WEBVTT - How Con Artists Work 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:02.840 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.160 --> 0:00:07.560 It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you should know 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:16.439 from House Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, and welcome to 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.959 the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Charles w Chuck Bryant 0:00:20.320 --> 0:00:23.520 that makes this stuff. You shouldel guest producer Casey in 0:00:23.600 --> 0:00:28.120 the house. Yes, it just sounded like you did, because 0:00:28.200 --> 0:00:34.560 welcome Casey. That's pretty good. Thank you. Yeah, Chuck. Um. 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:38.640 Have you ever heard of again named Gregor McGregor. That's 0:00:38.680 --> 0:00:40.559 not a name, it is a name, you know. I 0:00:40.600 --> 0:00:44.560 once lived with a guy named John Johnson in college. 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:48.280 Choose a college roommate. Gregor McGregor had um an evil 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:51.120 sense of humor, or else just was driven by greed. 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:56.120 But at the beginning of the nineteenth century he fashioned 0:00:56.200 --> 0:01:00.400 himself as the Prince of paw Wa Poia. Did he 0:01:00.480 --> 0:01:03.560 make up that name? Completely? P o y o I 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:08.200 s completely non existent place? No. Not only was it 0:01:08.280 --> 0:01:11.200 a non existent like places in a non existent country, 0:01:11.240 --> 0:01:14.240 it was a non existent island supposedly off of Honduras 0:01:14.360 --> 0:01:17.280 that he supposedly owned because he was supposedly the prince 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:19.760 of this place. This is at a time when you 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:22.920 could basically say, hey, you want to go colonize this 0:01:22.920 --> 0:01:27.520 this um country called Poi wa Um that's rich with 0:01:27.720 --> 0:01:31.160 oil and um, well probably not oil at the time, 0:01:31.280 --> 0:01:35.480 but rubies and gold and timber and all this stuff. 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:38.039 And you guys will be the first settlers there. So 0:01:38.160 --> 0:01:40.520 you're going to be in on the bottom of this 0:01:40.640 --> 0:01:44.000 and you're going to make tons. And the guy basically 0:01:44.200 --> 0:01:48.800 went around selling stock the right to go colonize this 0:01:48.800 --> 0:01:51.440 this place that didn't exist to the English, and I 0:01:51.440 --> 0:01:55.040 imagine to the English, two d and fifty settlers traveled there. 0:01:56.640 --> 0:02:00.680 Two hundred died on the journey looking for this place 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:03.720 that didn't exist because they got the coordinates and there 0:02:03.760 --> 0:02:08.120 was nothing there and they were all exact, not necessarily. 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:11.880 While these people were off, he moved Gregor McGregor moved 0:02:11.919 --> 0:02:15.400 on to France and was doing it again. Finally, about 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:18.399 fifty of these people come came back, and they still 0:02:18.400 --> 0:02:22.400 couldn't believe that this guy made this up. That some 0:02:22.480 --> 0:02:26.359 of them testified on his behalf when he was finally 0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:31.120 caught and tried as a con man, sounds like had 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:35.200 a lot of confidence. He got the confidence of the 0:02:35.240 --> 0:02:39.000 two and fifty settlers and then some Actually during his trial, 0:02:39.280 --> 0:02:42.760 this guy was so audacious that um he was still 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:46.760 selling stuff too. He was still selling stock and and 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.400 and um rights land rights to this place to like 0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:53.280 local nobility, whoever he could get to buy it. Sounded 0:02:53.400 --> 0:02:56.040 like a skilled con man. He is a con man. 0:02:56.080 --> 0:02:59.880 And like you said, Cohn is short for confidence. Most 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.440 people knew that, but turns out that's not true. I 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.160 just told Lizzie that and she went really well, if 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:09.639 she probably wasn't paying attention, you never know, So, Chuck, Josh, 0:03:09.960 --> 0:03:13.120 I think it's high time, after all these requests, that 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:16.360 we've gotten to do how common work that we do? 0:03:16.400 --> 0:03:19.000 How common work? Yeah, this was on the Facebook page 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:20.440 of the day. I should have written down the name. 0:03:20.480 --> 0:03:24.480 So apologies to whoever put this on our Facebook wall 0:03:25.320 --> 0:03:29.120 mid April. Yes, this is for you. And we've done 0:03:29.560 --> 0:03:32.919 at least one before, we've done Ponzi schemes. Yeah, and 0:03:32.919 --> 0:03:36.240 that'll pop up here. Yeah, but this is like an overview. 