Bar bill scam The bar bill scam is common in Europe, especially
Budapest, Hungary. 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.
Big Store The Big Store is a technique for convincing the mark of the legitimacy of the grifters' operation. The store is filled with elaborate sets and is run by a large team of con artists. Often a building is rented and furnished to seem like a substantial business. 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. The fraudulent
cryptocurrency scheme,
OneCoin, 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 or short change scam, 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 targeting a
cashier 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 is also based around a dropped wallet.
Fake casting agent scam 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. 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'' 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 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. 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 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'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. 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 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, 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 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 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 50,000 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.
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 in 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 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, is perpetrated on people who wish to be
mystery shoppers. A person is sent a
money order, often from
Western Union, One scam involved fraudulent
websites using a misspelled
URL 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
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. 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 expense (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.
Pay up or be arrested scam with a notice from local law enforcement warning of such scams 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 identifies the caller as that of local law enforcement. Victims are told they must pay a
fine to avoid arrest. Fines are in the hundreds, or sometimes thousands, of dollars. The payment is requested through
Western Union,
prepaid card,
cryptocurrency, or a similar form of untraceable currency exchange. Cases have been reported in
Florida,
Georgia,
Kansas, and
Oregon.
Pigeon drop The
pigeon drop (also called the Jamaican Switch), 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.
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.
Predatory journals 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.
Promotional cheque 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". Buried in the fine print is something entirely different; an authorisation to
slam 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 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 Kaufman undergoing psychic surgery. It can also be seen in an episode of
Jonathan Creek and the movie
Penn and Teller Get Killed.
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, 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. This scam is shown in S03E11 of the television show
The Wire. A corrupt politician takes bribes from a drug kingpin to secure construction permits, does nothing, but convinces him that he is working in his favor.
Recovery room 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. A Nigerian
419 scam 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 or
Kijiji, 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 and is essentially a
pigeon drop confidence trick. In a typical variation, scammers will target a vendor such as a jeweler and offer to buy a substantial amount of wares at a large markup,
provided they 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). Inspired by the confidence of the previous deal, the mark 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. 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. ==See also==