Get-rich-quick schemes[edit]

Get-rich-quick schemes are extremely varied; these include fake franchises, real estate "sure
things", get-rich-quick books, wealth-building seminars, self-help gurus, sure-fire inventions,
useless products, chain letters, fortune tellers, quack doctors,
miracle pharmaceuticals, foreign exchange fraud, Nigerian money scams, and charms and
talismans. Variations include the pyramid scheme, the Ponzi scheme, and the matrix scheme.

The "Money-Box Scheme"[edit]

Victor Lustig, a German con artist, designed and sold a "money box" which he claimed could
print $100 bills using blank sheets of paper.[1][self-published source] A victim, sensing huge profits
and untroubled by ethical implications, would buy the machine for a high price—from $25,000
to $102,000.[1] Lustig stocked the machine with six to nine genuine $100 bills for
demonstration purposes, but after that it produced only blank paper. [2] By the time victims
realized that they had been scammed, Lustig was long gone.[1][2]

Salting [edit]
Salting or "salting the mine" are terms for a scam in which gemstones or gold ore are planted
in a mine or on the landscape, duping the mark into purchasing shares in a worthless or non-
existent mining company.[3] During gold rushes, scammers would load shotguns 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 and the Bre-X gold fraud of the mid-
1990s. This trick was featured in the HBO series Deadwood, when Al Swearengen and E. B.
Farnum 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".

Spanish Prisoner[edit]
The Spanish Prisoner scam – and its modern variant, the advance-fee scam or "Nigerian letter
scam". The basic premise involves enlisting the mark to aid in retrieving some stolen money
from its hiding place. The victim sometimes believes he can cheat the con artists out of their
money, but anyone trying this has already fallen for the essential con by believing that the
money is there to steal (see also Black money scam). Note that the classic Spanish Prisoner
trick also contains an element of the romance scam (see below).
Many con men 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 he has
committed tax fraud. Many swindles involve a minor element of crime or some other misdeed.
The mark is made to think that he 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 he planned to commit a crime himself.
In a twist on the Nigerian fraud scheme, the mark is told he is helping someone overseas
collect debts from corporate clients. Large cheques 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 (his 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 his account, but also to criminal charges for money laundering. A more
modern variation is to use laser-printed counterfeit cheques with the proper bank account
numbers and payer information.
Persuasion tricks[edit]
Persuasion fraud, when fraudsters persuade people only to target their money, is an old-
fashioned type of fraud.

Grandparent scam[edit]
A grandparent gets a call or e-mail from someone claiming to be their grandchild, saying that
they are in trouble abroad. For instance, the scammer may claim to have been arrested and
require money to be wired for bail, and asking that the victim doesn't 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 postings, and any money wired out of the
country is gone forever.[4]

Romance scam[edit]
The traditional romance scam has now moved into Internet dating sites. The con actively
cultivates a romantic relationship which often involves promises of marriage. However, after
some time, it becomes evident that this Internet "sweetheart" is stuck in his or her home
country or a third country, lacking the money to leave and thus unable to be united with the
mark. The scam then becomes an advance-fee fraud or a check fraud. 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-man normally declares that he has checks which
the victim can cash on his behalf and remit the money via a non-reversible transfer service to
help facilitate the trip (check fraud). Of course, the checks are forged or stolen and the con-
man 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.
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.[5]

Fortune-telling fraud[edit]
One traditional swindle involves fortune telling. In this scam, a fortune teller uses his or
her cold reading skill to detect that a client is genuinely troubled rather than merely seeking
entertainment; or is a gambler complaining of bad luck. The fortune teller informs the mark
that he is the victim of a curse, 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 his money; he brings money in a bag to have the spell cast over it, and leaves
with a bag of worthless paper.[6] Fear of this scam has been one justification for legislation
that makes fortune telling a crime.[7] See the "Blessing Scam" below.
This scam got a new lease on life in the electronic age with the virus hoax. 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.[8][9][10] The alleged scam lasted from August 2004 through
October 2010 and is estimated to have cost the victim $6–20 million. [8][11]