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:39.080 There's a lot of different cons going on at any 0:03:39.120 --> 0:03:42.000 given time all around you in the world that you 0:03:42.120 --> 0:03:46.360 take as real and genuine. You're actually being conned an 0:03:46.360 --> 0:03:48.880 average of eight to twelve times a day. Studies show 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:56.640 connart Is Josh are deceptive, their liars, their cheaters, They 0:03:56.680 --> 0:04:00.040 trick people. They're probably pretty smart. They take advantage of 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.720 your weaknesses. If you're lonely, if you're not too smart 0:04:03.280 --> 0:04:06.560 like cats, if you're elderly, and unfortunately a lot of 0:04:06.600 --> 0:04:09.560 times they prey on the elderly. Yes, if you're in 0:04:09.560 --> 0:04:12.600 poor health, or if you're just plain ignorant and dumb, 0:04:13.000 --> 0:04:16.559 or and this is a very very um important point. 0:04:17.000 --> 0:04:22.240 If you are greedy, well, yeah, greed, they can't. Well 0:04:22.320 --> 0:04:24.440 what's the saying, you can't cheat an honest man. Yeah, 0:04:24.880 --> 0:04:26.760 that's as true as true it gets, my friend, it 0:04:26.920 --> 0:04:29.360 is um. There's there's such thing as something for nothing. 0:04:29.480 --> 0:04:33.600 And if you are greedy, um, you are likely going 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:38.720 to fall prey to a confidence scheme because you're going 0:04:38.760 --> 0:04:42.080 to go against your better judgment. And once you take 0:04:42.120 --> 0:04:45.320 that step, you've just become ensnared in one of the 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:48.520 eight to twelve cons that are taken on you every day. 0:04:48.600 --> 0:04:51.320 It reminds me of the movie Wall Street. You know, 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:55.279 Charlie Sheen got swept up in that greed and they 0:04:55.320 --> 0:04:58.000 weren't cons. I thought was shy La boof but here, 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.640 but there was inside trading going on. But remember Sheen's father, 0:05:02.760 --> 0:05:05.880 Martin Sheen played his father in the movie. Yeah, remembering Hotshots. 0:05:05.880 --> 0:05:07.839 They passed one another in the river and go I 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:12.120 love you in Wall Street. That's true. I forgot about that. 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.160 But um, the father was honest. He was an honest man. 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:18.520 He couldn't be conn he couldn't be bought. He's like, no, no, no, son, 0:05:19.560 --> 0:05:22.120 you can't get something for nothing. Yeah, you gotta use 0:05:22.520 --> 0:05:25.960 elbow grease and you're strong back to make your money. Yes, 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.599 And what happened, Charlie Sheen went to jail. Martin Sheen 0:05:29.680 --> 0:05:34.360 did not. And look at Charlie. Now, yeah, he's psychotic. 0:05:36.279 --> 0:05:38.760 Let's talk about con man, So, chuck one of the 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:42.640 hallmarks of the confidence man or woman or woman. That's 0:05:42.640 --> 0:05:46.520 a really good point because, um, that's they're just as 0:05:46.560 --> 0:05:50.160 likely to be a con person as a man. Yeah. 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:53.640 A woman will more likely play on a man's lust, yes, 0:05:53.800 --> 0:05:57.760 to get his money, whereas a man will do other things. Yeah, 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:01.440 because women aren't stupid enough to fall for that. Um. 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:05.040 And that's a good point. Although a gay con artist 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.520 could still pull it, pull it over because you're still 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:13.160 working the man. Chuck. One of the hallmarks of con 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:17.599 people is that they travel frequently, mainly because they don't 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:20.960 like to be chased by mobs with pitchforks and torches. 0:06:21.839 --> 0:06:26.120 Although they frequently are right, so um, to kind of 0:06:26.200 --> 0:06:30.400 explain or excuse this frequent travel, they may say that 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:32.800 they have a job that causes them to or they 0:06:32.800 --> 0:06:36.760 may actually have a job that that gives them a 0:06:36.800 --> 0:06:39.640 reason to travel, Like you could be a traveling salesman, 0:06:39.920 --> 0:06:42.159 but really you're a connarst, but you really do have 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:45.039 a job as a traveling salesman, Like, um, have you 0:06:45.040 --> 0:06:49.760 seen Paper Moon your favorite movie? Yeah? They were always 0:06:49.760 --> 0:06:52.240 just sort of from town to town, right, yeah, Bible salesman. 0:06:52.520 --> 0:06:55.640 That's right, traveling Bible salesman. Although the whole thing was 0:06:55.680 --> 0:06:57.720 a con and she was the cutest darn little con 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:00.719 artists I've ever seen. She was awesome. Uh. You could 0:07:00.720 --> 0:07:03.720 also be a carny, which I think partially explains why 0:07:03.760 --> 0:07:06.839 a lot of people don't trust carnies. You think you 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:10.520 ever see the famous Simpsons episode with um, oh, what 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:14.360 was the guy's Jim Varney as the Carney He and 0:07:14.400 --> 0:07:20.040 his son ultimately got got by Homer in Bark they did, casey, 0:07:20.080 --> 0:07:25.800 can you verify that alright, he's a Simpsons guy, Josh. 