not lawfully belong to the entity making the calls; in some cases, the victim is a target of
identity theft Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. The term ''identity theft'' was co ...
. The scammers operate under multiple names, many of which are intended to be mistaken for official or government agencies. The fraudulent calls often originate from abroad; any money extorted is immediately taken out of the country.


Fraudulent law firms

A bogus or dishonest law firm is a valuable tool to a scammer in various ways. It can send requests for upfront payments in relation to inheritances coming from unknown relatives, a form of
advance fee fraud An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and is one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the fraud ...
. It also makes an effective fraudulent collection agency, as victims fear having to pay their own counsel hundreds of dollars per hour to defend against frivolous, vexatious or completely unfounded claims. In some cases, the dishonest lawyer is merely part of a larger fraudulent scheme. A real estate fraud may involve taking deposits for a project under construction where, in theory, the lawyer is holding the money in
escrow An escrow is a contractual arrangement in which a third party (the stakeholder or escrow agent) receives and disburses money or property for the primary transacting parties, with the disbursement dependent on conditions agreed to by the transacti ...
, guarding
down payment Down payment (also called a deposit in British English), is an initial up-front partial payment for the purchase of expensive items/services such as a car or a house. It is usually paid in cash or equivalent at the time of finalizing the transactio ...
s as
trust fund A trust is a legal relationship in which the holder of a right gives it to another person or entity who must keep and use it solely for another's benefit. In the Anglo-American common law, the party who entrusts the right is known as the "settl ...
assets until a
real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...
deal closes. When the project is never completed, investors seek their money back but find the supposed trust fund is empty, as both lawyer and real estate developer are fraudulent.


Insurance fraud

Insurance fraud Insurance fraud is any act committed to defraud an insurance process. It occurs when a claimant attempts to obtain some benefit or advantage they are not entitled to, or when an insurer knowingly denies some benefit that is due. According to the ...
includes a wide variety of schemes in which insureds attempt to defraud their own insurance carriers, but when the victim is a private individual, 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 later exaggerate. One relatively common scheme involves two cars, one for the con artist, and the other for the
shill A shill, also called a plant or a stooge, is a person who publicly helps or gives credibility to a person or organization without disclosing that they have a close relationship with said person or organization. Shills can carry out their operatio ...
. The con artist will pull in front of the victim, and the shill will pull in front of the con artist before slowing down. The con artist will then slam on his brakes to "avoid" the shill, causing the victim to rear-end the con artist. The shill will accelerate away, leaving the scene. The con artist will then claim various exaggerated injuries in an attempt to collect from the victim's insurance carrier despite having intentionally caused the accident. Insurance carriers, who must spend money to fight even those claims they believe are fraudulent, frequently pay out thousands of dollars—a tiny amount to the carrier despite being a significant amount to an individual—to settle these claims instead of going to court. A variation of this scam occurs in countries where insurance premiums are generally tied to a
bonus–malus The term bonus–malus (Latin for 'good-bad') is used for a number of business arrangements which alternately reward (bonus) or penalize (malus). It is used, for example, in the call center and insurance industries. Call centers In call cente ...
rating: the con artist will offer to avoid an insurance claim, settling instead for a cash compensation. Thus, the con artist is able to evade a professional damage assessment, and get an untraceable payment in exchange for sparing the mark the expenses of a lowered merit class.


Melon drop

The melon drop is a scam similar to the Chinese version Pèngcí in which a scammer will cause an unsuspecting mark to bump into them, causing the scammer to drop an item of alleged value. The scam originally targeted Japanese tourists due to the high price of honeymelon (cantaloupe) in Japan. The scammer may receive upwards of $100 for "compensation". The scam has also been called broken glasses scam or broken bottle scam where the scammer will pretend the mark broke a pair of expensive glasses or use a bottle of cheap wine, liquor or a bottle filled with water and demand compensation. Asian tourists are often the primary target. Pèngcí is a scam originating in China in which scammers feign injury in traffic accidents in order to
extort Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, al ...
money from drivers. Scammers also may place ostensibly expensive, fragile items (usually porcelain) in places where they may easily be knocked over, allowing them to collect damages when the items are damaged.


Gambling tricks


Baltimore Stockbroker / Psychic Sports Picks

The Baltimore Stockbroker scam relies on mass-mailing or emailing. The scammer begins with a large pool of marks, numbering ideally a
power of two A power of two is a number of the form where is an integer, that is, the result of exponentiation with number two as the base and integer  as the exponent. In a context where only integers are considered, is restricted to non-negative ...
such as 1024 (210). The scammer divides the pool into two halves, and sends all the members of each half a prediction about the future outcome of an event with a binary outcome (such as a stock price rising or falling, or the win/loss outcome of a sporting event). One half receives a prediction that the stock price will rise (or a team will win, etc.), and the other half receives the opposite prediction. After the event occurs, the scammer repeats the process with the group that received a correct prediction, again dividing the group in half and sending each half new predictions. After several iterations, the "surviving" group of marks has received a remarkable sequence of correct predictions, whereupon the scammer then offers these marks another prediction, this time for a fee. The next prediction is, of course, no better than a random guess, but the previous record of success makes it seem to the mark to be a prediction worth great value. For gambling propositions with more than two outcomes, for example in horse racing, the scammer begins with a pool of marks with number equal to a power of the number of outcomes, and divides the marks at each step into the corresponding number of groups, thus insuring that one group receives a correct prediction at each step. This requires a larger number of marks at the beginning, but fewer steps are required to gain the confidence of the marks who receive successful predictions, because the probability of a correct prediction is lower at each step, and thus it seems more remarkable. The scam relies on
selection bias Selection bias is the bias introduced by the selection of individuals, groups, or data for analysis in such a way that proper randomization is not achieved, thereby failing to ensure that the sample obtained is representative of the population int ...
and
survivorship bias Survivorship bias or survival bias is the logical error of concentrating on entities that passed a selection process while overlooking those that did not. This can lead to incorrect conclusions because of incomplete data. Survivorship bias is ...
and is similar to
publication bias In published academic research, publication bias occurs when the outcome of an experiment or research study biases the decision to publish or otherwise distribute it. Publishing only results that show a significant finding disturbs the balance o ...
(the file-drawer effect) in scientific publishing (whereby successful experiments are more likely to be published, rather than failures). This particular scam received its name as a result of
Frank Deford Benjamin Franklin Deford III (December 16, 1938 – May 28, 2017) was an American sportswriter and novelist. From 1980 until his death in 2017, he was a regular sports commentator on NPR's ''Morning Edition'' radio program. Deford wrote fo ...
's novel ''Cut 'n' Run'' (1973), in which a stockbroker in Baltimore goes to several different bars and predicts the outcome of the upcoming
Johnny Unitas John Constantine Unitas (; May 7, 1933 – September 11, 2002) was an American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons, primarily with the Baltimore Colts. Following a career that spanned from 1956 ...
-era
Baltimore Colts The Baltimore Colts were a professional American football team that played in Baltimore from its founding in 1953 to 1984. The team now plays in Indianapolis, as the Indianapolis Colts. The team was named for Baltimore's history of horse breed ...
' next game. He makes an equal number of win/lose predictions and never returns to the bars where he is wrong. For the final bet, he predicts in one bar that the Colts will lose, and they do. After seeing him correctly predict six football games in a row, the patrons are enamored when he returns to the bar the next week and claims "football is a hobby, my real business is the stock market". He receives an influx of new business and tells his new customers that the market is "adjusting" any time the Dow-Jones Industrial Average drops. Several authors mention the scam: Daniel C. Dennett in '' Elbow Room'' (where he calls it the touting pyramid); David Hand in ''The Improbability Principle''; and
Jordan Ellenberg Jordan Stuart Ellenberg (born October 30, 1971) is an American mathematician who is a professor of mathematics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His research involves arithmetic geometry. He is also an author of both fiction and non-ficti ...
in ''
How Not to Be Wrong ''How Not to Be Wrong: The Power of Mathematical Thinking'', written by Jordan Ellenberg, is a ''New York Times Best Selling'' book that connects various economic and societal philosophies with basic mathematics and statistical principles. Summ ...
''. Ellenberg reports often hearing of the scam told as an illustrative parable, but he could not find a real-world example of anyone carrying it out as an actual scam. The closest he found was when illusionist
Derren Brown Derren Brown (born 27 February 1971) is an English mentalist, illusionist, painter, and author. He began performing in 1992, making his television debut with ''Derren Brown: Mind Control'' in 2000, and has since produced several more shows fo ...
presented it in his television special '' The System'' in 2008. Brown's intent was merely to convince his mark that he had a foolproof horse race betting system rather than to scam the mark out of money. However, Ellenberg goes on to describe how investment firms do something similar by starting many in-house investment funds, and closing the funds that show the lowest returns before offering the surviving funds (with their record of high returns) for sale to the public. The selection bias inherent in the surviving funds makes them unlikely to sustain their previous high returns.