Gold brick scams[edit]

Gold brick scams involve selling a tangible item for more than it is worth; they are named
after selling the victim an allegedly golden ingot which turns out to be gold-coated lead.
Pig in a poke (cat in a bag)[edit]
Pig in a poke originated in the late Middle Ages. 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.[citation needed] "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.[citation needed] 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. [citation needed] This is
also said to be where the phrase "letting the cat out of the bag" comes from, although there
may be other explanations.[citation needed]
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) or "gato por liebre" (in Spanish).[citation needed]

Thai gems[edit]
The Thai gem scam involves layers of con men and helpers who tell a tourist in Bangkok of an
opportunity to earn money by buying duty-free jewelry and having it shipped back to the
tourist's home country. The mark is driven around the city in a tuk-tuk operated by one of the
con men, who ensures that the mark meets one helper after another, until the mark is
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. [citation needed]

White-van speakers[edit]
In the white van speaker scam, low-quality loudspeakers 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. [citation
needed]

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.[12]The buyer has no legal recourse without
admitting to the attempted purchase of stolen goods. This con is also known as "The Murphy
Game".[why?]

Iraqi Dinar[edit]
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.[13][14][15]

Extortion or false-injury tricks[edit]

Badger game[edit]
The badger game 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. [citation needed]

Bogus dry-cleaning bill scam[edit]

A mail fraud that is typically perpetrated on restaurateurs, this scheme takes a receipt from a
legitimate dry cleaner 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. [16][17][18]

Clip joint[edit]
A clip joint or "fleshpot" is an establishment, usually a strip club or entertainment bar,
typically one claiming to offer adult entertainment or bottle service, 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.[citation needed]

Coin-matching game[edit]
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, which the two
operators later split.[citation needed]

Fraudulent collection agencies[edit]

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 hand it to a fraudulent
collection agency.[19][20] That agency then launches into a series of harassing phone calls at
all hours (often to the victim's workplace), attempts to obtain bank account numbers
(allowing the account to be drained through direct withdrawal) [21] or impersonates police
(sometimes with caller ID spoofing) to threaten the victim with arrest.[22][23][24] 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 or Western Union with poor traceability and no chargeback protection.
[25] The underlying debt either doesn't exist, is not valid due to a statute of limitationsor does
not lawfully belong to the entity making the calls; in some cases, the victim is a target
of identity theft.[26]
The scammers operate under multiple names, many of which are intended to be mistaken for
official or government agencies.[27] The fraudulent calls often originate from abroad; any
money extorted is immediately taken out of the country.[28]

Bogus or fraudulent law firms[edit]

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.[29] 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.[30]
In some cases, the dishonest lawyer is merely part of a larger fraudulent scheme. [31] A real
estate fraud may involve taking deposits for a project under construction where, [32] in theory,
the lawyer is holding the money in escrow, guarding down payments as trust fund assets until
a real estate deal closes.[33] 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[edit]
Insurance fraud 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. 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.[34]
A variation of this scam occurs in countries where insurance premiums are generally tied to
a bonus-malus 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.[citation needed]