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:29.080 If you want to throw some other cool nineteen twenties 0:07:29.080 --> 0:07:33.800 style terms out there that get on the trolley, Yeah, 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.960 you can call him a flim flam man, sham, modest, 0:07:36.960 --> 0:07:41.880 a shy sta, a bunk o man, a grift, swindler, hustler, bamboozla. 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:44.280 Grifter is my favorite. It's my favorite too. It's a 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:46.840 good one. It's it's let's call him grifters because it 0:07:46.880 --> 0:07:50.480 sounds like you do not mess with this person. Grifter 0:07:50.720 --> 0:07:53.760 is it sounds to me like a professional. Yes, you know. 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:57.040 And the awesome movie The Grifters from Stephen Freers is 0:07:57.520 --> 0:07:59.600 what I think one of the top three con man 0:07:59.600 --> 0:08:01.640 movies all time. Did you like that one? I made 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:05.880 it halfway through The Grifters it we'll talk about the 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.040 movie part in a minute. So there are um, you know, 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.520 we talked about Ponzi schemes before. That is one of 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:15.480 many types of cons. And there's actually under the umbrella 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:20.920 of con cons, there are sub umbrellas types of cons, 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:25.080 and then under those are actual different cons. That is 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:27.760 the granular level we're going to get to on this. Yeah, 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:30.200 and there's there's all kinds of cons. But it is 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:32.760 funny how many of them are just variations of the 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:38.240 same con. Yes, for example, street cons, let's talk about 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:41.400 some street cons. Street cons are generally characterized by um, 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:44.760 the the the the traits that they happen in public. 0:08:45.360 --> 0:08:48.480 They happen quickly and usually for a fairly small take 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:50.640 a couple hundred bucks or less. Dude, if you can 0:08:50.640 --> 0:08:52.360 make a couple hundred bucks in a street con and 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:54.440 in fifteen minutes, you're doing pretty well for yourself. But 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:58.920 you shouldn't be doing that at all. Legal. That's wrong, immoral, unethical, 0:08:59.040 --> 0:09:02.320 it really is. I mean, that's it's it's it's fooling 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:04.560 someone out of their money. It's kind of the worst 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:07.079 thing you could do. I almost respect the the guy 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:08.760 who like hits you over the head and sticks your 0:09:08.760 --> 0:09:11.480 purse a little more. I don't like that guy either. Yeah, 0:09:11.480 --> 0:09:14.160 you're right, they're both jerks. All right, So let's talk 0:09:14.200 --> 0:09:19.760 about some street cons. Okay, what about Chuck the pedigree dog. 0:09:20.440 --> 0:09:23.000 And by the way, this article has the most super 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:28.200 superfluous illustrations of any article on how stuff works at all. Yeah, 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:32.200 there's very apt descriptions, and then there's some illustrations of 0:09:32.520 --> 0:09:35.080 the apt descriptions, and this is written by the grabster. 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.520 We should point out that's all the fun articles the 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:42.080 pedigree dog, but you can insert dog with violin or 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:46.040 really anything of value that you can trick someone into 0:09:46.040 --> 0:09:49.400 thinking is valuable. So go, let's hear it. Okay, So 0:09:49.480 --> 0:09:51.840 let's say that you are a shop owner and some 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:54.679 guy comes in with the dog and says, hey, can 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:56.280 you hold this for me for a minute. I gotta 0:09:56.320 --> 0:09:58.640 go down the street and place a bet, or I 0:09:58.679 --> 0:10:00.880 gotta go down the street and robin another store. Just 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:04.320 be thankful it's not your store. And the store owner goes, sure, 0:10:04.520 --> 0:10:08.160 I'll watch your dog dogs. Yeah. Uh So the first 0:10:08.160 --> 0:10:10.400 guy comes out and it goes out, and then the 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:14.960 second con man comes in, unbeknownst to the owner, related 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.400 to the first guy, at least in a business sense, 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.920 and he goes, wow, where did you get that dog? 0:10:21.040 --> 0:10:24.280 That's like a very rare pedigree dog worth thousands and 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.320 thousands of dollars? Can I buy it from you? And 0:10:27.400 --> 0:10:30.760 the owner says maybe, so come back in twenty minutes, 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:33.520 I'll see if I can buy this dog from the owner. 