• Football Picks Scam - The scammer sends out tip sheet stating team a game will go one way to 50 potential victims and the other way to another 50. The next week, the 50 who received the correct answer are divided into two groups and fed another pick. This is repeated until a small population have (apparently) received a series of supernaturally perfect picks - then the final pick is offered for sale.
• Just £5 - this is an abuse of charity scam: the conman approaches the victim and asks for "just £5" to help them achieve some goal that is almost within reach. The conman displays cash to prove they have "almost enough" and usually adds some props/window-dressing to add veracity: carrying a car part that needs repair/replacement or carrying a gas can (because the car ran out of gas and the wife/child is waiting). The victim frequently gives double or triple the amount requested or more. Couples are the preferred target: the wife for sympathy, the husband often pays out of nobility.
• Persistent Threat Scam - is a scam whereby the mark is constantly fed personal threats in order to fool the mark into making poor decisions, resulting in a loss of money.
• Religious systems & organizations - Several systems and organizations based upon belief in the supernatural are being used as vehicles for performing confidence tricks, or are alleged to be confidence scams in it, example Glam-Televangelism or Scientology.
• The Undercover Cop Scam is a scam where a con man pretends to be an undercover police officer, usually by stopping their vehicle and showing a fake badge, and tells the mark about a case they are investigating, and that they are a suspect. The con man asks for money to be checked, when the mark is out of the vehicle, the con man gets into his car and drives away, leaving enough time to escape as the mark has to walk back to his vehicle. This scam is usually done to tourists, variations include their whole luggage being transferred to the con man's trunk "to be checked at a police station."
• The badger game is an extortion scheme, often perpetrated on 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.
• The Paranoia Scam is a scam that involves the con man telling the mark various lies about the different scams and instigating false attempts so that the mark (feeling worried and with no place to hide their money from fraud) turns to the con man for help.
• Affinity fraud is a scam that is perpetrated to people in certain groups (i.e. religion, race, sex, etc). The con man gains the mark's trust through a deceptive use and when the timing is just right, the con man takes advantage of the mark's trust.
• Change raising is a common short con and involves an offer to change an amount of money with someone, and at the same time taking change or bills back and forth to confuse the person as to how much money they are actually changing. A con artist, shopping at a gas station for example, is given 80p in change because he lacks two dimes to complete the sale (for example, the sale cost is £19.20 and the con man has a 20 pounds). He goes out to his car, and returns a short time later with 20p. He returns them, saying that he found the rest of the change to make a dollar, and asking for a bill so he won't have to carry change. The confused store clerk agrees, exchanging a pound for the 20p the con man returned. In essence, the mark makes change twice.
• The illegal investment scam is no different from millions of investment scams out there but, the con man tells the mark that this investment money is made via illegal means, thus the mark cannot go to the police.
• Coin collecting scam is a scam that preys on inexperienced collectors, coins or otherwise. The con man convinces the mark by stating that a high-priced collection is for sale at a lower amount. The coin collector then buys the entire collection thinking it is actually valuable.
• Online casino scam is a newer type of scam, dealing with online gambling. Many websites post advertising about some math student that has discovered a method or program to beat online casinos; the method is nothing but a variation of the martingale that is proven not to work. To improve the scam, the advertiser cites anonymous people that are supposed to have won using the method, or put fake amounts behind their claims. The method can reportedly be purchased for a low price, considering the sum that could be won back.
• The deceptive contest relies on a real contest whose true objective is to sell the victim a low-value item at a high price. The mark sees an advertisement asking poets to submit their poems to a poetry competition. A few weeks later, a return letter announces that the mark's poem has been selected by the judges to advance to the "semi-finals". (The mark may be asked to travel to a distant city at his own expense in order to "participate" in the semi-finals.) As per the contest rules, the poem is published in a hard-cover anthology once the contest has concluded. The mark is encouraged to order the book, at a high price, perhaps with extra costs for personalization. The scam is that many or all contestants reach the "semi-finals" and it appeals to their vanity to buy a low-quality book for a high price.
• In a drug dealer scam, the con man pretends he or she is selling illegal drugs and sometimes uses intimidation as part of the scam. Usually the victim hands over the money and is told to wait until the dealer comes back with the product. They never do. Some fake drug pushers will give out bags full of things such as acetaminophen, herbs, etc.