Fiddle game

The fiddle game uses the
pigeon drop The pigeon drop (also known as Spanish Handkerchief) is a confidence trick in which a mark, or "pigeon", is persuaded to give up a sum of money in order to secure the rights to a larger sum of money, or more valuable object. To perform a pigeon ...
technique. 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 The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
that provides his livelihood. After he leaves, the second con man swoops in, offers an outrageously large amount (for example $50,000) for what he calls 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 "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 from the second conspirator, then buys the violin from the
fiddle player The following lists of violinists are available: * List of classical violinists, notable violinists from the baroque era onwards * List of contemporary classical violinists, notable contemporary classical violinists * List of violinist/compose ...
who "reluctantly" agrees to sell it for a certain amount that still allows the mark to make a "profit" from the valuable violin. The result is the two con men are richer (less the cost of the violin), and the mark is left with a cheap instrument. The fiddle game may be played with any sufficiently valuable-seeming piece of property; a common variation known as the pedigreed-dog swindle uses a
mongrel dog A mongrel, mutt or mixed-breed dog is a dog that does not belong to one officially recognized breed and including those that are the result of intentional breeding. Although the term ''mixed-breed dog'' is sometimes preferred, many mongrel ...
upsold as a rare breed but is otherwise identical. A variant of this con was used in ''
Better Call Saul ''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...
'', where the con artist and a partner, acting as a shill, sell a Kennedy half-dollar to a mark for substantially more than its face value. The con artist pretends to try to sell the coin to the shill, giving a story about the coin's history and rarity as justify a significantly inflated price, claiming that the shill could sell it to the right buyer for even more. While the con artist leaves for a moment, the shill expresses skepticism to a near bystander, the mark, who has overheard the conversation. The shill then feigns a call with a friend who they claim is a coin collector, but after the call their tone changes from bemusement at the apparent gall of the con artist to a more serious one; when the con artist returns, the shill immediately asks if they can give the con artist some of the money now and return later with the full amount. The mark, convinced by the sudden change in attitude of the shill, then offers the full price asked for by the con artist, leaving the mark with $0.50 and the con men with $110.


Lottery fraud by proxy

Lottery fraud by proxy is a scam in which the scammer buys a lottery 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'', where
Nicolas Cage Nicolas Kim Coppola (born January 7, 1964), known professionally as Nicolas Cage, is an American actor and film producer. Born into the Coppola family, he is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Screen Actors Gu ...
teaches it to his daughter. A twist on the con was shown in ''
Great Teacher Onizuka ''Great Teacher Onizuka'', officially abbreviated as ''GTO'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tooru Fujisawa. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from January 1997 to February 2 ...
'', where the more-than-gullible Onizuka was tricked into getting a "winning ticket". The ticket was not altered, but the
daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...
reporting the day's winning numbers was altered with a black pen. In the USSR this scam left three people dead in 1977, after a mark re-sold a fraudulent ticket and the second buyer engaged a criminal to "clear the issue", leading to the murder of the original mark and two family members. The investigations using a fake lottery uncovered a large group of marks all targeted by a single artist, a disgruntled former employee of the Mint who used his insider knowledge and skills to produce the high-quality forged tickets.


Three-card Monte

Three-card Monte Three-card Monte – also known as Find the Lady and Three-card Trick – is a confidence game in which the victims, or "marks", are tricked into betting a sum of money, on the assumption that they can find the "money card" among three face-dow ...
, "find the queen", the "three-card trick", or "follow the lady" is essentially the same as the centuries-older
shell game The shell game (also known as thimblerig, three shells and a pea, the old army game) is often portrayed as a gambling game, but in reality, when a wager for money is made, it is almost always a confidence trick used to perpetrate fraud. In conf ...
or ''thimblerig'' (except for the
props A prop, formally known as (theatrical) property, is an object used on stage or screen by actors during a performance or screen production. In practical terms, a prop is considered to be anything movable or portable on a stage or a set, distinct ...
). The trickster shows three
playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...
s 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 A shill, also called a plant or a stooge, is a person who publicly helps or gives credibility to a person or organization without disclosing that they have a close relationship with said person or organization. Shills can carry out their operatio ...
places a bet, and the scammer allows him to win. In one variation of the game, the shill will (apparently surreptitiously) peek at the lady, ensuring that the mark also sees the card. This is sometimes enough to entice the audience to place bets, but the trickster uses
sleight of hand Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' ()) refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card ...
to ensure that he always loses, unless the con man decides to let him win, hoping to lure him into betting much more. The mark loses whenever the dealer chooses to make him lose. A variation on this scam exists in
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
,
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
, but with the addition of a pickpocket. The dealer and shill behave in an overtly obvious manner, attracting a larger audience. When the pickpocket succeeds in stealing from a member of the audience, he signals the dealer. The dealer then shouts the word "aguas" – colloquial for "Watch Out!" – and the three split up. The audience is left believing that the police are coming, and that the performance was a failed scam. A variant of this scam exists in Mumbai, India. The shill says loudly to the dealer that his cards are fake and that he wants to see them. He takes the card and folds a corner and says in a hushed voice to the audience that he has marked the card. He places a bet and wins. Then he asks the others to place bets as well. When one of the audience bets a large sum of money, the cards are switched.