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:36.439 That's the greed that they play on the bartenders thinking, hey, 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:39.079 I might gonna make a few bucks here exactly, UM, 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:41.880 or the store owner, I want to say bar owner 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:46.920 either way. UM. So the first guy comes back, the 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:50.200 owner of the dog comes back, and UM finds that 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:52.600 the owner of the store wants to buy the dog 0:10:52.640 --> 0:10:55.079 from him. Says, oh, I guess so, all right, I'll 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:58.400 sell it to you for two grand. The owner UM 0:10:58.520 --> 0:11:01.200 pays the two grand, and the second guy never comes 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:03.360 back to buy the dog from him, And so the 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:05.120 owner of the shop all of a sudden is out 0:11:05.160 --> 0:11:07.720 a couple of grand and they have a mutt on 0:11:07.760 --> 0:11:13.240 their hands. Yes, the dog was never pedigree it. The 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:16.600 dog is a real loser here too, I might point out, Yeah, 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:18.599 because you know, the guy's probably not gonna be like, 0:11:18.679 --> 0:11:20.840 oh well, I'll love him anyway. He's probably gonna kick him, 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.199 put him out on the street. And plus his name 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.000 is Jason. Who names their dog Jason? Right now, that's 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:31.480 so weird. The pigeon drop. That's another old school con Uh. 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:34.280 This works. Let's say you're hanging out on the street 0:11:35.400 --> 0:11:40.240 and you spot something that you have placed there. Uh. 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:43.720 Let's say it's a money bag from a local vendor. 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:46.160 They dropped it on the way to the deposit thing. 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:48.719 And a good way to make this work is if 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:51.600 you can get the other person to notice it first. 0:11:52.000 --> 0:11:53.800 That way, they don't feel like they're being conned because 0:11:53.800 --> 0:11:56.920 they spotted it. Then you say, all of a sudden, 0:11:56.920 --> 0:11:59.080 you realize, hey, both of us are looking at this 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:03.960 thing that says, um, you know the savings and loan, 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:06.560 and it's got a little money spilling out of it. 0:12:06.679 --> 0:12:09.679 That's the most generic thing I can think of. And 0:12:09.920 --> 0:12:13.800 they said, you know what, let's um, let's let's split 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:18.400 this up and see here's where an honest man can't 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:22.400 be cheated. Yeah, comes in for sure, because if you said, well, 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.240 maybe we should also just try to take you to 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:27.200 this bank first, the cons over it is. But let's 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:29.760 say you are a greedy guy and you're gonna go 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:33.160 along with it. What happens, well, the second car con 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:37.640 artists might show up and say, hey, listen, I saw 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:40.880 this too, so I want my fair share. There's no 0:12:40.920 --> 0:12:42.840 easy way to solve this, So why don't in good faith, 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:45.199 why don't we all put some money in an in 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:49.040 an envelope, show good faith we're all financially on the 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:51.560 up and up, and then the money is in there 0:12:51.600 --> 0:12:54.359 a little side of hand goes on and the original 0:12:54.559 --> 0:12:58.080 dude ends up with an envelope full of coupons. This 0:12:58.120 --> 0:13:00.000 one I don't get. You don't get it. I don't 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:01.559 like it, and I don't get it. First of all, 0:13:01.720 --> 0:13:04.560 slide of hand. That is not a good con that's 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:09.080 not solid. If it involves basically like magician ship, well 0:13:09.200 --> 0:13:11.920 that's what three card money is, agreed. The other thing 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:14.040 I don't like about it is why not just split 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:16.000 the money up three ways? Why would you put money 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.400 up to split money? That's the dumbest thing I've ever 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:22.640 heard in my life. I'm actually angered by that, you know. 