The Art of the Con (24 page)

In the end, it's all about building the victim's confidence and creating an irresistible opportunity. Just like all con games, it's more about what's happening inside the mark's head, knowing how people react to engineered scenarios, and taking advantage of human nature.

D
o another one!” demanded the bartender as the applause faded.

I put my cards away and shook my head, smiling as the crowd joined in. I had been performing for about ten minutes—small miracles and “betchas” for an audience that had grown considerably in that time. I had successfully won a few drinks and performed the seemingly impossible. Nearby, the owner of the bar watched with interest but kept his distance as I agreed to one last trick.

“What's the biggest bill you have in the cash register?” I asked.

The bartender turned, opened the register, and pulled out a one-hundred-dollar bill.

“Okay, that'll work,” I said, removing a pen from my pocket. “Here's the bet. You sign this bill—any way you like—and I will wrap it up in this paper napkin. Then, I'm going to make it vanish and reappear—with your signature—inside the register!”

Everyone looked at the cash register behind the bar, behind the bartender, and against the back wall. It seemed impossible for me to gain access without being seen, but I continued, “If I can do it, I keep the hundred. If not, I give you another hundred-dollar bill. Fair?”

It took a few minutes for him to agree. He verified all of the conditions several times until, egged on by the crowd, he finally conceded to the bet. Using my pen, he signed the bill and watched carefully as I folded it, taking great care not to do anything suspicious. I then placed it under the napkin and pinched the top to hold it in place. No one blinked as I did this; they were all eager to catch me out if I made a single false move. To verify that the hundred-dollar bill was inside, I let the barman reach under the napkin and feel it. A few other people did the same until everyone was certain of where the signed bill really was.

With a dozen pairs of eyes watching closely, I folded and rolled the napkin into a tight ball, then set fire to it! The bartender panicked but I assured him that it was all part of the act and that there was nothing to worry about. I took another hundred from my pocket and slid it under a glass to reassure him. Meanwhile, everyone continued to watch as the napkin burned and slowly turned to ash.

When the flames died, I reached into the ashes and rubbed them between my fingers before looking up at the bartender, saying “It's gone!” Everyone laughed, but I wasn't kidding. I looked the bartender in the eye and told him that the signed bill was now inside the cash register.

Turning, he slowly walked to the machine, perhaps expecting me to try something at the last moment. He knew that there was no way the signed c-note could be inside, but he'd already seen me perform miracles with pocket change and was clearly nervous. His hand trembling, he hit a button and the drawer popped out to reveal the signed hundred-dollar bill in its original compartment. Shocked, he showed the bill to the crowd. Everyone checked the signature, utterly baffled. I quickly reminded him of the bet and he grudgingly handed over the money.

As I left I reminded the audience to tip my victim generously before walking over to my friend, the owner, who was laughing his ass off. Seeing this, the bartender realized he'd been set up; but he still had no idea how the trick was done or how much I had
actually
stolen from the register.

The term “short con” refers to a confidence trick played for fast money—whatever the mark has in his wallet or can obtain quickly. They are usually hit-and-run ruses that target all walks of life, from small businesses and stores to unwary tourists. Simple scams such as short-changing, dine and dash, or thefts by distraction can be regarded as short cons. Some swindles can be more complex, as in the magic bar bet I just described. Most of the time, they happen quickly, often in a single interaction designed to trick people into giving and losing their money or possessions.

Short cons tend to rely on predictable behavior, where a grifter simply takes advantage of a situation in order to steal from his or her victim. The hook or the line might be small or even nonexistent as these scams are all about getting the money quickly. Once caught in the middle of a short con, the mark can only escape by breaking social conventions and walking away or by confronting the hustlers directly. But short con artists are not easily dissuaded. Once they have someone in their sights, they will keep going after the money, trying any tactic to bring down their mark.

Like hyenas, they can be relentless. One of the clearest illustrations of this was a piece of video footage I saw several years ago from an airport parking lot. A couple had arrived with several suitcases and were carefully protecting their bags in the waiting area when a group of distraction thieves approached them. The gang attempted several tactics to get the couple to take their hands and eyes off of their luggage . They asked for directions, they dropped change, and offered to help carry the bags. Each time, the couple politely refused but the thieves were relentless, continually circling their targets, looking for an opportunity. The couple did a great job of protecting their property—until their friend arrived to pick them up. The man and woman both embraced their driver and, in that instant, the gang simply grabbed the bags and ran. I wouldn't call these thieves con artists, but it clearly shows how determined and shameless a criminal can be when they think something is worth taking.

There can be a cleverness to more sophisticated distraction scams. On
The Real Hustle
, we had Jess enter a cafe with a bag from a nearby clothing store. She placed the bag on a chair and asked a businessman who was sitting nearby if he would mind watching it while she went to the bathroom. Who could say no to Jess? Nearby, I watched the mark follow Jess with his eyes, and when the moment was right, I walked by, picked up Jess's bag, and pretended to go after another woman who was leaving the cafe. Supposedly, I thought the bag had been left behind by the woman who was leaving, and as I chased her outside, the mark followed quickly and took the bag from me. I apologized, explained my mistake, and walked away as the mark returned to find that while he had been chasing after me, Alex had stolen his jacket and briefcase.

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.