Spurious qualifications or endorsements


Diploma mill

Governmental bodies maintain a list of entities which accredit educational institutions. The US Department of Education, for instance, oversees
higher education accreditation in the United States Higher education accreditation in the United States is a peer review process by which the validity of degrees and credits awarded by higher education institutions is assured. It is coordinated by accreditation commissions made up of member ins ...
. Most
diploma mill A diploma mill (also known as a degree mill) is a company or organization that claims to be a higher education institution but provides illegitimate academic degrees and diplomas for a fee. The degrees can be fabricated (made-up), falsified (fa ...
s are not accredited by such an entity, although many obtain accreditation from other organizations (such as
accreditation mill An accreditation mill is an organization that purports to award educational accreditation to higher education institutions without having government authority or recognition from mainstream academia to operate as an accreditor. Implicit in the term ...
s or corrupt foreign officials) to appear legitimate. Graduates of these institutions risk that the qualifications gained at these institutions may not be sufficient for further study, lawful employment or professional licensure as their issuers do not hold locally-valid accreditation to grant the degrees. Some diploma mills perform no instruction or examination, instead issuing credentials based on payment and "life experience". A few have unknowingly issued degrees and credentials to companion animals. The
Doctor of Divinity A Doctor of Divinity (D.D. or DDiv; la, Doctor Divinitatis) is the holder of an advanced academic degree in divinity. In the United Kingdom, it is considered an advanced doctoral degree. At the University of Oxford, doctors of divinity are ran ...
title is particularly prone to misuse. In the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
it is an earned postdoctoral credential which requires a string of publications, but in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
any church may confer it as an honorary title;
ordination mill An ordination mill is a religious organization or denomination in which membership is obtainable by trivial means and all members are qualified for self-ordination as a minister of religion, bishop, priest or deacon without any prerequisite train ...
s readily grant this doctorate for a moderate fee and token amount of study.


Vanity publications and awards

A
vanity press A vanity press or vanity publisher, sometimes also subsidy publisher, is a publishing house where anyone can pay to have a book published.. The term "vanity press" is often used pejoratively, implying that an author who uses such a service is publ ...
is a pay-to-publish scheme where a publishing house, typically an
author mill An author mill is a publisher that relies on producing large numbers of small-run books by different authors, as opposed to a smaller number of works published in larger numbers. The term was coined by Victoria Strauss of Writer Beware, as a parall ...
, obtains the bulk of its revenues from authors who pay to have their books published instead of from readers purchasing the finished books. As the author bears the entire financial risk, the vanity press profits even if the books are not promoted (or badly promoted) and do not sell. The growth of
print on demand Print on demand (POD) is a printing technology and business process in which book copies (or other documents, packaging or materials) are not printed until the company receives an order, allowing prints of single or small quantities. While oth ...
, which allows small quantities of books to be printed cheaply, has accelerated this trend. Vanity publishing is not the same as
self-publishing Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pr ...
, in that self-published authors own their finished books and control their distribution, relying on a print shop solely to turn camera-ready content into printed volumes. In a vanity press, the author takes the financial risk while the publisher owns the printed volumes. A
vanity award A vanity award is an award in which the recipient purchases the award and/or marketing services to give the false appearance of a legitimate honor. Pitches for ''Who's Who''-type publications (see vanity press), biographies or nominations for award ...
is an award which the recipient purchases, giving the false appearance of a legitimate honour.Miller C. (2013). ''Atlas of US and Canadian Environmental History''
p. 64
''Taylor & Francis''.
These are closely related to the
Who's Who scam ''Who's Who'' (or ''Who is Who'') is the title of a number of reference publications, generally containing concise biographical information on the prominent people of a country. The title has been adopted as an expression meaning a group of nota ...
, where a biographic subject pays for a vanity listing in a printed directory.


Who's Who scam

Operators of fraudulent "Who's Who"-type directories would offer listings or "membership" to purchasers who are often unaware of the low rates the directories in question are consulted.


World Luxury Association

The World Luxury Association is a self-proclaimed international organisation based in
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
that offers "official registration" for luxury brands, and inclusion in an "official list" of luxury brands, in return for a fee.


Online scams


Fake antivirus

Computer users unwittingly download and install
rogue security software Rogue security software is a form of malicious software and internet fraud that misleads users into believing there is a virus on their computer and aims to convince them to pay for a fake malware removal tool that actually installs malware on ...
,
malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depri ...
disguised as
antivirus software Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the nam ...
, by following the messages which appear on their screen. The software then pretends to find multiple viruses on the victim's computer, "removes" a few, and asks for payment in order to take care of the rest. They are then linked to con artists' websites, professionally designed to make their bogus software appear legitimate, where they must pay a fee to download the "full version" of their "antivirus software".


Phishing

Phishing Phishing is a type of social engineering where an attacker sends a fraudulent (e.g., spoofed, fake, or otherwise deceptive) message designed to trick a person into revealing sensitive information to the attacker or to deploy malicious softwar ...
is a modern scam in which the artist communicates with the mark, masquerading as a representative of an official organization with which the mark is doing business, in order to extract personal information which can then be used, for example, to steal money. In a typical instance, the artist sends the mark an email pretending to be from a company, such as
eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became a ...
. It is formatted exactly like email from that business, and will ask the mark to "verify" some personal information at the website, to which a link is provided, in order to "reactivate" his blocked account. The website is fake but designed to look exactly like the business' website. The site contains a
form Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens. Form also refers to: *Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data ...
asking for personal information such as
credit card number A payment card number, primary account number (PAN), or simply a card number, is the card identifier found on payment cards, such as credit cards and debit cards, as well as stored-value cards, gift cards and other similar cards. In some situati ...
s, which the mark feels compelled to give or lose all access to the service. When the mark submits the form (without double-checking the website address), the information is sent to the swindler. A similar
caller ID spoofing Caller ID spoofing is the practice of causing the telephone network to indicate to the receiver of a call that the originator of the call is a station other than the true originating station. This can lead to a caller ID Caller identificati ...
scheme exists with misleading telephone calls ("vishing") facilitated by
Internet telephony Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
. A fraudster can make calls through an Internet-
PSTN The public switched telephone network (PSTN) provides infrastructure and services for public telecommunication. The PSTN is the aggregate of the world's circuit-switched telephone networks that are operated by national, regional, or local teleph ...
gateway to impersonate banks, police, schools or other trusted entities. A random dialer computer or auto-dialer can impersonate healthcare providers to get Social Security numbers and birthdates from elderly patients recently released from the hospital. The auto-dialer call states it is from a reputable hospital or a pharmacy and the message explains the need to "update records" to be from the hospital or a pharmacy. Other online scams include
advance-fee fraud An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and is one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the frauds ...
,
bidding fee auction A bidding fee auction, also called a penny auction, is a type of all-pay auction in which all participants must pay a non-refundable fee to place each small incremental bid. The auction is extended each time a new bid is placed, typically by 10 to 2 ...
s ("penny auctions"),
click fraud Click, Klick and Klik may refer to: Airlines * Click Airways, a UAE airline * Clickair, a Spanish airline * MexicanaClick, a Mexican airline Art, entertainment, and media Fictional characters * Klick (fictional species), an alien race in the g ...
,
domain slamming Domain name scams are types of Intellectual property scams or confidence scams in which unscrupulous domain name registrars attempt to generate revenue by tricking businesses into buying, selling, listing or converting a domain name. The Office ...
, various
spoofing attack In the context of information security, and especially network security, a spoofing attack is a situation in which a person or program successfully identifies as another by falsifying data, to gain an illegitimate advantage. Internet Spoofing and ...
s, web-cramming, and online versions of
employment scams An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and is one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the frauds ...
,
romance scam A romance scam is a confidence trick involving feigning romantic intentions towards a victim, gaining the victim's affection, and then using that goodwill to get the victim to send money to the scammer under false pretenses or to commit fraud aga ...
s, and fake rewards.