Gambling tricks[edit]
Fiddle game[edit]
The fiddle game uses the pigeon drop 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 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 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.[citation needed]
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 dogupsold as a rare
breed but is otherwise identical.[35] An episode of the television series Hustle, "Cops and
Robbers", employs this variation of the fiddle game,[citation needed] as does The Streets' song
"Can't Con an Honest John".[citation needed]
As a well-known scam, the fiddle game and its variants have formed the basis for a number of
fictional interpretations,[citation needed] sometimes with unusual variations on the valuable
item. In the 1981 Only Fools and Horses episode "Cash and Curry", the main character, Del
Boy, is tricked into paying £2000 for a statue worth £17, believing it to be worth £4000.
[36] The fiddle game scam was also described in the Neil Gaiman novel American Gods,[citation
needed] where the perpetrator ironically specifies that he “personally made it a point of honor
never to pay more than five dollars for any” of the violins he used in his scams. [citation
needed] The traditional version of this trick is used in episodes of the British sitcom Steptoe
and Son and its US incarnation as Sanford and Son (episode 36, "Pot Luck").[citation needed]
An episode of the American TV series Leverage titled "The Studio Job" featured a version of a
fiddle game where the "fiddle" was the rights to a country music recording. [37] In the Better
Call Saul episode Marco, the protagonist and a friend execute a number of short cons
together, including both a traditional fiddle game and a variation using a common Kennedy
half-dollar sold for a high price as a supposedly valuable mis-print.[38]
Near-identical examples of the fiddle game are seen in Lovejoy[citation needed] and Monarch of
the Glen, where it is combined with art counterfeiting.[citation needed] In "The Real Thing", the
seventh episode of the first series of Lovejoy, Jimmy shows Lovejoy a 'genuine George
Vincent' painting he has bought for £550 from a reluctant seller who asked him to mind it.
Lovejoy immediately recognises the scam and asks Jimmy whether a dealer had come in
before Jimmy bought it and offered a few thousand pounds for it. Lovejoy then tells Jimmy:
"The most valuable thing you've got there is the frame, and that's worth about ten quid." In
the first episode of the fifth series of Monarch of the Glen, Molly arranges for an arts dealer to
repair an item of furniture. The dealer claims the repairs cost more than had been arranged
and that he would need to keep the piece to cover his costs as Molly cannot afford to pay his
invoice. Later, Andrew uses his painting skills to create a counterfeit painting, which Golly
leaves with the dealer to appraise. Andrew then offers substantially more for it, promising to
return with the cash. Golly then exchanges the painting for Molly's furniture, which he and
Andrew return to her.[citation needed]

Glim-dropper[edit]
The glim-dropper scam is a variation of the fiddle game. It requires several accomplices, one
of whom must be a one-eyed man. One grifter goes into a store and pretends he has lost his
glass eye. Everyone looks around, but the eye cannot be found. He declares that he will pay a
thousand-dollar reward for the return of his eye, leaving contact information. The next day, an
accomplice enters the store and pretends to find the eye. The storekeeper (the intended
griftee), thinking of the reward, offers to take it and return it to its owner. The finder insists he
will return it himself, and demands the owner's address. Thinking he will lose all chance of the
reward, the storekeeper offers a hundred dollars for the eye. The finder bargains him up to
$250, and departs. The one-eyed man, of course, cannot be found and does not return. [citation
needed] (Described in A Cool Million, or, The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin (1934) by Nathanael
West[citation needed]). Variants of this con have been used in movies such as The Flim-Flam
Man,[citation needed] Hustle,[citation needed] The Traveller (1997),[citation needed] Shade (2003),
[citation needed] and Zombieland (2009),[citation needed] and also in books such as American Gods.
[citation needed]

Lottery fraud by proxy[edit]

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. [citation
needed] This con was featured in the movie Matchstick Men, where Nicolas Cage teaches it to
his daughter.[citation needed] A twist on the con was shown in Great Teacher Onizuka, where the
more-than-gullible Onizuka was tricked into getting a "winning ticket". The ticket wasn't
altered, but the daily newspaper reporting the day's winning numbers was altered with a
black pen.[citation needed]