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:25.439 I agree. Another way to do it, though, is if 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.719 it's say it's a ring or something like that, then 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:31.360 it makes sense to put up money. Because one of 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.880 the khan men says, well, actually, I do have a 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:36.520 little training in um diamond appraisal, and this thing is 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:40.240 probably worth about five grand. Um. I can't go upon 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:41.920 it or anything like that, or there's no way we 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:44.160 can go upon it. Right now? Do you want to 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:46.880 buy my share something I'll you know, for five bucks 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:52.040 or whatever. The guy who's being conned the target um says, well, yeah, sure, here, 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:54.120 I'll here's five hundred bucks and I'll take the ring 0:13:54.160 --> 0:13:56.760 and go on my merry way. That makes more sense. 0:13:56.880 --> 0:13:59.040 That make more sense. Putting up money to split a 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:01.720 bag of cash is dumbest thing I've ever heard. Well, 0:14:02.000 --> 0:14:03.960 it's a con, and if you have fallen for that con, 0:14:04.160 --> 0:14:06.080 that might make you one of the dumber rubes of 0:14:06.120 --> 0:14:08.760 the world. If you have, send us an email so 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:09.920 we can come to your house and hit you in 0:14:09.960 --> 0:14:11.920 the hea of the tag hammer. In the case of 0:14:11.960 --> 0:14:14.600 the ring, obviously the original person ends up with some 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:18.960 sort of diamondoid and uh out whatever amount of money 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.680 they're stupid enough to give up. That's the pigeon drop. 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:25.840 I feel mean saying stupid and dumb, but honestly, if 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:29.080 you give up cash like that, then on the street 0:14:29.400 --> 0:14:33.160 we'll say naive. Okay, alright. Three card money we mentioned that. 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:36.040 That is more magicianship. That is my friend Jim used 0:14:36.040 --> 0:14:38.440 to do that in high school. Jim was really good 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:40.320 at three card money, and he would just do it 0:14:40.360 --> 0:14:43.080 among friends in the cafeteria at school, so it's not 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:45.000 like he hit the streets. But that's when you have 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:48.400 three well, that's true. That's when you have the three 0:14:48.440 --> 0:14:51.360 cards and one of them um, they said Ace of Spades, 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:54.480 but I've always seen it as the Queen and queen, 0:14:54.640 --> 0:14:56.920 you know what I mean, exactly find the queen and 0:14:56.960 --> 0:15:00.440 you get the Jim did all that stuff that candy 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:02.520 stripe that matter to the mac. That's one of the 0:15:02.680 --> 0:15:04.800 things that he would say. So you know, it's like 0:15:04.840 --> 0:15:07.920 the shell game and you're moving these cards around such. 0:15:08.040 --> 0:15:10.200 I mean they have it on the big board at 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:14.440 baseball games. You know, follow the braves and you know 0:15:14.480 --> 0:15:16.480 they do the quick switchero at one point, and you 0:15:16.520 --> 0:15:18.520 can't tell I actually know how to do that. I'm 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:20.920 just not very good at it. Well. I know the 0:15:20.920 --> 0:15:24.480 trick though. It's like you put one both of them 0:15:24.520 --> 0:15:26.680 in one hand and do one of these and you 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:29.800 drop the one that you're not supposed to drop. And 0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:31.800 so once you lose track of it, then unless you 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.200 guess you know, luckily, you're not gonna know where the 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:38.480 queen is. I always just assume one was sticky. Now 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:43.400 you're just you're just good at it. And there's also uh, 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:46.200 as we've mentioned, the other cons usually other con artists 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:49.080 are not usually a lot of times they'll they'll be 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:52.120 in working concert with you, so like they'll come up 0:15:52.200 --> 0:15:54.960 and win