Fake support call

Unsuspecting computer owners and users are targeted by people claiming to be from
Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
, i.e.,
Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
or from their
internet provider An Internet service provider (ISP) is an organization that provides services for accessing, using, or participating in the Internet. ISPs can be organized in various forms, such as commercial, community-owned, non-profit, or otherwise private ...
and then telling them that their computer/machine is creating errors and they need to correct the faults on their computers. Scammers persuade people to go to one site or another to see these so-called errors. They are then required to give their credit card details in order to purchase some form of support, after which they are asked to allow remote connection to the "error-laden" computer so that the problem(s) may be fixed. At this point the victim's computer is infected with
malware Malware (a portmanteau for ''malicious software'') is any software intentionally designed to cause disruption to a computer, server, client, or computer network, leak private information, gain unauthorized access to information or systems, depri ...
,
spyware Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is software with malicious behaviour that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user—for example, by violating their privac ...
, or remote connection software.


Bank login scam

A scammer convinces a victim to log in to a bank and convince them that they are receiving money. Some victims of the technical support scam may have their information sold or traded to a new organization that will cold-call them and tell them that they are entitled to a refund for the support they have previously paid for. Alternatively, the scammer may impersonate a security company and convince the victim that hackers are manipulating their bank account. The goal is for the scammer to transfer money between the user's accounts and to use HTML editing in the browser to make it appear as though new money has been transferred into the account by a legitimate company. The scammer "makes a mistake" and sends a larger amount of money than what he initially said he would send, then convinces the victim that they must refund the mistakenly sent extra money to the scammer via a wire transfer, money order, or gift cards.


Religion-based schemes


The Affinity Church scam

Claiming to share someone else's viewpoint is the sneaky cover many church scam artists use. Pretending to share their faith lulls members of religious organizations into thinking a scammer is genuine. Often claiming some kind of divine guidance, using religious slogans, or claiming to be raising funds for a worthy cause, church scammers invite their new friends to invest in what turns out to be nothing more than a
Ponzi scheme A Ponzi scheme (, ) is a form of fraud that lures investors and pays profits to earlier investors with funds from more recent investors. Named after Italian businessman Charles Ponzi, the scheme leads victims to believe that profits are comin ...
. This is such a common crime that the state of Arizona listed affinity scams of this type as its number one scam for 2009. In one recent nationwide religious scam, churchgoers are said to have lost more than $50 million in a phony gold bullion scheme, promoted on daily telephone prayer chains, in which they thought they could earn a huge return.


Other confidence tricks and scams


Bar bill scam

The bar bill scam is common in Europe, especially
Budapest, Hungary Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population of ...
. A mark, usually a man who is a tourist, is approached by an attractive woman or pair of women who start a conversation, such as asking for directions (pretending to have mistaken the tourist for a local). After a bit of conversation, the women will suggest that they go to a bar that they know of. While there, they order many entrées and drinks and encourage the mark to do the same. Either the menu does not have prices on it or the menu is later switched with one that has higher prices. When the bill comes, it is many times larger than expected. The women have only a small amount of cash on them, and ask the mark to pay for the bill. The mark is forced to pay before leaving (sometimes with threats of violence), and directed to an ATM on the premises where they can withdraw cash. The women apologize profusely for the situation and arrange to meet the next day to pay them back, but they do not show. In truth, the women are working with the bar and receive a cut of the payment. The con can also be performed with a well-dressed man or a gregarious local rather than an attractive woman. A variation on this is to have a taxi driver recommend the bar to the passenger, who enters alone and orders, not realizing that they will be charged an exorbitant bill. The taxi driver receives a cut of the payment.


Beijing tea

The Beijing tea scam is a famous variation of the
clip joint A clip joint or fleshpot is an establishment, usually a strip club or night club (often claiming to offer Striptease, adult entertainment or bottle service) in which customers are tricked into paying far above market prices for low-grade goods or s ...
scam practised in and around
Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
and some other large Chinese cities. The artists (usually female and working in pairs) will approach tourists and try to make friends. After chatting, they will suggest a trip to see a
tea ceremony An East Asian tea ceremony, or ''Chádào'' (), or ''Dado'' ( ko, 다도 (茶道)), is a ceremonially ritualized form of making tea (茶 ''cha'') practiced in East Asia by the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. The tea ceremony (), literally transla ...
, claiming that they have never been to one before. The tourist is never shown a menu, but assumes that this is how things are done in China. After the ceremony, the bill is presented to the tourist, sometimes charging upwards of $100 per head. The artists will then hand over their bills, and the tourists are obliged to follow suit. Similar scams involving restaurants, coffee shops and bars also take place.


Big Store

The Big Store is a technique for selling the legitimacy of a scam and typically involves a large team of con artists and elaborate sets. Often a building is rented and furnished as a legitimate and substantial business. The "betting parlor" setup in ''
The Sting ''The Sting'' is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss ( Robert Shaw).''Variety'' film review; December 12, 1973, page ...
'' is an example. In 2014, a rural co-operative in
Nanjing, China Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...
constructed an entire brick-and-mortar fake bank with uniformed clerks behind counters; the unlicensed bank operated for a little over a year, then defaulted on its obligations, swindling Chinese savers out of 200 million
Chinese yuan The renminbi (; symbol: ¥; ISO code: CNY; abbreviation: RMB) is the official currency of the People's Republic of China and one of the world's most traded currencies, ranking as the fifth most traded currency in the world as of April 202 ...
.
Onecoin OneCoin is a fraudulent cryptocurrency scheme conducted by offshore companies OneCoin Ltd, based in Bulgaria and registered in Dubai, and OneLife Network Ltd (registered in Belize), both founded by Ruja Ignatova in concert with Sebastian Green ...
is a European example.


Blessing scam

The blessing scam targets elderly Chinese immigrant women, convincing them that an evil spirit threatens their family and that this threat can be removed by a blessing ceremony involving a bag filled with their savings, jewelry or other valuables. During the ceremony, the con artists switch the bag of valuables with an identical bag with valueless contents and make off with the victim's cash or jewelry.