Three-card Monte[edit]
Three-card Monte, "find the queen", the "three-card trick", or "follow the lady" is essentially
the same as the centuries-older shell game or thimblerig (except for the props).[39] The
trickster shows three playing cards to the audience, one of which is a queen (the "lady"), then
places the cards face-down, shuffles them around, and invites the audience to bet on which
one is the queen. At first the audience is skeptical, so the shill places a bet, and the scammer
allows him to win.[40] 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 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.
This con appears in the Eric Garcia novel Matchstick Men[citation needed] and is featured in the
movie Edmond.[citation needed] The scam is central to the Pulitzer prize-winning
play Topdog/Underdog.[citation needed] It also appears in episodes of White Collar,[citation
needed] Leverage,[citation needed] Newsradio,[citation needed] Everybody Hates Chris,[citation
needed] The Simpsons,[citation needed] and Hustle (Season 3 Ep 2).[citation needed] It is seen in
foreign films an example of which is "Şark Bülbülü" wıth Kemal Sunal; in Turkish the term "Üç
Kağıtçı" meaning 'a three carder' i.e. the dealer of a three-card monte scam; a general term
for any fraudster.[citation needed]
A variation on this scam exists in Barcelona, Spain, but with the addition of a pickpocket.
[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
A variant of this scam exists in Mumbai, India.[citation needed] 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.[citation needed]
Spurious qualifications or endorsements[edit]
Diploma mill[edit]
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.
Most diploma mills are not accredited by such an entity, although many obtain accreditation
from other organizations (such as accreditation mills 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. [citation
needed]

Some diploma mills perform no instruction or examination, instead issuing credentials based
on payment and "life experience".[citation needed] A few have unknowingly issued degrees and
credentials to companion animals.[41]
The Doctor of Divinity title is particularly prone to misuse.[according to whom?] In the United
Kingdom it is an earned postdoctoral credential which requires a string of publications, but in
the United States any church may confer it as an honorary title; ordination mills readily grant
this doctorate for a moderate fee and token amount of study.[42]

Vanity publications and awards[edit]

A vanity press is a pay-to-publish scheme where a publishing house, typically an author mill,
obtains the bulk of its revenues from authors who pay to have their books
published[43] 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, which allows small quantities of
books to be printed cheaply, has accelerated this trend.[citation needed]
Vanity publishing is not the same as self-publishing, 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.[citation needed]
A vanity award is an award which the recipient purchases, giving the false appearance of a
legitimate honour.[44][45] These are closely related to the Who's Who scam, where a
biographic subject pays for a vanity listing in a printed directory.[citation needed]
Who's Who scam[edit]

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.
[citation needed]

World Luxury Association[edit]

The World Luxury Association is a self-proclaimed international organisation[citation

needed] based in China that offers "official registration" for luxury brands, and inclusion in an
"official list" of luxury brands, in return for a fee.[citation needed]
Online scams[edit]
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Main article: Internet fraud

Fake antivirus[edit]
Computer users unwittingly download and install rogue security software, malware disguised
as antivirus software, 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[edit]
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.
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 formasking for personal information such as credit card numbers, 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 scheme exists with misleading telephone calls ("vishing")
facilitated by Internet telephony. A fraudster can make calls through an Internet-
PSTN 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, bidding fee auctions ("penny auctions"), click
fraud, domain slamming, various spoofing attacks, web-cramming, and online versions
of employment scams, romance scams, and fake rewards.

Fake support call[edit]

Main article: Technical support scam
Unsuspecting computer owners and users are being targeted by people claiming to be
from Windows, i.e., Microsoft or from their internet provider and then telling them that their
computer/machine is creating errors and they need to correct the faults on their computers.
They can even get people to go to one site or another to show them these so-called errors, at
which point they are 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 or spyware or remote connection software such as Virtualpcsecure. Microsoft
has denied any tie to such schemes, but the scams continue regardless. [46]
Other confidence tricks and scams[edit]
Art student[edit]

An animation of the art student scam

The art student scam is common[according to whom?] in major Chinese cities. A small group of
'students' will start a conversation, citing a wish to practice their English. In short order they
will maneuver the conversation over to education and will claim to be art students wishing to
take the mark to a free art exhibition, which will usually be in a small, well-hidden rented
office. Once there the students will show the mark some art pieces which they claim to be
their own work and will try to sell them at a high price, despite the pieces usually being
nothing more than a worthless printout. They will often resort to 'guilt tricks' (e.g., introducing
their "starving child") to overcome resistance or to discourage price negotiation on the part of
the mark.[citation needed]

Bar bill scam[edit]