• Fake injuries, homeless or other "down on your luck" scam. The con-man pretends to have some injury or disadvantage to gain sympathy (and donations) e.g. a panhandler in a wheelchair, the woman with kids along the freeway off-ramp or the homeless veteran. In India in 2006, three doctors were investigated for offering to sever limbs in order to increase public sympathy toward their clients.
• Get-rich-quick schemes are so varied they nearly defy description. Everything from fake franchises, real estate "sure things", how-to-get-rich books and wealth-building seminars, self-help gurus, sure-fire inventions, useless products, chain letters, fortune tellers, quack doctors, miracle pharmaceuticals, charms and talismans are all used to separate the mark from his money.
• The Melon Drop is a scam in which the scammer will intentionally bump into the mark and drop a package containing broken glass that has already been broken. He will claim that the contents were broken by the clumsiness of the mark, and demand money to replace them. - This con arose when artists discovered that the Japanese paid high amounts of money for watermelons. The scammer would go to a supermarket to buy a cheap watermelon, bump into a Japanese tourist and demand that they pay a high price
• The glim-dropper requires several accomplices, one of whom must be a one-eyed man. He goes into a store and makes believe he has lost his glass eye. Everyone looks around, but the eye can’t 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, 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, can not be found and does not return.
• Insurance fraud is a scam in which 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 exaggerate). The con artist fraudulently collects a large sum of money from the mark's insurance policy, even though they intentionally caused the accident.
• The Talent agency scam involves one or more bogus, self-identified talent scouts or agents, who fool the mark into believing that they can make a lot of money in a glamorous career. This scam is seen in many creative fields, such as modeling, acting, creative writing, visual arts, and inventing. The mark is promised job offers, in exchange for a large fee to promote them or their work. Talent agencies that charge upfront fees should be viewed with suspicion.
• Lottery fraud by proxy is a particularly vicious 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. This con was featured in the movie Matchstick Men, where Nicolas Cage teaches it to his daughter. 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; instead the daily newspaper reporting the day's winning numbers was rewritten with a black pen.
• The pigeon drop, involves the mark or pigeon assisting an elderly, weak or infirm stranger to keep their money safe for them. In the process, the stranger (actually a confidence trickster) puts his money with the mark's money (in an envelope, briefcase, or sack) which the mark is then entrusted with. The money is actually not put into the sack or envelope, but is switched for a bag full of newspaper, etc. The mark is enticed to make off with the con man's money through the greed element and various theatrics, but in actuality, the mark is fleeing from his own money, which the con man still has (or has handed off to an accomplice).
• The fiddle game is a variation on the pigeon drop. 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 such 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 mark's greed comes into play when 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, then buys the violin from the fiddle player (who "reluctantly" sells it eventually for, say, £5,000). The result is the two con men are £5,000 richer (less the cost of the violin), and the mark is left with a cheap instrument
• The protection scheme takes advantage of the fact that there are con artists out there. The con man tells the mark that there is a web site you can register your credit card number on to keep it safe from stolen identity. The mark then willingly gives the con man their credit card number. The con man is then never seen again.
• In pseudoscience and snake oil scams, popular psychology confidence tricksters make money by falsely claiming to improve reading speed and comprehension using speed reading courses by fooling the consumer with inappropriate skimming and general knowledge tests. These popular psychology tricksters often employ popular assumptions about the brain and the cerebral hemispheres that are scientifically wrong, but attractive and easy to believe. A common myth is that we use only 10% of our brain. Similar scams involve the use of brain machines to alter brain waves, and intelligence amplification through balancing the mind and body.
• Psychic surgery is a con game in which the trickster uses sleight of hand to pretend to remove bits of malignant growths from the mark's body. A common form of medical fraud in underdeveloped countries, it imperils the victims, who may fail to seek competent medical attention.
• Replicas of well known brands, branded goods, designs and other material or immaterial intellectual property.
• Reloading scam: names of victims of a successful fraud often land in sucker lists to be further approached by other con men.
• Romance scam which involves fraudsters targeting lonely and vulnerable men and women is a traditional scam which 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 the Internet "sweetheart" is stuck in his home country, lacking the money to leave the country 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 they have checks which the victim can cash on their 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.