Change raising

Change raising, also known as a quick-change artist, is a common short con and involves an offer to change an amount of money with someone, while at the same time taking change or bills back and forth to confuse the person as to how much money is actually being changed. The most common form, "the Short Count", has been featured prominently in several movies about grifting, notably '' The Grifters'', ''
Criminal In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...
'', ''
Nine Queens ''Nueve Reinas'' () is a 2000 Argentinian crime film written and directed by Fabián Bielinsky. It stars Ricardo Darín, Gastón Pauls, and Leticia Brédice. In the film, con artists Marcos (Darín) and Juan (Pauls) unexpectedly team up to sell ...
'', and '' Paper Moon''. For example, a con artist targeting a
cashier A retail cashier or simply a cashier is a person who handles the cash register at various locations such as the point of sale in a retail store. The most common use of the title is in the retail industry, but this job title is also used in the ...
apologetically uses a ten-dollar bill to pay for an item costing less than a dollar, claiming not to have any smaller bills; the change of over nine dollars will include either nine singles or a five and four singles. The con artist then claims to have found that he had a dollar bill, after all, and offers to change it and the nine dollars for the original ten. If the con artist can manipulate the clerk into handing over the ten-dollar bill first, the con artist can then give it back to the clerk in place of one of the singles the con artist was expected to give the clerk. The con artist then pretends to notice he has "mistakenly" given the clerk nineteen dollars instead of ten; producing another single, the con artist suggests he add this to the nineteen and let the clerk give him back an even twenty. The scam relies on the cashier placing small bills in the register where they will be mixed with existing bills, and the cashier's failure to notice that the nineteen dollars given by the con artist included ten dollars that belonged to the store in the first place (the money that should've been given back for the $10 that was handed over early). Thus the con artist has stolen ten dollars, minus the cost of the cheap item that was purchased (effectively stealing over nine dollars). The con artist starts with twelve dollars (the original ten-dollar bill and two singles), then leaves with a twenty and also keeps one of the singles (the one that was "mistakenly" switched with the $10). (The cashier should have noticed that the con artist overpaid by $9, not $19, and thus when the con artist produces the second $1 bill, the cashier should hand back $10, not $20.) To avoid this con, clerks should keep each transaction separate and never permit the customer to take change before handing over the original payment. Another variation is to flash a $20 bill to the clerk, then ask for something behind the counter. When the clerk turns away, the con artist can swap the bill he is holding to a lesser bill. The clerk might then make change for the larger bill, without noticing it has been swapped. The technique may work better when bills are the same color at a glance like, for instance, U.S. dollar bills. A similar technique exists when a con artist asks to use a very large denomination bill to purchase a cheap item. The con artist distracts the clerk with conversation while the clerk is preparing the change, in hopes that the clerk will hand over the large amount of change without realizing that the con artist never actually handed over the large bill. Sometimes cab drivers in India try a similar con, when customers require some change back. For example, they may pay $100 for a $60 ride and expect a return of $40. But the con would say that he only received $10 and in fact needs $50 more. The mark is baffled, trying to remember and of course, the con has swiftly switched the $100 bill with a $10 one, waving it to show that this was really what the mark gave to him. Since the con has now made the mark look suspicious, the mark feels guilty and pays up. This scenario can also be created in markets, when vendors sometimes team up and support each other's cons, if the mark tries to resist. Another variant is to use confusing or misdirected language.


Dropped wallet scam

The dropped wallet scam usually targets tourists. The con artist pretends to accidentally drop his wallet in a public place. After an unsuspecting victim picks up the wallet and offers it to the con artist, the scam begins. The artist accuses the victim of stealing money from the wallet and threatens to call the police, scaring the victim into returning the allegedly stolen money. Cases have been reported in eastern Europe and major cities or railway stations in China. A variation of the
pigeon drop The pigeon drop (also known as Spanish Handkerchief) is a confidence trick in which a mark, or "pigeon", is persuaded to give up a sum of money in order to secure the rights to a larger sum of money, or more valuable object. To perform a pigeon ...
is also based around a dropped wallet.


Fake casting agent scam

In this scam, the confidence artist poses as a
casting agent A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds jobs for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, and other professionals in various entertainment or sport ...
for a
modeling agency A modeling agency is a company that represents fashion models, to work for the fashion industry. These agencies earn their income via commission, usually from the deal they make with the model and/or the head agency. The top agencies work with bi ...
searching for new talent. The aspiring model is told that he will need a portfolio or
comp card A comp card (also called composite card, Z card, zed card or Sed card) is a marketing tool for actors and especially models. They serve as the latest and best of a model's portfolio and are used as a business card. A Z-CARD is also a folded leafl ...
. The mark will pay an upfront fee to have photos and create his portfolio, after which he will be sent on his way in the hope that his agent will find him work in the following weeks. Of course, he never hears back from the confidence artist. The fake-agent scam is often targeted against industry newcomers, since they will often lack the experience required to spot such tricks. Legitimate talent agencies advise that a genuine talent agent will never ask for money up-front, as they make their entire living from commissions on their clients' earnings. This scam is portrayed in ''
That '70s Show ''That '70s Show'' is an American television Period piece, period teen sitcom that aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from August 23, 1998, to May 18, 2006. The series focuses on the lives of a group of six teenage friends living in the ficti ...
'' with Donna proving to Jackie that "anyone can be a model".


Phony job offer scam

Very similar to the casting agent scam is the "job offer" scam in which a victim receives an unsolicited e-mail claiming that they are in consideration for hiring to a new job. The confidence artist will usually obtain the victim's name from social networking sites, such as
LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...
and
Monster.com Monster.com is a global employment website owned and operated by Monster Worldwide, Inc. It was created in 1999 through the merger of The Monster Board (TMB) and Online Career Centre (OCC). It is a subsidiary of Randstad Holding, a Dutch mult ...
. In many cases, those running the scams will create fake websites listing jobs which the victim is seeking, then contact the victim to offer them one of the positions. If the victim responds to the initial e-mail, the scammer will send additional messages to build up the victim's assurance that they are in the running, or have already been selected, for a legitimate job. This will include asking for the victim's resume as well as assurances that a phone interview will be the "next step in the hiring process". The goal of the job offer scam is to convince the victim to release funds or bank account information to the scammer. There are two common methods. The first is to tell the victim that they must take a test to qualify for the job and then send links to training sites which sell testing material and
e-books An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
for a fee. Or, the victim is provided with an actual online test, which is usually a fake website created by copying questions from actual certification examinations, such as the Professional in Human Resources (PHR) certification or the
project manager A project manager is a professional in the field of project management. Project managers have the responsibility of the planning, procurement and execution of a project, in any undertaking that has a defined scope, defined start and a defined f ...
's exam. If the victim pays for the study material, that will usually be the end of the scam and the scammer will break off further contact. In a second, more sinister variation, the scammer will tell the victim they have been hired for a job and request access to bank accounts and routing numbers in order to enter the "new hire" into the company's payroll system. This may also involve emails containing fake tax forms attempting to gain the victim's Social Security number and other
personally identifiable information Personal data, also known as personal information or personally identifiable information (PII), is any information related to an identifiable person. The abbreviation PII is widely accepted in the United States, but the phrase it abbreviates ha ...
. If the victim complies, their bank account will be emptied and their personal information used to commit identity theft.