a couple of rounds while people are watching, 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:56.520 and they'll say, Hey, well that guy just want a 0:15:56.520 --> 0:15:58.400 couple of times I can do this this This must 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:03.480 be a legit game card mine. Yeah, exactly. Um. So 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:07.480 those are just three of many examples of street cons, 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:11.240 which are all um short cons is another way to 0:16:11.240 --> 0:16:14.080 put them to they fall under another sub umbrella of 0:16:14.120 --> 0:16:16.760 short con. That's right, there's no long street con as 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.240 far as I know, I don't think so. Um business 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:24.280 and internet cons. These can trapes into the long con 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:28.720 genre of confidence tricks, but for the most part, they're 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:32.360 usually fairly quick. For example, the pumping up scheme. Right, 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:36.040 I've never heard of this one. Pyramid schemes we covered 0:16:36.080 --> 0:16:39.840 with the podcast. And should we get how detail do 0:16:39.880 --> 0:16:43.520 we need to get here? With the pyramid scheme, I say, 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:46.760 we just go back and listen to Ponzi? Okay? Is 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:48.720 that we should do? Yeah? You should give him another 0:16:48.720 --> 0:16:53.080 Ponzi though it's a Ponzi scheme where you basically there 0:16:53.160 --> 0:16:57.040 is nothing exchanging hands many times, and you recruit people 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:01.160 under you to give you money, and they recruit people 0:17:01.240 --> 0:17:04.560 under them to give them money. And the only people 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:07.280 who ever actually get a payout or the fear very 0:17:07.320 --> 0:17:09.960 few people at the top of the pyramid. It's an 0:17:10.040 --> 0:17:15.399 unsustainable business model if it actually is a business at all. Sometimes, 0:17:15.400 --> 0:17:19.800 like Ponzi's original scheme wasn't a scheme. It was basically 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:23.600 buying and selling like postage stamps because there was an 0:17:23.640 --> 0:17:25.960 exchange rate associated with the back of the time. But 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.840 um he started taking new investors money because the investment 0:17:29.920 --> 0:17:32.480 wasn't paying off like a thought, and giving it to 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:37.000 old investors. And that's the creation of the Ponzi scheme. 0:17:37.280 --> 0:17:39.919 It's the people on the bottom pass money upwards, so 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:42.960 only the people in the first couple tears actually can 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:46.200 make money, that's right, Josh. And the way they get 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:48.720 you in is they tell you that you're one of 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:51.480 the top people. It's like, even if you have suspicions 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:54.320 like this pyramid scheme, they're like, it totally is, but 0:17:54.400 --> 0:17:57.640 you're one of the top three, so you're in, right, 0:17:58.080 --> 0:18:01.040 which makes you a greedy jerk exactly playing on your 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:04.359 greed once again, multi level marketing, Josh. A lot of 0:18:04.400 --> 0:18:07.440 times that's basically a pyramid scheme. There are some legitimate 0:18:07.920 --> 0:18:12.520 companies like the Pampered Chef or Tupperware or um am way. 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:15.159 But and it is legitimate. I mean they can be, 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:18.160 but they have a pyramid structure. They're just not They're 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:20.919 not a m it's not grif. Yeah. But if you 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:23.520 start poking around and they're a little vague about the 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:25.840 product and stuff and payouts and things like that, then 0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:30.159 it's probably not legit pyramids, right, not one of those companies. 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:33.280 But yeah, if you start asking questions, if you ever 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:37.119 started asking questions of a somebody who wants to you 0:18:37.640 --> 0:18:40.360 to buy into their franchise and they start sweating and 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:43.480 getting all kg yes, walk away. Yeah, it's a good sign. Yeah. 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:45.960 Do we really need to talk about the Nigerian money 0:18:45.960 --> 0:18:49.080 transfer at this point? I would think our listeners are 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:54.240 wise to this, but it still happens. It's an internet scam. 