The bar bill scam is common in Europe,[47] especially Budapest, Hungary.[48][49][50] 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.[48]
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. [48]

Beijing tea[edit]
The Beijing tea scam is a famous variation of the Clip Joint scam practiced in and
around Beijing 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, 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, 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.[51][52][53]

Big Store[edit]
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.[54] The "betting parlor" setup in The Sting is an example.
In 2014, a rural co-operative in Nanjing, China 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.[55]

Change raising[edit]
Change raising, also known as a quick-change artist,[56] 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, Nine Queens, and Paper Moon.
For example, a con artist shopping at a gas station pays for a cheap item (under a dollar) and
gives the clerk a ten dollar bill. The con gets back nine ones and the change and then tells the
clerk he has a one and will exchange ten ones for a ten. This is what the scam artist is doing:
getting the clerk to hand over the $10 before handing over the $1 bills. Then the scam artist
hands over nine ones and the $10. The clerk will assume there has been a mistake and offer
to swap the ten for a one. Then the con will probably just say: "Here's another one, give me a
$20 and we're even." Notice that the scam artist just swapped $10 for $20. The $10 was the
store's money, not the con's. To avoid this con, clerks should keep each transaction separate
and never permit the customer to handle the original ten before handing over the ten ones.
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 comes to a gas station with a young clerk, buying
something cheap, showing him an uncommonly huge bill while not giving it and telling the
clerk to prepare the change. While he's busy counting the change, the con would ask many
questions in order to distract the young clerk. When change is counted and ready the con is
acting as if he had given the huge bill. If the clerk does not remember having received the
bill, the con will say he gave him the money. If the clerk is weak or distracted enough, he
could let the con go away with the change.[citation needed]
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. See Tens and a Five.
Fake casting agent scam[edit]
In this scam, the confidence artist poses as a casting agent for a modeling agency searching
for new talent. The aspiring model is told that he will need a portfolio or comp card. 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. [57] Of course, he
never hears back from the confidence artist.
In a variation on this scam, the confidence artist is a casting agent involved with the adult
entertainment industry. The mark is taken to the artist's office for an interview, in which she
is told that she will have to pose for nude photos or shoot a casting video, usually involving
sexual acts. Upon her agreement, the mark is sent on her way, as before. She may not have
to pay upfront for a portfolio, but any material generated during her "interview" may be used
and sold by the confidence artist without any payment to the mark.
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.

Phony job offer scam[edit]

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 and Monster.com. 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 of which there are two common methods. The first is to advise
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 for a fee. The victim may also be provided with an
actual on-line 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'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.[58]
A second, more sinister variation, is when the scammer will advise 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 e-mails containing fake
tax forms attempting to gain the victim's social security number and other personally
identifiable information. If the victim complies, their bank account will be emptied and their
personal information used to commit identity theft.

Fraudulent directory solicitations[edit]

This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims
made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be
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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 39 U.S.C. § 3001(d)(2)(A)) 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 USPS Domestic Mail Manual §CO31, Part 1.2) but are otherwise designed to
appear to be invoices or renewals of existing display advertising 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.[59] In some cases, the company's current advertisement clipped from
an existing publication (such as Thomas Register, Hotel and Travel Index or Official Meeting
Facilities Guide) is attached to a solicitation for advertising in an unaffiliated, rival
publication[60] which operates from a drop box.[61]
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 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.[62]
A similar scheme uses solicitations which appear to be invoices for local yellow pages 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.[63] 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 trademarks 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. [64]

Jam Auction[edit]
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 keeps the energy level up. 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 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 culture.

Money exchange[edit]
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 there, reported by a journalist, Joe Harkins, who reported his involvement, in the
early 1990s.[65] 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). [citation needed] 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[edit]
There is a fraudulent confidence trick (a form of advance-fee scam) perpetrated on people in
several countries who wish to be mystery shoppers. A person is sent a money order, often
from Western Union,[66] or cheque for a larger sum than a mystery purchase he is required to
make, with a request to deposit it into his bank account, use a portion for a mystery purchase
and fee, and wire the remainder through a wire transfer 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.[67]One scam involved fraudulent websites using a misspelled URL to advertise online
and in newspapers under a legitimate company's name.[68] 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."[69]
Valid mystery shopping companies do not normally send their clients cheques prior to work
being completed, and their advertisements 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 issued a warning on this scam.[70] 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."[66] 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 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.