Fraudulent directory solicitations

In this scam, tens of thousands of solicitations in the guise of an invoice are mailed to businesses nationwide. They may contain a disclaimer such as "This is a solicitation for the order of goods or services, or both, and not a bill, invoice, or statement of account due. You are under no obligation to make any payments on account of this offer unless you accept this offer." (from ) or "THIS IS NOT A BILL. THIS IS A SOLICITATION. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO PAY THE AMOUNT STATED ABOVE UNLESS YOU ACCEPT THIS OFFER." (from U.S. Postal Service Domestic Mail Manual §CO31, Part 1.2) The disclaimers are otherwise designed to appear to be invoices or renewals of existing
display advertising Digital display advertising is online graphic advertising through banners, text, images, video, and audio. The main purpose of digital display advertising is to post company ads on third-party websites. A display ad is usually interactive (i.e. ...
in a trade directory or publication. The correspondence is formatted like an invoice, often with a sequential identification number, date, personalized description of the information to be published, payment details and total amount due, which includes a token discount if paid within a specified time period. In some cases, the company's current advertisement clipped from an existing publication (such as
Thomas Register The ''Thomas Register of American Manufacturers'', now ThomasNet, is an online platform for supplier discovery and product sourcing in the US and Canada. It was once known as the "big green books" and "Thomas Registry", and was a multi-volume d ...
, Hotel and Travel Index or Official Meeting Facilities Guide) is attached to a solicitation for advertising in an unaffiliated, rival publication that operates from a drop box. One variant sends a "Final Notice of Domain Listing" from an entity calling itself "Domain Services", which claims "Failure to complete your Domain name search engine registration by the expiration date may result in cancellation of this offer making it difficult for your customers to locate you on the web." The list of prospective victims is obtained from Internet domain
WHOIS WHOIS (pronounced as the phrase "who is") is a query and response protocol that is widely used for querying databases that store the registered users or assignees of an Internet resource, such as a domain name, an IP address block or an autonomou ...
listings, and the solicitations look like a renewal of an existing domain name registration or listing. The "registration" actually offers nothing beyond a vague claim that the entity sending the solicitation will submit the victim's domain name to existing search engines for an inflated fee. It does not obligate the vendor to publish a directory, renew the underlying domain in any ICANN-based registry or deliver any tangible product. A similar scheme uses solicitations which appear to be invoices for local
yellow pages The yellow pages are telephone directories of businesses, organized by category rather than alphabetically by business name, in which advertising is sold. The directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for ...
listings or advertisements. As anyone can publish a yellow page directory, the promoted book is not the incumbent local exchange carrier's local printed directory but a rival, which may have limited distribution if it appears at all. Instead of clearly stating audited circulation, the solicitations will confusingly claim to "offer 50000 copies" or claim "thousands of readers" without indicating whether the inferred quantity of directories was actually printed, let alone sold. Public records listing legal owners of new
registered trademark The registered trademark symbol, , is a typographic symbol that provides notice that the preceding word or symbol is a trademark or service mark that has been registered with a national trademark office. A trademark is a symbol, word, or word ...
s are also mined as a source of addresses for fraudulent directory solicitations. The intent is that a small fractional percentage of businesses either mistake the solicitations for invoices (paying them) or mistake them for a request for corrections and updates to an existing listing (a tactic to obtain a businessperson's signature on the document, which serves as a pretext to bill the victim). One such vendor, World Trade Register (aka European Trade Register, World Company Register, World Business Directory, all related to EU Business Services Ltd), claims "To update your company profile, please print, complete and return this form. Updating is free of charge. Only sign if you want to place an insertion." Only later does it become clear that signing the form incurs a nearly €1000/year fee for an advertisement of questionable value.


Jam auction

In this scam, the confidence artist poses as a retail sales promoter, representing a manufacturer, distributor, or set of stores. The scam requires assistants to manage the purchases and money exchanges while the pitchman maintains a high energy level. Passersby are enticed to gather and listen to a pitchman standing near a mass of appealing products. The trickster entices by referring to the high-end products, but claims to be following rules that he must start with smaller items. The small items are described, and "sold" for a token dollar amount – with as many audience participants as are interested each receiving an item. The pitchman makes an emotional appeal such as saying "Raise your hand if you're happy with your purchase", and when hands are raised, directs his associates to return everyone's money (they keep the product). This exchange is repeated with items of increasing value to establish the expectation of a pattern. Eventually, the pattern terminates by ending the "auction" without reaching the high-value items, and stopping midway through a phase where the trickster retains the collected money from that round of purchases. Marks feel vaguely dissatisfied, but they have goods in their possession and the uplifting feeling of having demonstrated their own happiness several times. The marks do not realize that the total value of goods received is significantly less than the price paid in the final round. Auction/refund rounds may be interspersed with sales rounds that are not refunded, keeping marks off-balance and hopeful that the next round will refund. The jam auction has its roots in
carny Carny, also spelled carnie, is an informal term used in North America for a traveling carnival employee, and the language they use, particularly when the employee operates a game ("joint"), food stand ("grab", "popper" or "floss wagon"), or ride ...
culture.


Money exchange

This scam occurs when exchanging foreign currency. If a large amount of cash is exchanged the victim will be told to hide the money away quickly before counting it ("You can't trust the locals"). A substantial amount will be missing. In some cases, insisting on counting to make sure the money is all there is the basis for a clever scam. The scam is sometimes called the Santo Domingo Sting, after an incident that took place in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. A journalist, Joe Harkins, reported his involvement in the early 1990s. It works in countries where only banks and other designated parties are allowed to hold and exchange the local currency for US dollars at an "official" rate that is significantly lower than the "street" rate. It also requires a greedy tourist who wants to beat the official rate by dealing with illegal money changers. A person posing as an illegal money changer will approach the tourist with an offer to buy dollars at an illegal rate that may be even higher than the street rate. The changer offers to buy only large US currency, typically, a 100 dollar bill. As soon as the victim (the "mark") shows his $100 bill, the changer will actually count out and clearly show the promised amount of local currency. He then will push the local currency into the hands of the "mark" and urge they be counted as he takes the $100. "See, you've got the money. I'll wait while you make sure. Count it out loud so there is no mistake." And as the mark's careful count exceeds "street" rate, the changer pretends to realise he has overpaid the mark, and he becomes irrationally agitated and angry, accusing the mark of cheating. He grabs his money back, pushes the mark's bill back into his hands and takes back the pesos. The scam has been completed. The tourist has just lost $99. The mark has been handed back a prefolded $1 bill that has been swapped for the mark's $100 bill while he was distracted counting the local currency. (Until recently, US currency was largely uniform in size and color, meaning that when folded, a $1 and a $100 bill were almost indistinguishable. Even in 2014, careful folding of a US$100 bill easily conceals the switch). The money changer's pretended, but very credible, anger is a ruse to confuse the mark and delay his unfolding of the single bill until the scammer has departed.


