This illustrates how hustlers can construct a scenario that depends on their victim to act as anticipated. There’s no traditional hook in a con like this, just a situation that creates a trap for a victim to fall into. In a sense, instinctive reactions and typical behavior are the hook because the victim simply acts in a way that is natural to him. Theft by distraction might not be a scam in the strictest sense, but it can reveal something about the way these criminals think and interpret the world around them. Once a common reaction or behavior has been identified, hustlers might see a way to exploit that situation.
The simplest distractions depend on predictable actions that are often instinctive to most people. Approaching a cafe, I once knocked on a window to get the attention of someone inside while tapping my wrist and miming “What time is it?” The mark responded by showing her watch and holding it closer to the window. I waved thanks and walked away as Jess left the cafe with the mark’s bag, which had been hanging on the back of her chair. Had she not leaned forward to show me her watch, Jess would not have been able to take the bag. It took the victim twenty minutes to notice her bag was gone; no one else in the cafe had seen or suspected a thing.
Pickpockets also depend on the predictable behavior of crowds. On the street, they know where people tend to gather in large numbers or are forced into close contact with each other: places like crosswalks while waiting for the light, busy escalators, or crowded markets. These situations allow thieves to get close to people and make a steal without raising suspicion. Getting close enough to pick a pocket or dip into a bag is the first step; what they steal or how they steal it is then a matter of skill. Some “dips” are incredibly gifted and can deftly remove items held in seemingly impossible to reach places but, for the most part, pickpockets tend to go for the easy money. Some will simply cut into a bag or outer pocket with a sharp knife and catch what falls out, while others will blatantly open someone’s bag to look for anything worth taking. Around the world, many tourists have turned around to find someone with both hands buried in their backpack.
Years ago, while working a pitch in a Glasgow shopping mall, I regularly saw an old man walking around, watching people closely. He was clearly up to something, and a few days later, he was arrested by security. Several people had reported losing wallets and small purses and the old man was their prime suspect, but after searching him, they found no evidence and were forced to let him go.
Upon hearing this, I asked security if they had searched his umbrella, which he was always carrying. He was later observed picking pockets with the hand that held the umbrella, then immediately dropping the wallet into the folds of the umbrella! I’ve seen the same ruse in London, with a clever twist. After it had been raining, the pickpocket would get too close to their mark, soaking the victim’s leg with the wet umbrella. This gave the thief a good reason to step back and apologize, extracting a difficult to reach wallet in the process.
In Spain’s beautiful capital, Madrid, I have watched dozens of pickpockets work in the crowded cloisters of the Plaza Major, in busy Internet cafes, and in the city’s busy Metro during rush hour. Most working pickpockets are more audacious than skilled and simply learn the daily patterns of movement that allow them to get close enough to take anything within reach. Many work in teams with each member willing to go for a victim’s belongings while other members of the gang do the distracting.
One of the simplest strategies I’ve seen was used in the Metro where some ticket turnstiles have a short enclosure leading to a retracting wall that opens and closes as tickets are inserted into the slot. Two thieves time their approach to the barrier so that a potential victim with a backpack or shoulder bag becomes sandwiched between them. The pickpocket is behind the victim as his partner inserts an expired ticket into the slot, which is rejected, stopping him from going through. In a busy station, people naturally follow closely behind one another, but when a barrier refuses to open, two or three people are suddenly pushed together and need to back out of the enclosure to allow the person in front to get out. This situation is engineered so that the victim doesn’t react to the person behind being so close, and while everyone is backing out, the pickpocket can easily grab something of value.
I spend a lot of time in Spain. It is my favorite country to visit, and Madrid is one of my favorite places on Earth. Though they are there, I can say it is by no means the worst place for pickpockets and opportunist thieves. In truth, almost any place where there are a lot of tourists or people out of their element will attract those willing to steal. The most effective methods tend to be those that adapt to each location.
Around 2004, a doctor from Kazakhstan told me about an ingenious method for stealing wallets. The thieves would use children to loiter in shops or markets, looking for anyone taking a wallet from their back pocket. When they saw a suitable target, the child would stand behind the victim, waiting for the mark to replace his wallet into the same pocket while they held a short length of soft string or wool in front of that pocket. When the billfold was pushed down it caught the middle of the string, leaving two ends dangling from the top of the pocket. As the mark walked away, an adult would spot the “tail” and easily steal the wallet by pulling upwards on the string and catching it! This is an ingenious idea that requires a knack to set the string properly, but once done, picking the pocket is almost automatic.
My friend Apollo Robbins is, in my opinion, the greatest living theatrical pickpocket. He has developed a level of skill so high that he is able to steal almost anything from anywhere. I’ve watched him pull wallets from tight hip pockets, watches from wrists, and even rings from fingers. Watching Apollo work is a lesson in the art of distraction as he manipulates members of his audience into doing exactly what he wants in order to steal their belongings. Putting Apollo on the street would be like sending an astronaut to fix a washing machine. His incredible degree of skill in this field teaches us an important lesson: anything can be taken if the conditions are just right. In the context of a show, Apollo is able to dictate those conditions, take whatever he wants, and make the audience love him for it. In truth, you’re more likely to be targeted by pickpockets with a fraction of Apollo’s skill, but watching him work can be a sobering lesson about just how vulnerable we really are.
