1. Embarrassing Check
Scammers set up fake businesses with obvious titles that purport to sell sex toys or other pornographic material, but buyers are told that any purchases they make will be made through a separate company with a more innocuous name.
After accepting orders and collecting payments, the company sends letters explaining that a shipping error or other problem has made it impossible to deliver its products. They add a legitimate check bounce, only this time with the company's highly graphic name prominently displayed on the check, of course a certain percentage of customers will be too embarrassed or ashamed to ever cash it.
2. Violin playing
Many of the best cons work because of the inherent greed of the person being cheated on, and violin playing is one of the best examples. It takes two cheaters to operate and will take place in a restaurant. One of the scammers pretends to be an old man eating dinner. When he received his bill, the man approached the owner and explained that he had left his wallet at the hotel. He promises to go and get it and explains that he is an itinerant musician as the bailee left behind an old fiddle or fiddle and that is his only source of income.
After looking at the violin, the man declares it to be very rare and valuable, worth thousands of dollars. He then pretends to be in a hurry and leaves, but not before handing over his badge and telling the man to call if he's interested in selling. The old man will return shortly with the money for his meal. If the scammers have sold the trick well enough, the victim will try to buy the old man's violin for a few hundred dollars, believing he can sell it to a counterfeit instrument dealer for a large profit. Of course, the number on the card will prove to be fake, and the victim will definitely be left with a worthless violin.
3. Pig in a Poke
One of the oldest flaws in the book is the so-called "pork rub," which dates back to the Middle Ages. Quality meat was scarce at the time, and pigs and cows were often worth a lot of money. In this particular scam, the con artist would offer to sell someone else a piglet and, after receiving the money, hand over a "poke," or burlap sack, that apparently contained the live animal curled up inside.
If the victim neglected to look inside, they would be surprised to find a cat in the sack instead of a pig when they got home. The term "buying a pig" has since become a common phrase to mean making a risky purchase, and some say that the phrase "let the cat out of the bag" also refers to this popular scam.
4. Thai Gem Scam
A wildly elaborate scam, the Thai Gem Scam has become popular in Bangkok, where it is often perpetrated on unsuspecting tourists. It starts with a ranger making friendly conversation with the tourists about their vacation. The guard will tell tourists that there is a service that provides free rides to local temples for sightseeing and direct them to a nearby taxi.
The taxi then takes the person to a tourist attraction, where another scammer will talk to them and eventually tell them about a government program that allows them to buy jewelry duty-free, allowing them to make huge profits if the brand is resold. in their own countries. The taxi driver will then take the sign to another location or two, and at each stop another stranger will remember the stone scheme, but always pass by to give the impression that the whole installation is random and unrelated.
If done correctly, all these insider tips will eventually convince the tourist to ask to be taken to a jewelry store, where they will be pressured to buy "rare" gems and ship them back to their home country. Of course, the gems are far below the advertised price, and when the victim gets home, they will find that they cannot sell them for any profit.
5. The Wire Game
The wire game made famous by the movie The Sting was an elaborate scam that required a large group of con artists working in concert to pull off. A group of grippers would open a bogus "wire shop," a sort of bookie where bets could be placed on horse races. The victim, usually a man of considerable wealth, is then brought in and given some false information that a particular horse will win the race.
If the scammers marketed the brand well enough, they hoped they would land a big bet with a bogus bookie in the wire shop. From here, the cheater can go either way, but in the most popular version, some kind of mistake or confusion over the outcome of the race (which, of course, never happened) leads to the bet being declared a bet. loss to the unfortunate victim.
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