Mystery shopping

This trick, a form of
advance-fee scam An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and is one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the frauds ...
, is perpetrated on people who wish to be
mystery shoppers Mystery shopping (related terms: mystery shopper, mystery consumer, mystery research, secret shopper and secret shopping and auditor) is a method used by marketing research companies and organizations that wish to measure quality of sales and s ...
. A person is sent a
money order A money order is a directive to pay a pre-specified amount of money from prepaid funds, making it a more trusted method of payment than a cheque. History The money order system was established by a private firm in Great Britain in 1792 and was ...
, often from
Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...
, or a check for a larger sum than a mystery purchase he is required to make, with a request to deposit it into his
bank account A bank account is a financial account maintained by a bank or other financial institution in which the financial transactions between the bank and a customer are recorded. Each financial institution sets the terms and conditions for each type o ...
, use a portion for a mystery purchase and fee, and wire the remainder through a
wire transfer Wire transfer, bank transfer, or credit transfer, is a method of electronic funds transfer from one person or entity to another. A wire transfer can be made from one bank account to another bank account, or through a transfer of cash at a cash ...
company such as Western Union or MoneyGram; the money is to be wired immediately as response time is being evaluated. The cheque is fraudulent, and is returned unpaid by the victim's bank, after the money has been wired. One scam involved fraudulent
website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google Search, Google, Facebook, Amaz ...
s using a misspelled
URL A Uniform Resource Locator (URL), colloquially termed as a web address, is a reference to a web resource that specifies its location on a computer network and a mechanism for retrieving it. A URL is a specific type of Uniform Resource Identifie ...
to advertise online and in newspapers under a legitimate company's name. It should be remembered that this is not the only type of mystery shopping scam taking place which involves money being paid, as it has been widely reported in the UK that shoppers should "Watch out for some online mystery shopping scams which will cost you money for either training or for signing up without the promise of any work." Valid mystery shopping companies do not normally send their clients cheques prior to work being completed, and their
advertisement Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a product or service. Advertising aims to put a product or service in the spotlight in hopes of drawing it attention from consumers. It is typically used to promote a ...
s usually include a contact person and phone number. Some fraudulent cheques can be identified by a financial professional. On February 3, 2009, the
Internet Crime Complaint Center The Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) is a division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concerning suspected Internet-facilitated criminal activity. The IC3 gives victims a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts a ...
issued a warning on this scam. A legitimate company that occasionally sends prepayment for large transactions says "We do occasionally fund upfront for very large spend purchases but we use cheques or direct bank transfers which should mean you can see when they are cleared and so can be sure you really do have the money." It is standard practice for mystery shopping providers evaluating services such as airlines to arrange for the airfare to be issued beforehand at their own expenses (usually by means of a
frequent flyer A frequent-flyer program (American English) or frequent-flyer programme (British English) is a loyalty program offered by an airline. Many airlines have frequent-flyer programs designed to encourage airline customers enrolled in the program ...
reward ticket). In any case, it is unlikely that any bona-fide provider would allocate a high-value assignment to a new shopper or proactively recruit new ones for that purpose, preferring instead to work with a pool of existing pre-vetted experienced shoppers.


Pay up or be arrested scam

In this scam, done by phone, the caller threatens the victim with a fictitious arrest warrant. To make this threat seem real, the
caller ID Caller identification (Caller ID) is a telephone service, available in analog and digital telephone systems, including voice over IP (VoIP), that transmits a caller's telephone number to the called party's telephone equipment when the call is ...
identifies the caller as that of local law enforcement. Victims are told they must pay a
fine Fine may refer to: Characters * Sylvia Fine (''The Nanny''), Fran's mother on ''The Nanny'' * Officer Fine, a character in ''Tales from the Crypt'', played by Vincent Spano Legal terms * Fine (penalty), money to be paid as punishment for an offe ...
to avoid arrest. Fines are in the hundreds, or sometimes thousands, of dollars. The payment is requested through
Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...
, Green Dot prepaid card, or a similar form of untraceable currency exchange. Cases have been reported in
Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
,
Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...
and
Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...
.


Pigeon drop

The
pigeon drop The pigeon drop (also known as Spanish Handkerchief) is a confidence trick in which a mark, or "pigeon", is persuaded to give up a sum of money in order to secure the rights to a larger sum of money, or more valuable object. To perform a pigeon ...
(also called the Jamaican Switch), which is depicted early in the film ''
The Sting ''The Sting'' is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss ( Robert Shaw).''Variety'' film review; December 12, 1973, page ...
'', involves the mark or pigeon assisting an elderly, weak or infirm stranger to keep a large sum of money safe for him. In the process, the stranger (actually a confidence trickster) puts his money with the mark's money in an envelope or briefcase, with which the mark is then to be entrusted. The container is first switched for an identical one which contains no money, and a situation is engineered giving the mark the opportunity to escape, with the money, from a perceived threat (e.g., local police or rowdies). If the mark does so, he is fleeing from his own money, which the con artist will have kept or handed off to an accomplice.


Pizza delivery scam

The pizza delivery scam firstly involves the scammer, who pretends to be a person who ordered the pizza. This scammer will then claim they are unable to pay for the pizza and will ask a stranger for help. The scammer will say that the delivery driver does not accept cash and only accepts cards. When the victim offers to pay, their card is skimmed and the PIN is captured. This scam is known to happen in the
Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater T ...
.


Predatory journals

A number of
predatory journal Predatory publishing, also write-only publishing or deceptive publishing, is an exploitative academic publishing business model that involves charging publication fees to authors without checking articles for quality and legitimacy, and withou ...
s target academics to solicit manuscripts for publication. The journals charge high publication fees but do not perform the functions of legitimate academic journals—editorial oversight and peer review—they simply publish the work for cash. In this case, the mark's need for publications is the incentive for them to pay the fees. In some cases, predatory journals will use fictional editorial boards or use respected academics' names without permission to lend a veneer of credibility to the journal.


Promotional cheque

The victim is sent a document which looks, on its face, to be a
coupon In marketing, a coupon is a ticket or document that can be redeemed for a financial discount or rebate when purchasing a product. Customarily, coupons are issued by manufacturers of consumer packaged goods or by retailers, to be used in r ...
or a
cheque A cheque, or check (American English; see spelling differences) is a document that orders a bank (or credit union) to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The pers ...
for some small amount as "prize winnings". Buried in the fine print is something entirely different; an authorisation to
slam Slam, SLAM or SLAMS may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional elements * S.L.A.M. (Strategic Long-Range Artillery Machine), a fictional weapon in the ''G.I. Joe'' universe * SLAMS (Space-Land-Air Missile Shield), a fictional anti-ball ...
the victim to an alternative telephone provider or even an authorisation for monthly direct withdrawals from the victim's bank account for "services" which were neither used nor desired.


Psychic surgery

Psychic surgery An alleged psychic surgeon at work Psychic surgery is a pseudoscientific medical fraud in which practitioners create the illusion of performing surgery with their bare hands and use sleight of hand, fake blood, and animal parts to convince t ...
is a con game in which the trickster uses
sleight of hand Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' ()) refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card ...
to apparently remove malignant growths from the mark's body. A common form of medical fraud in underdeveloped countries, it imperils victims who may fail to seek competent medical attention. The movie '' Man on the Moon'' depicts comedian
Andy Kaufman Andrew Geoffrey Kaufman ( ; January 17, 1949 – May 16, 1984) was an American entertainer and performance artist. While often called a "comedian", Kaufman preferred to describe himself instead as a "song and dance man". He has sometimes b ...
undergoing psychic surgery. It can also be seen in an episode of ''
Jonathan Creek ''Jonathan Creek'' is a long-running British mystery crime drama series produced by the BBC and written by David Renwick. It stars Alan Davies as the titular character, who works as a creative consultant to a stage magician while also solvi ...
'' and the movie ''
Penn and Teller Get Killed ''Penn & Teller Get Killed'' is a 1989 black comedy film directed by Arthur Penn, starring the magic (illusion), magicians Penn & Teller, who play themselves in a satirical account of what the audience would perhaps imagine them doing in their ...
''.


Public transport ticket control scam

In this scam, the artists pose as ticket control staff on public transport connections. They tend to look for tourists as easy marks, and therefore target train connections from the airport. They will ask to see the passenger's tickets, and once they have found a suitable mark, will claim that something is wrong with the ticket they hold. They will then claim that an instant payment is required to avoid further legal troubles. In some cases, this scam is even committed by actual public transport staff seeking to rip off tourists. In a variant on the scheme, the artists target tourists who are struggling with a ticketing machine, and offer to buy them the ticket they need. They select a relatively expensive ticket from the machine (for example a subscription) and pretend to buy that for the tourist with their own credit card, after which they ask the tourist to reimburse. However, in reality artists cancel the payment at the last moment and the ticket they 'take from the machine' is already in their hands. This ticket is usually a children's ticket, which opens the turnstiles, but will lead to the tourist running the risk of getting a fine in addition to being scammed.