• Salting is the term for a scam in which gems or gold ore are planted in a mine or on the landscape, duping the greedy mark into purchasing shares in a worthless or non-existent mining company. For a 19th-century example, see the Diamond hoax of 1872; for a modern example, involving imaginary gold deposits in Borneo, see Bre-X. Popularized in the HBO Series Deadwood (TV) season 1 when Al Swearingen and E.B. Farnum trick Brom Garret in to believing gold is to be found on the claim Swearingen intends to sell him.
• The Spanish Prisoner scam — and its modern variant, the advance fee fraud or Nigerian scam — take advantage of the victim's greed. 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.
• 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 convinced to buy the jewelry from a store also operated by the swindlers. This scam has been operating for 20 years in Bangkok and is alleged 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.
• Three-card Monte, the "Three-card Trick", or "Follow the Lady", is (except for the props) essentially the same as the probably centuries-older shell game or thimblerig. 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. This is sometimes enough to entice the audience to place bets, but the trickster uses sleight of hand to ensure that they always lose, unless the con man decides to let them win to lure them into betting even more. The mark loses whenever the dealer chooses to make him lose. This con appears in the Eric Garcia novel Matchstick Men.
• In the trust scheme, a con artist teams with another con artist or shill to lead the mark to trusting them. The con artist will convince the mark to scam people with him, but after the crime spree is over, the con artist takes the mark's share of the money and disappears.
• Phishing is a modern form of scam in which the artist communicates with the mark, pretending to be from an official organization that the mark is doing business with, in order to extract personal information that can then be used, for example, to steal money. In a typical instance of phishing, the artist sends the mark an email pretending to be from a company (such as eBay). This email is formatted exactly like email from that business, and will ask the mark to "verify" some personal information at their website, to which a link is provided. The website itself is also fake but designed to look exactly like the business' website. The site will contain an HTML form asking for personal information such as credit card numbers. The mark will feel compelled to give this information because of words in the email or the site stating that they require the information again, for example to "reactivate your account". When the mark submits the form, the information is sent to the swindler.
• Free pet scam is a type of scam where the con man places a classified ad promising a very cheap or free animal (that is usually hard to get or is expensive). The con artists often say they've moved away, and all they ask is that the victim pay for just the shipping cost (usually rather high) to send the animal to the victim. The victim is told to transfer funds via Western Union to the swindler. The victim does so but never actually receives the pet.
• Beijing tea scam is a famous scam in and around Beijing. 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 £50 per head. The artists will then hand over their bills, and the tourists are obliged to follow suit.
• The 1883 "No Cents" Liberty Head nickel, a scam developed by con artists that electroplated Liberty Head nickels, intending to make storeowners believe that the gold-plated nickel was a £5 coin.
• Rip deal is a common swindle in Europe in which con artists present themselves as potential investors, then attract victims with under-the-counter payments.
• Lost Wallet/Lost ATM Card Scam is when the con artist somehow gains your trust, possibly by posing as a legitimate wealthy business person, or possibly a pro athlete. Initial contact with the victim normally happens in a public place such as a restaurant, tourist area, golf course, or any social situation. The con artist may use fake documents such as fake resume, fake W2, to try and convince you he is wealthy. He will explain all about his alleged assets - i.e. property he says he owns, bank accounts he says he has - which are lies. He will name-drop the designer labels he is wearing and how much they cost. He really owns nothing and everything he is wearing was purchased with stolen or conned money. Once confidence is gained, the con artist will pretend to have lost his wallet, atm card, and/or credit cards. This is to get you to pay his restaurant tabs or other expenses or to give him cash. He may trade personal checks for cash, with the personal checks leading to an empty account. He may also use his trust to gain access to your home, where he will steal cash and small electronics while you are sleeping, and he may put prescription painkillers in your food/beverage so that he has more time to peruse your belongings while you are drugged.
• Counterfeit bills The conman creates a counterfeit bill, then buys something of small value, and receives a lot of real money in change. For example, the conman creates a counterfeit £100 bill, buys a £1 chocolate bar at a store, and receives £99 of real money in change.
wathafuk.... paranoid????