Pigeon drop[edit]
The pigeon drop, which is depicted early in the film The Sting, 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.

Predatory journals[edit]
A number of predatory journals 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. A curated database of
predatory journals can be found at "Scholarly Open Access".[71]

Promotional cheque[edit]
The victim is sent a document which looks, on its face, to be a coupon or a cheque for some
small amount as "prize winnings".[72] Buried in the fine print is something entirely different;
an authorisation to slam the victim to an alternative telephony 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[edit]
Psychic surgery is a con game in which the trickster uses sleight of hand 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 Kaufmanundergoing psychic
surgery. It can also be seen in an episode of Jonathan Creek.

Rain making[edit]
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,[73] but more modern examples include getting
someone's app 'featured' on an app store, obtaining pass marks in a university entrance
exam, obtaining a job, or a politician implying that they can use their influence to get a
contract awarded to the mark (as illustrated by Clay Davis in Season 3 of The Wire).
The trickster has no actual influence on the outcome, but if the favourable outcome happens
anyway they will then claim credit. If the event doesn't happen of course then the trickster
may be able to claim that they need more money until it finally does.

Recovery room[edit]
See also: Reloading scam
A recovery room scam is a form of advance-fee fraud 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.[74] A Nigerian 419 scam victim might receive a solicitation claiming to be
from the Nigeria Economic and Financial Crimes Commission or another government agency.
[75]

The scam involves requiring an advance fee before the payment can take place, for example
a "court fee".[76]
The red flag in the 'recovery scam' is that the supposed investigative agency, unsolicited,
approaches the victim.[77] 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.[78]

Rental scams[edit]
An apartment is listed for rent, often on an online forum such as Craigslist or Kijiji, at or just
below market value. The vendor asks for first and last month's rent up front, 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. [79] 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. [citation needed]

Rip deal[edit]
The Rip Deal is a swindle very popular in Europe and is essentially a pigeon drop 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.
[citation needed] This scam was depicted in the movie Matchstick Men.

The same term is used to describe a crime where a vendor (especially a drug dealer) is killed
to avoid paying for goods.[80]

Unsolicited goods[edit]
Various schemes exist to bill victims for unsolicited goods or services.[81]
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.[82] 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.[83]
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 didn't buy or order it, nor did a practitioner; the call is fraudulent.
[84][85]
Wedding planner scam[edit]
Wedding planner scams prey on the vulnerability of young couples, during a time when they
are most distracted and trusting, 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.[86]

Blessing scam[edit]
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.

Pay up or be arrested scam[edit]

This scam is perpetrated through the phone where the caller threatens the victim with a
fictitious arrest warrant. To make this threat seem real, the caller ID identifies the caller as
that of the local sheriff. Victims are told they must pay a fine to avoid arrest. Fines are in the
hundreds, sometimes thousands, of dollars. The payment is requested through Western
Union, Green Dot prepaid card, or similar form of untraceable currency exchange.
Cases have been reported in Florida, Georgia, Kansas and Oregon.[87]

Public transport ticket control scam[edit]

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. [88]
 Dropped wallet scam[edit]
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.

See also[edit]

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Common scams.