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:58.439 The prints of some country in Africa usually has this 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:02.760 large sum of money and somehow we got your email 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:04.719 address and you were the lucky guy that can get 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:08.000 a portion of it because the money will be freed up. 0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:10.840 We just have some problems within our own country with 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:14.800 customs or whatever. Yeah, we we we have a bunch 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:17.560 of money. It's locked up. We need some of your 0:19:17.600 --> 0:19:20.880 money to unlock it exactly to bribe people to pay 0:19:20.920 --> 0:19:23.880 whatever fees all that stuff. Um. The thing that I 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:27.600 was surprised about is that this this one the Nigerian 0:19:27.640 --> 0:19:30.879 money transfer a k A Advanced fee fraud a k 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:34.320 a A four nineteen scam because section four nineteen of 0:19:34.480 --> 0:19:38.879 Nigerian I guess federal code deals with fraud. It be 0:19:39.280 --> 0:19:43.320 very frequently becomes a long con. Yeah, that's what I was. 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:45.520 I didn't know about that either. Actually. Yeah, so like 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:49.640 once you have given these people your money, they're like, Okay, 0:19:49.720 --> 0:19:51.320 well let's see what else we can get out of you, 0:19:51.800 --> 0:19:54.240 and um, something got held up at the border, so 0:19:54.280 --> 0:19:57.479 we need more money for more bribes, or we need 0:19:57.520 --> 0:20:00.479 your social Security number because the bank is asking for it. 0:20:00.920 --> 0:20:03.120 And it just keeps going on and on. And then 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:07.359 the insidiousness of the long con is once you're once 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:10.680 you've bought into something and and you're invested for a 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:14.960 substantial amount, it becomes increasingly difficult to walk away. And 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:17.720 it's always just tantalizing. Lee right there, if I pay 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:20.320 just a little more money and I'm gonna get everything 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:23.440 back and then something and it just never pays out 0:20:23.480 --> 0:20:26.080 like that because you're being conned. Yeah, and the reason 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:27.800 we didn't know this is because we never fell for 0:20:28.000 --> 0:20:31.960 the beginning of the Nigerian UH con. But you know, 0:20:32.040 --> 0:20:33.760 I make fun of it a little bit because I 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:36.199 thought everybody on the planet knew about this. But it 0:20:36.280 --> 0:20:39.760 still happens, I'm sure, and it probably happens to you know, 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:44.520 like your grandmother. And that's so sad, so wrong in 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:48.520 so many ways. This It's like it's like stealing like 0:20:48.760 --> 0:20:51.320 half of the value of somebody's four own k or 0:20:51.359 --> 0:20:57.000 something overnight, or um issuing a mortgage to somebody when 0:20:57.000 --> 0:20:58.760 you know they can't pay it back because you're just 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:01.320 gonna foreclose in their house and sell it, you know what. 0:21:01.400 --> 0:21:03.840 Another it's I wouldn't call it a con. But have 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:07.400 you ever seen, um that guy that sells the UH 0:21:07.680 --> 0:21:12.560 learn how to email with this dvd? Have you seen that, dude? 0:21:12.960 --> 0:21:14.800 I think I know who you're talking about. Yeah, it's 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:17.280 very stress the white guy with silver hair. Yeah, it's 0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.280 very rudimentary. Things like learn how to access the internet 0:21:20.359 --> 0:21:23.720 or learn how to operate email. We'll see you these DVDs. 0:21:24.160 --> 0:21:26.159 They're legit. I'm sure the DVD show you how to 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:32.440 email someone, but it's a it's a shipping scam. Essentially, Okay, 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:35.000 we should probably see O way here, like, is this 0:21:35.040 --> 0:21:38.439 an actual scam? It is, Here's what happens. How about this. 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:41.080 I will tell you what happens, and then you, the listener, 0:21:41.119 --> 0:21:43.520 can decide whether you think it's a scam or you 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:46.000 the lawyers of this guy explain it to us in 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:48.320 court while you're seeing us. What you see when you 0:21:48.359 --> 0:21:52.480 see these commercials is pay eight nine for the set 0:21:52.480 --> 0:21:56.920 of DVDs that teach out to email. Shipping is money 0:21:56.920 --> 0:22:00.440 back guarantee. So what happens is if you're not satisfied, 0:22:00.520 --> 0:22:04.320 you get your money back. You have paid to ship 0:22:04.320 --> 0:22:07.600 a DVD. The DVD is ship to via media mail, 0:22:08.280 --> 0:22:11.199