12 Scams Con Artists Will Use To Trick You

What kind of scams con artists use to trick people? In this article we will highlight 12 scams con artists will use to trick you.

Under the advice of Insider Monkey’s legal team, we excluded some scams from this list, as they are apparently “legal business practices”. Some of the excluded scams are movie theater’s popcorn (10 bucks for a large bucket that would cost you less than a dollar to make at home? Clearly a scam in my book.) or the difference in prices between men’s and women’s razors. Various health care procedure and prescription drug prices, like the recent hike in the price of an AIDS drug Daraprim by an incredible 5,000% (from $13.50 per pill to $750 per pill) were also off limits. And finally, university tuitions and college textbook prices also can’t be considered scams “in a true sense of the word”.

Now, with that settled and lawyers off my back, we can get to business. By the way, lawyers charging $400 per hour is also very legal and not a scam at all. While doing research for this article, I was fascinated by the way some of the very old scams con artist used centuries ago found its way into the modern age. For instance, did you know that Nigerian prince scam was first performed in the 16^th century? This was way before anyone ever mentioned the name Nigeria, so they had to use a different country, so the scam was known as the Spanish prisoner. Virus hoax, very popular today, originated from a Gypsy fortuneteller scam, also an age-old con. Fake investments were also popular scams in history, although today they may take the form of Kickstarter scams that swindled backers’ donations.

Despite what you think of them, plenty of old time con artists were brilliant men. One of my favorites is a Scotsman Arthur Ferguson. An actor by profession, he managed to sell Big Ben and the Nelson column several times to gullible American tourists. He even took a $10,000 down payment for Buckingham Palace. Once he grew tired of swindling Americans, he went to America and rented the White house to an unsuspecting British couple for $10,000 a week. His American counterpart, a man responsible for the expression “and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you”, was George C. Parker. Parker managed to sell Brooklyn Bridge (several times). New York police had to intervene once the buyers started setting toll booths on the bridge in order to collect the toll. The look on policemen’s faces while being told that Brooklyn Bridge had new owners must have been priceless. Parker also sold Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grant’s Tomb and the Statue of Liberty.

One would think that such scams can’t happen today. But in the 1990s, a group of Nigerian scammers sold a non-existing airport to the Spanish Santander Bank for $242 million. Not once did it occur to the investors to actually go to Nigeria and see the airport with their own eyes.

Our list of 12 scams con artists will use to trick consists of much smaller scams, ones that can get you in trouble and make you part ways with your money in ways you wouldn’t suspect. Reading this article can help you save your money and prevent a lot of aggravation.

12. Big Store

We start the list with a classic.  The big store scam was featured in The Sting, starring Paul Newman and Robert Redford. Basically, the scammers set up a brick and mortar shop and relieve the victims of their money. Perhaps the most successful Big Store scam was performed in Nanjing, China in 2014. The scammers set up a fake bank and manage to rake in a whooping 200 million Yuan by promising huge interest rates. That’s more than $30 million. The moral of the story is that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

11. Bogus dry-cleaning bill scam

This is a low-level scam which can earn its perpetrator significant amount of money if done of large enough scale. The con is quite simple. The scammers send letters to local restaurants, claiming that waiter has spilled a drink on his or her coat and demand reimbursement for a dry cleaning bill. Since it is usually a small amount, the restaurant owners will rather pay than go through dealing with a dissatisfied customer.

10. Dropped wallet scam

This scam is very popular in Eastern Europe among con artists preying on tourists. A person drops an empty wallet and unassuming tourist picks it up with an intention to give it back. The person accuses the tourist of taking the money out of the wallet and threatens to call the police. If the scam is taking place in a shadier part of a city, instead of the police, two or three large individuals will show up and start asking the poor tourist to give the “stolen” money back. You can guess how the story ends.

9. Rental scams

This is a bit more complex scam and it requires some planning on the part of the scammer. He or she rents an apartment with false documents and then place an add renting it out. After several meetings with prospective tenants and collecting money for first and last rent and security deposit, all of them are given the same date when they can move in. By the time all victims arrive at their new home, the scammer is far away.

8. Who’s Who scam

This scam was all the rage in the late 90s and early 2000s. A mass email was sent out to companies, promising to place them in the next edition of Who’s Who, in exchange for a modest fee. People fell for it en masse. Next time someone promises you to put your company on the map, make sure to check their credentials thoroughly.

7. Badger game

Badger game is one of the oldest scams in the book. It requires a prostitute and a scammer pretending to be a police officer. Once the victim (preferably a married man) is in flagrante with the prostitute, the cop bursts through the door and arrests them both. But since he understands the situation and being a good guy, he’s willing to let them go for a small fee. The victim usually takes the easy way out and thanks his lucky star that he avoided arrest and domestic disturbance, once his wife finds out.

6. Grandparent scam

Imagine a granny who gets the call or email, telling her that her favorite grandson is arrested abroad and urgently needs money for bail. He also begs her not to tell the parents, because he will be in even more trouble. Oh, and there’s no point in calling him because his phone is taken away from him, so granny should just send the money via the Western Union.  Except there’s no arrest and grandson has no idea what’s going on. The scammer just did their homework and gathered the details of granny’s family.

5. Art student

Number 5 on our list of scams con artists will use to trick you is called the art student. Regularly performed in big Chinese cities, the scam consists of a group of “students” who intercept foreign tourists and ask to speak with them, in order to improve their English. After a while, the conversation starts revolving around their studies and they reveal that they are, in fact, art students. It just so happens that they have an exhibition nearby and they would love if a foreigner would take a look at their art and give them their opinion. Once inside the gallery, usually in a shady part of the city, art turns out to be worthless junk. Students then coerce the victim into buying some of it for a largely inflated price. People usually buy it just to get out of the unpleasant and potentially dangerous situation.

4. Phishing

The level of detail scammers use when created fake sites and email used in phishing is astounding. Whether they go after your money or credit card info, they will pay attention to every possible element that could give the scam away. Once discovered and brought to the public’s attention, the successful phishing attempts dropped rapidly, but there are still plenty of people out there who will fall for it, so the scammers still use it.

3. Nigerian scam

In the 16^th century, this was known as the Spanish prisoner scam. A victim receives a letter from a wealthy person (AKA a Nigerian prince) currently in prison in Spain. In order to get out of the prison, a ransom has to be paid, for which the victim will be generously rewarded once the scammer is out of the hands of the evil Spaniards. The victim will also receive the hand of the scammer’s daughter in marriage. The girl is not just rich, but also extraordinarily beautiful. (Modern day variant usually excludes this detail)

2.Virus hoax

Virus hoax preys on people’s fears. In essence, something bad will happen to you unless you pay me so I can save you from it. In the past, it was the curse only expert fortune teller can remove. Modern day version includes a dangerous computer virus only expert IT staff can save you from. The Virus Hoax is very successful when performed against elderly and people who aren’t tech savvy.

1. Romance Scam

Number one on our list of scams con artists will use to trick you is Romance Scam. Once done via letters and stolen photographs, today it has found its new home on dating sites. Once the scammer has established a relationship with the victim, a terrible secret is revealed. In order for a scammer (usually a woman, because men are more gullible and love to play the role of a knight in shining armor) to travel and meet the victim, so that they can live the rest of their lives happily ever after, a small amount of money is required. Depending on the victim, the money can be used for plane tickets, hospital fees or even bribing an official so that a passport may be issued.