•Great Reality TV Swindle
•Kansas City Shuffle
•List of criminal enterprises, gangs and syndicates
•Psychological manipulation
•Sick baby hoax
•Spanish Prisoner

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27.Jump up^ "Attorney General warns consumers about fraudulent collection calls likely originating from
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28.Jump up^ "Man pleads guilty in fake debt collectors case". NewsOK.com.
29.Jump up^ "Bogus law firm alerts up by 20 pc". Global Legal Post.
30.Jump up^ Rupert Jones. "Wonga to pay £2.6m compensation for fake debt firm letters". Guardian UK.
31.Jump up^ "Personal Finance: When a Lawyer Steals Your Money". NY Times. 30 April 1989.
32.Jump up^ "Manhattan U.S. Attorney and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Announce Arrests of Real Estate
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Scheme". US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
33.Jump up^ "New York Attorney Pleads Guilty To Participating In Multi-Million Dollar Real Estate Fraud Scheme".
US Department of Justice.
34.Jump up^ "What factors impact auto insurance rates?". Retrieved 25 August 2010.
35.Jump up^ Sante, Luc (2003). Low life: lures and snares of old New York (1st Farrar, Straus Giroux pbk. ed.).
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36.Jump up^ "Cash and Curry, episode synopsis, www.bbc.co.uk, accessed 1 August 2010". British
Broadcasting Corporation. 1981-09-22. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
37.Jump up^ "Christian Kane is singing a totally different tune on 'Leverage' (Includes interview and first-hand
account)". 2010-07-25. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
38.Jump up^ "'Better Call Saul' finale recap: Can you keep a secret?". Washington Post. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
39.Jump up^ Tom Ogden The Complete Idiot's Guide to Magic Tricks, p. 123, Alpha Books (1998) ISBN 0-02-
862707-5
40.Jump up^ Philip Messing; Steve Cuozzo (December 26, 2014). "Three-card monte scam artists return to
midtown". New York Post. Is this Christmas 2014 – or 1974?
41.Jump up^ Jennifer Feehan and "Police dog's bachelor's degree prods legal howling about chief", Toledo
Blade, February 28, 2007
42.Jump up^ Wright, Kimberly (January 8, 2014). "You, too, can become a minister – online". KPTV.
43.Jump up^ Glatthorn, Alan A. (June 15, 2002). "9. Publishing (Vanity Press)". Publish or Perish – The
Educator's Imperative: Strategies for Writing Effectively for Your Profession and Your School. Corwin Press.
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44.Jump up^ "Vanity Awards Value Money over Honor". Better Business Bureau. 2009. Retrieved August
25, 2013.
45.Jump up^ Miller C. (2013). Atlas of US and Canadian Environmental History, p64. Taylor & Francis.
46.Jump up^ "Avoid Phone Scams | Cybercriminal Tech Support Scam | Security Threats". Microsoft. Archived
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47.Jump up^ Steves, Rick. "Tourist Scams and Rip-Offs in Europe". Rick Steves' Europe. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
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49.Jump up^ "Budapest Bar Scam". Budapest Agent. 8 December 2008. Retrieved 10 June2016.
50.Jump up^ Sylvester, Phil (11 Jun 2015). "Bar scams: How to enjoy your Sör in peace!". World Nomads.
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51.Jump up^ "China Scams: The Teahouse Scam". Bamboo Compass. Ctrip International. 8 December 2011.
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52.Jump up^ "Tea House Scam". Beijing Holiday. Beijing Holiday. 6 April 2010. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
53.Jump up^ "Chinese tea house scammers jailed after charging tourists £5 per SIP". The Daily Mail. Associated
Newspapers Ltd. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
54.Jump up^ Maurer, David W. (1940). The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man and the Confidence
Game. Bobbs Merrill. OCLC 1446571.
55.Jump up^ China: Fake bank swindles customers out of $32m (in English) citing 南京惊现“假银行” 装修正规非法
吸储 2 亿元 (Chinese-Simplified)
