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Scam

A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men') at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')".[1]

Several terms redirect here. For the film of year 2016, see Confidence Game. For counterfeits, see Counterfeit consumer goods. For other uses, see Con Man, Con artist (disambiguation) and Scam (disambiguation).

Terminology[edit]

Other terms for scam (aside from confidence trick) include con, con game, confidence game, confidence scheme, ripoff, stratagem, finesse, grift, hustle, bunko (or bunco), swindle, flimflam, gaffle, and bamboozle.


The perpetrator is often referred to as a scammer, confidence man (or con man), con artist, grifter, hustler, or swindler.


The intended victims are known as marks, suckers, stooges, mugs, rubes, or gulls (from the word gullible).


When accomplices are employed, they are known as shills.

Length[edit]

A short con or "small con" is a fast swindle which takes just minutes, possibly seconds. It typically aims to rob the victim of his money or other valuables which they carry on their person or are guarding.[2]


A "long con" or "big con" (also, chiefly British English: long game)[3] is a scam that unfolds over several days or weeks; it may involve a team of swindlers, and even props, sets, extras, costumes, and scripted lines. It aims to rob the victim of a huge amount of money or other valuables, often by getting them to empty out banking accounts and borrow from family members.[4]

History[edit]

The shell game dates back at least to Ancient Greece.[5]


William Thompson (1821–1856) was the original "confidence man". Thompson was a clumsy swindler who asked his victims to express confidence in him by giving him money or their watch rather than gaining their confidence in a more nuanced way. A few people trusted Thompson with their money and watches.[6] Thompson was arrested in July 1849. Reporting about this arrest, James Houston, a reporter for the New York Herald, publicized Thompson by naming him the "Confidence Man".[6] Although Thompson was an unsuccessful scammer, he gained the reputation as a genius operator mostly because Houston's satirical tone was not understood as such.[6] The National Police Gazette coined the term "confidence game" a few weeks after Houston first used the name "confidence man".[6]

Bell, J. Bowyer; Whaley, Barton (1982). . Transaction Publishers. ISBN 978-0887388682.

Cheating and Deception (reprint 1991)

Blundell, Nigel (1984) [1982]. The World's Greatest Crooks and Conmen and other mischievous malefactors. Octopus Books.  978-0706421446.

ISBN

Dillon, Eamon (2008) [2008]. The Fraudsters: Sharks and Charlatans – How Con Artists Make Their Money. Merlin Publishing.  978-1903582824.

ISBN

Ford, Charles V. (1999) [1999]. . American Psychiatric. ISBN 978-0880489973.

Lies! Lies!! Lies!!!: The Psychology of Deceit

Henderson, Les (2000). . Coyote Ridge. ISBN 978-0968713303.

Crimes of Persuasion: Schemes, scams, frauds

Kaminski, Marek M. (2004). . Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0691117218.

Games Prisoners Play

Konnikova, Maria (2016). The Confidence Game: Why We Fall for It...Every Time. Viking.  978-0525427414.

ISBN

Lazaroff, Steven; Rodger, Mark (2018) [2018]. . Rodger & Laz Publishing S.E.N.C. ISBN 978-1775292128.

History's Greatest Deceptions and Confidence scams

Maurer, David W. (1999) [1940]. . Bobbs Merrill / Anchor Books. ISBN 978-0385495387.

The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man and the Confidence Game

Maurer, David W. (1974). . Springfield: Charles C. Thomas, Publisher. ISBN 978-0398029746.

The American Confidence Man

Reading, Amy (2012). . Knopf. ISBN 978-0307473592.

The Mark Inside: A Perfect Swindle, a Cunning Revenge, and a Small History of the Big Con

Smith, Jeff (2009). . Juneau: Klondike Research. ISBN 978-0981974309.

Soapy Smith: The Life and Death of a Scoundrel

Sutherland, Edwin Hardin (1937). . University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0226780511.

The Professional Thief (reprint 1989)

Weil, J.R. "Yellow Kid" (1948) [2004]. . Broadway Books. ISBN 978-0767917377.

Con Man: A Master Swindler's Own Story

Zhang, Yingyu (2017). . Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0231178631.

The Book of Swindles: Selections from a Late Ming Collection

Scam travel guide from Wikivoyage

Media related to Confidence tricks at Wikimedia Commons

. The Lost Museum, (GMU). Police Intelligence. New York Herald. July 8, 1849.

"Arrest of the Confidence Man"

. ChinaFile. 2017-11-15. Confidence tricks in China.

"Book of Swindles"

. FBI.gov.

"Prepaid funeral scam"

. Dateline NBC investigation. Archived from the original on 2007-03-24.

"To Catch a Con Man"