Rain making

Rainmaking is a simple scam in which the trickster promises to use their power or influence over a complex system to make it do something favourable for the mark. Classically this was promising to make it rain, but more modern examples include getting someone's app "featured" on an
app store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the co ...
, obtaining pass marks in a university entrance exam, or obtaining a job. It may be a politician implying that they can use their influence to get a contract awarded to the mark. The trickster has no actual influence on the outcome, but if the favourable outcome happens anyway, they will then claim credit. If the event does not happen, the trickster may be able to claim they need more money until the event does happen.


Recovery room

A recovery room scam is a form of
advance-fee fraud An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and is one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the frauds ...
where the scammer (sometimes posing as a law enforcement officer or attorney) calls investors who have been sold worthless shares (for example in a boiler-room scam), and offers to buy them, to allow the investors to recover their investments. A Nigerian
419 scam An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and is one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the frau ...
victim might receive a solicitation claiming to be from the Nigeria Economic and Financial Crimes Commission or another government agency. The scam involves requiring an advance fee before the payment can take place, for example a "court fee". The red flag in the 'recovery scam' is that the supposed investigative agency, unsolicited, approaches the victim. A legitimate law enforcement agency would normally allow the victim to make the first contact, and will not solicit an advance fee. The recovery scam has the victim's number only because it is operated by an accomplice of the original scammer, using a "sucker list" from the earlier fraud.


Rental scams

An apartment is listed for rent, often on an online forum such as
Craigslist Craigslist (stylized as craigslist) is an American classified advertisements website with sections devoted to jobs, housing, for sale, items wanted, services, community service, Gig worker, gigs, résumés, and discussion forums. Craig Newmark ...
or
Kijiji Kijiji.ca ( ; , ''village'') is a Canadian online classified advertising website and part of eBay Classifieds Group, which was acquired by Adevinta in 2020. It operates sections for cities and urban regions, for posting local advertisements. Kij ...
, at or just below market value. The vendor asks for first and last month's rent upfront, sometimes also asking for references or personal information from the prospective tenants. The rent payment clears the bank, the new tenants arrive with a truckload of worldly possessions on moving day to find that the same unit has been rented to multiple other new tenants and that the supposed "landlord" is not the owner of the property and is nowhere to be found. This kind of scam is often performed online on students planning to study abroad and seeking accommodation, as their means of checking the property are limited.


Rip deal

The Rip Deal is a swindle very popular in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
and is essentially a
pigeon drop The pigeon drop (also known as Spanish Handkerchief) is a confidence trick in which a mark, or "pigeon", is persuaded to give up a sum of money in order to secure the rights to a larger sum of money, or more valuable object. To perform a pigeon ...
confidence trick. In a typical variation scammers will target, say, a jeweler, and offer to buy some substantial amount of his wares at a large markup ''provided'' he perform some type of under-the-table cash deal, originally exchanging Swiss francs for euros. This exchange goes through flawlessly, at considerable profit for the mark. Some time later the scammers approach the mark with a similar proposition, but for a larger amount of money (and thus a larger return for the mark). His confidence and greed inspired by the previous deal, the merchant agrees—only to have his money and goods taken, by sleight-of-hand or violence, at the point of exchange. This scam was depicted in the movie ''
Matchstick Men ''Matchstick Men'' is a 2003 black comedy film directed by Ridley Scott and based on Eric Garcia's 2002 novel of the same name. The film stars Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, and Alison Lohman. The film premiered on September 2, 2003 at the 60th Venic ...
''. The same term is used to describe a crime where a vendor (especially a drug dealer) is killed to avoid paying for goods.


Unsolicited goods

Various schemes exist to bill victims for unsolicited goods or services. A common scam targeting businesses is the toner bandit swindle; an unsolicited caller attempts to trick front-office personnel into providing manufacturer/model or serial numbers for office equipment and/or the name of the employee answering the call. Often, the call will be misrepresented as a "survey" or a "prize" award. The business then receives inflated invoices for unsolicited copy paper, copy machine toner, cleaning supplies, light bulbs, trash bags or other supplies, using the name of the person who answered the call to falsely claim this person ordered the items. When the business objects, the workers are threatened with lawsuits or harassed by bogus collection agencies. Another, targeting the elderly, claims a free medical alert device has been ordered for a patient by a family member or medical doctor. An automated message says "that someone has ordered a free medical alert system for you, and this call is to confirm shipping instructions" before the call is transferred to a live operator who requests the elderly patient's credit card and identity card numbers. The device is not free; there is a high monthly charge for "monitoring". The family did not buy or order it, nor did a practitioner; the call is fraudulent.


Wedding planner scam

Wedding planner scams prey on the vulnerability of young couples, during a time when they are generally distracted, to embezzle funds for the planner's personal use. In the first type of fraud, the wedding planner company may offer a free wedding in a tie-up with a media station for a couple in need of charity, and collect the donations from the public that were meant for the wedding. In a second type of fraud, the planner asks couples to write checks to vendors (tents, food, cakes) but leave the name field empty, which the planner promises to fill in. As most vendors were never hired nor paid, the scam would then be exposed on the day of the wedding. A real life example is a Kansas TV station story of a wedding planner, Caitlin Hershberger Theis, who scammed three couples through her wedding planner consultancy, ''Live, Love and be Married'' using these two schemes.Wedding Planner Scams


See also

*
Great Reality TV Swindle The Great Reality TV Swindle (also known as Project MS-2) was a con perpetrated in 2002 by Nik Russian, a British man who, at the time, was working at an entry-level position in a branch of the UK book chain Waterstone's. Russian placed adverti ...
*
Kansas City Shuffle "Kansas City Shuffle" is the name of a 1926 jazz song. The title of the tune refers to an advanced form of bait-and-switch confidence game employing misdirection, subterfuge, and playing on the "mark's" arrogance and/or self-loathing. The scheme ...
*
List of criminal enterprises, gangs, and syndicates The following is a listing of enterprises, gangs, mafias, and criminal syndicates that are involved in organized crime. Tongs and outlaw motorcycle gangs, as well as terrorist, militant, and paramilitary groups, are mentioned if they are involve ...
*
Manipulation (psychology) Manipulation in psychology is a behavior designed to exploit, control, or otherwise influence others to one’s advantage. Definitions for the term vary in which behavior is specifically included, influenced by both culture and whether referring to ...
*
Psychiatry Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psych ...
*
Scambaiting Scam baiting (or scambaiting) is a form of internet vigilantism primarily used towards advance-fee fraud, IRS impersonation scam, technical support scams, pension scams, and consumer financial fraud. Scambaiters pose as potential victims to waste ...
*
Sick baby hoax A sick baby hoax is a confidence trick where a person claims, often on a website, that they have an ill child (or sometimes a pet) and are struggling to pay for their medical expenses. Some versions of the hoax ask people to make a monetary donatio ...


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Confidence Tricks Crime-related lists *