56.Jump up^ Aisner, Art (2010-07-03). "Saline police say quick-change artist scammed cashier out of $100".
AnnArbor.com. Retrieved 2013-07-22.
57.Jump up^ "Beware Rogues | Become A Model". Association of Model Agents. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
58.Jump up^ "Ripoff Report - DHR Search Complaint Review Austin, Texas: 1101165".
59.Jump up^ "P. S. Docket No. FOR 98-421". United States Postal Service.
60.Jump up^ US Federal Trade Commission vs. Michael Robert Petreikis, Gerhard Mintz, 1522838 Ontario
Inc. doing business as International Industrial Trade Directory, American Register of Manufacturers, National
Register, Official Register of Commerce and Industry, Traders International Trade Directory, Hotel &
Conventions International, Hotel & Resorts International, Hotel Index, International Hotel & Accommodations
Directory, International Hotel Index, Official Hotel & Resort Guide, Bradley Siddons & Associates and Foremost
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61.Jump up^ BBB Archived 2014-11-12 at the Wayback Machine. listed an "American Register of
Manufacturers" to 4981 Hwy. #7 East, Unit 12A Markham, ON L3R 1N1. This is a PakMail store.
62.Jump up^ "DOMAIN SERVICES SPAM 212-913-9860". SueSpammers.net.
63.Jump up^ How to Protect Yourself: Yellow Pages Invoice Scam, Florida Attorney General's Office
64.Jump up^ Eduard Kovacs (10 July 2012). "Scam: World Trade Register Business Registration Is "Free", but It
Costs a Lot". softpedia.
65.Jump up^ "The Santo Domingo Sting". Travelthenet.com. Retrieved 2012-03-08.
66.^ Jump up to:a b "Mystery Shopper Scams – How to spot a scam". Mystery-shoppers.co.uk. Retrieved 2013-
07-22.
67.Jump up^ Related Items. "Giving the Bounce to Counterfeit Cheque Scams". US Federal Trade Commission.
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68.Jump up^ "Residents warned of job ad scam". Archived from the original on 2012-03-22. Retrieved 2013-07-
22.
69.Jump up^ "Frequently Asked Questions: Is Mystery Shopping A Scam?". Mystery Shopper Jobs.
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70.Jump up^ "Internet Crime Complaint Center warning". Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3.gov). 2009-02-
03. Retrieved 2013-07-22.
71.Jump up^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-04-22. Retrieved 2014-04-21.
72.Jump up^ Marchitelli, Rosa (December 1, 2014). "1-800 charges linked to company accused of targeting
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73.Jump up^ "Nebraska State Historical Society – Should We Pay The Rainmaker?".
74.Jump up^ Wang, Wallace (2006). Steal This Computer Book 4.0 : What They Won't Tell You About the
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75.Jump up^ "Fraud recovery fund – Financial Scams". Scam Detector.
76.Jump up^ Weinberg, Michael C. (2008). Careers in Crime: An Applicant's Guide. Kansas City, MO: Andrews
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77.Jump up^ "Refund and Recovery Scams". US Federal Trade Commission.
78.Jump up^ "Scams Offering To Recover Losses From Boiler Room Sweepstake Scams which are themselves
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sidewalk". CBC.
80.Jump up^ Florence Bruce; Hagell, Ann; Renuka Yeyarajah-dent (2006). Children Who Commit Acts of Serious
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81.Jump up^ "Fraudulent Invoices on the Rise". ocp.ga.gov.
82.Jump up^ WJXT. "Is that invoice a scam?". News4Jax.
83.Jump up^ "Small Businesses, Churches, Nursing Homes Are Targets of Bogus Business Supply Companies".
US Federal Trade Commission.
84.Jump up^ Susan Tompor, USA TODAY (9 June 2013). "Seniors get a warning on medical alert scam". USA
Today.
85.Jump up^ Sid Kirchheimer (July 1, 2013). "Free Medical Alert Device Scam Targets Seniors". AARP.
86.Jump up^ Wedding Planner Scams"Newlyweds Say Wedding Planner Scammed Them". KAKE.com. June 30,
2011. Archived from the original on January 18, 2012. Retrieved July 1, 2011.
87.Jump up^ Steph Solis (2013-08-08). "Scam: Caller threatens arrest if you don't pay". USA Today.
Retrieved 2014-01-18.
88.Jump up^ "'German ticket collectors saw I was a tourist and milked me'". The Local Germany. June 23, 2016.
Retrieved June 18, 2017.