Many scams are built on common misconceptions, presumptions, and automatic reactions. Pickpockets and distraction thieves teach us that predictable behavior is well, predictable by others, and thus can easily be used against us. Like the ticket turnstile scam, more complex confidence tricks manipulate people into situations where their choices are preordained and their actions are easily anticipated.
Assume Nothing
One of the simplest short cons I ever pulled was also one of the most profitable.
In Las Vegas, while filming The Real Hustle, Alex and I dressed in simple, generic outfits that resembled those worn by valets around the city. Outside an expensive off-Strip restaurant, Jess distracted the real valet driver as Alex and I took his place and waited for the first two cars—a Porsche and a Hummer. Jackpot! The car owners took our homemade tickets without question, gave us their keys, then walked into the restaurant. By the time the real valet returned, we were long gone with half a million dollars worth of automobiles. Two hours later, the owners learned the truth and reacted accordingly. It took our producer a long time to calm them down. He was probably lucky that one of our marks had left his handgun under the seat of his stolen Hummer.
Scams that prey on supposition are among the easiest to pull off. In the UK, simply by wearing a bright, luminous-yellow “high-viz” jacket, people assume the wearer to be in a position of authority. These jackets are so common and well known that whenever we wore them for a scam, people would approach us to ask for help or directions. In one simple con, I placed a crude sign over a ticket machine in a parking lot that told people it was out of order and that they should pay “the attendant.” For thirty minutes, I took people’s money and gave them bogus parking recei
pts before walking away with hundreds of pounds—all thanks to that ugly yellow jacket. Many years earlier, Frank Abagnale Jr., whose life story was the basis for the movie Catch Me If You Can, used the same principle when he dressed as a security guard, told bank customers that the overnight deposit was out of order, and invited them to drop their money into a temporary safe-box. Dozens of people read the sign and handed over their cash and shop takings without asking any questions. When we pulled the same scam on Real Hustle, we barely had to say anything—the uniform and the sign did all the work.
Presenting marks with recognizable scenarios and depending on their predicted responses is a common strategy. Across Europe, hustlers wear simple suits and carry counterfeit credentials to impersonate the local police, stopping tourists on the street to ask questions as a means to steal wallets and passports. We used the same ruse in London to stop a man who was carrying a bag of expensive items from an electronics store. We suggested that he might have stolen these items and asked to check his receipt. As expected, he was so keen to prove his innocence, it was an easy matter for me to keep his belongings while Alex walked him back to the shop. Inside the store, Alex simply walked away, supposedly to find the manager, as our angry mark waited with receipt in hand. Eventually, the mark learned the truth and realized that he had just given away thousands of dollars thanks to a cheap suit and a replica ID.
When confronted with authority, most people usually comply, but even if they resist, the threat of further problems usually forces them to tow the line. In these cases, the situation tends to dictate the victim’s reaction. We’re so used to behaving in a certain way that it’s not difficult for a con artist to predict what we’ll do. In all of these scams, a simple question or two might be enough to expose the deception, but even against a gifted grifter, it’s possible to smell a rat if you are able to stop and think.
Counterswitch Bills
Common crooks occasionally develop clever methods to pull off simple crimes. Passing counterfeit money would seem to be one of the easiest rackets, but getting caught with fakes can mean serious consequences. One of the cleverest ways to “clean” small amounts of counterfeit cash—trade it for real money—is to buy something inexpensive with a genuine fifty-dollar bill. The cashier will hand over two twenties and some change. These two genuine bills are then handed back to the cashier while asking for four tens instead. The twenty-dollar bills are easily switched as other change is being counted, and if the clerk notices anything wrong with the bills, the hustler wouldn’t immediately be suspected because the money apparently came from the clerk’s own register.
In practice, when returning the two twenties, salespeople don’t bother to check unless they suspect a switch, which is exactly what happened while filming an episode of The Real Hustle.
The show had started inviting celebrity guests to take part in the scams, and the model Caprice was tasked with switching two twenty-pound notes underneath a cheap DVD during a simple transaction. But when she tried to pull it off, the cashier saw the whole thing and started yelling for her manager. Jess, who had accompanied Caprice, made for the door, leaving our celebrity guest alone with the angry staff; thinking fast, Alex and I walked over from our secret production base wearing suits. We entered the shop and claimed to be the police, flashing our wallets and asking what just happened. The staff immediately accepted our story, and moments later, we walked out with Caprice and a large amount of cash from the register for “evidence”!
This situation shows how a con artist can adapt to seize an opportunity, but what I find truly fascinating is that despite seeing the switch, the same eagle-eyed cashier didn’t notice that all I flashed her was the inside of an ordinary wallet with a picture of my kids. It’s not just what a hustler says or does: when, where, and the way in which it is said can be just as important.
As it turns out, this particular scam is extremely rare because, while it offers the benefit of plausible deniability and reduces suspicion during the act, it requires the hustler to present himself in a certain way (in terms of image and dress) to avoid suspicion and to engage the cashier directly when asking for change. Most crooks just want to get the money and get out, and the direct approach works so often that adding steps to the process doesn’t seem worth the effort. Most criminals prefer the easiest method, which is natural; if they were willing to do a little more work, they might have chosen a different career!
Though there is a cleverness to confidence tricks, most crooks tend to prefer the path of least resistance. Their rule is to get in, get out, and get away. Scams only spread when they are simpler and more effective than the alternative.
A few years ago, I consulted for Scotland Yard (headquarters of London’s Metropolitan Police) and gave a lecture on the art of deception. Afterward, one of the senior officers mentioned a small scam that had baffled the police under his command. Local shops were reporting losses from their cash registers, but in most cases, there was no way the money could have been removed without someone being seen. The only common factor was a group of people who had all come into the shop and had asked the clerk to exchange ten-pound notes for twenty-pound notes. Each time, the clerk checked the ten-pound notes, then counted the correct number of twenty-pound notes into the grifter’s hand. The answer struck me right away, and I quickly explained how a hustler might be able to steal extra money during such a simple transaction.
As it turns out, I was right on the money.
The secret was simple but ingenious. Whenever scammers entered the shop, they were preceded by confederates, who bought small items using crisp, new twenty-pound notes. The con artists would then buy something with a larger denomination (or ask for change) so the employee would count money from the drawer containing the same twenty-pound notes used by their cohorts. The money was real but coated with a thin layer of dry rubber cement so that when the hustlers received change from that drawer, the treated bills would stick together and be easily counted as one. The gang was arrested a few weeks later attempting the same scam in a different county.
The Evolution of a Free Lunch
Short cons rely a lot less on baiting a hook than more complex con games do. Instead, they use the line and the sinker to create or adapt to common—and seemingly innocent—scenarios. While distraction theft and pickpocketing are among the most basic scams, creative crooks continue to develop clever ways to steal. Even with a basic scam like the dine and dash, where crooks try to avoid paying a large restaurant bill, there are dozens of devious methods to “walk the check.”
The most obvious way to escape paying for dinner is to just get up and leave, but waiters are not shy about chasing down delinquent customers, especially when some owners will hold their staff responsible for an unpaid meal. A cleverer method would be to arrive with several shopping bags and leave those at the table while stepping outside to smoke or make a phone call. The bags might be filled with old newspapers, but they would automatically convince many waiters that the customer is coming back until he is long gone.
Switching checks is another clever way to steal a meal. Two hustlers enter a restaurant and sit separately. One orders an enormous steak dinner, while the other has nothing more than coffee and an appetizer. After both hustlers receive their checks, one walks to the bathroom, secretly exchanging the paper slips as he passes his partner’s table. The first grifter then pays for the smaller check and leaves. A few minutes later, the other con artist complains that he only had coffee and a small salad but his check is for much more. The waiter will usually write it off as a simple mistake on his part and blame the first customer for not saying anything about getting the wrong check. This scam is often attempted as waiters change shifts, when it is easier to get things mixed up.
The dine and dash can become even more sophisticated when scammers force an innocent diner to pay for their meal. Years ago, my friend BH explained a con that he used as a poor student to score several free meals. After eating, BH would stand up to leave and pretend to
notice something under someone’s chair. Reaching down he would produce a wallet and ask the person sitting there if it belonged to him. Since the wallet belonged to BH, they would always say “no,” so BH told them he would hand it to the staff on his way out. Just as he was about to leave, BH asked the mark’s name and if they would mind waving so he could show the waitress where he found the wallet. The mark would then watch BH walk across the restaurant, talk to a member of staff, and indicate where he found the wallet. The mark would then wave and smile before returning to their meal.
What the mark didn’t realize is that, when BH approached the waitress, he told her an entirely different story. He’d say, “My uncle is here and insists on buying my dinner. There he is . . .” and would wave at the mark who kindly confirmed his story by returning the gesture. Later, when the mark asked for his check he’d find BH’s meal added to the bill, which he had unwittingly permitted with his wave.
I’ve pulled this scam several times for television. On Scammed, where I was able to adapt and re-invent the cons we pulled,* I added another layer by dropping my wallet and waiting for the mark to notice. This time, as I left, I offered to send them all a bottle of wine for finding my wallet and asked their names so that, when talking to the waitress, I could call over and confirm if they wanted red or white wine. What I told the waitress was that my friend Luke wanted to pay and also wanted another bottle of wine. When Luke confirmed this, my story was quickly accepted.
This is a great example of two different perspectives being used to conceal what’s really going on, but when both sides compare their versions of events, it can take a while before the truth is pieced together.
The Art of the Con Page 17