An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and is one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the fraudster claims will be used to obtain the large sum. If a victim makes the payment, the fraudster either invents a series of further fees for the victim to pay or simply disappears.
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 at the expense of their victims ".
Heartbreakers is a 2001 American romantic crime comedy film directed by David Mirkin and written by Robert Dunn, Paul Guay, and Stephen Mazur. The film stars Sigourney Weaver, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ray Liotta, Jason Lee, and Gene Hackman. It marks the last onscreen film appearance of Anne Bancroft before her death in June 2005.
The shell game is often portrayed as a gambling game, but in reality, when a wager for money is made, it is almost always a confidence trick used to perpetrate fraud. In confidence trick slang, this swindle is referred to as a short-con because it is quick and easy to pull off. The shell game is related to the cups and balls conjuring trick, which is performed purely for entertainment purposes without any purported gambling element.
The Grifters is a 1990 American neo-noir crime thriller film directed by Stephen Frears, produced by Martin Scorsese, and starring John Cusack, Anjelica Huston, and Annette Bening. The screenplay was written by Donald E. Westlake, based on Jim Thompson's 1963 novel of the same name. The film won the Independent Spirit Award for Best Film and was declared one of the Top 10 films of 1990 by The National Board of Review of Motion Pictures.
Email fraud is intentional deception for either personal gain or to damage another individual by means of email. Almost as soon as email became widely used, it began to be used as a means to defraud people. Email fraud can take the form of a "con game", or scam. Confidence tricks tend to exploit the inherent greed and dishonesty of its victims. The prospect of a 'bargain' or 'something for nothing' can be very tempting. Email fraud, as with other 'bunco schemes,' usually targets naive individuals who put their confidence in schemes to get rich quickly. These include 'too good to be true' investments or offers to sell popular items at 'impossibly low' prices. Many people have lost their life savings due to fraud.
"The Seven-Beer Snitch" is the fourteenth episode of the sixteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 3, 2005.
The pigeon drop is a confidence trick in which a mark, or "pigeon", is persuaded to give up a sum of money in order to secure the rights to a larger sum of money, or more valuable object. One of the con artists will typically claim to have found the money or valuable on the ground just before talking to the mark, or will even leave it on the ground and pretend to happen upon it at the same time as the mark, hence the term "drop."
The gem scam is a confidence trick performed usually against tourists. The most known version occurs in Bangkok, Thailand as well as other cities in the country. It is one of the most pervasive scams in Thailand. Most of the shops are gold or jewelry shops. The marks tend to be tourists from outside Thailand. It has been alleged that this scam has been operating for the past 20 years, sometimes in the same premises. It has been suggested that individuals in the Royal Thai Police and even politicians protect this scam. The scam was demonstrated on an episode of the BBC series The Real Hustle and in a Scam City episode in Bangkok. Also in other countries such as Turkey and Sri Lanka, the trick is performed in various versions.
Three-card monte – also known as find the lady and three-card trick – is a confidence game in which the victims, or "marks", are tricked into betting a sum of money, on the assumption that they can find the "money card" among three face-down playing cards. It is very similar to the shell game except that cards are used instead of shells.
In a reloading scam, a victim is repeatedly approached by con artists, often until "sucked dry". This form of fraud is perpetrated on those more susceptible to pressure after the first losses, perhaps because of hopes to recover money previously invested, perhaps because of inability to say "no" to a con man.
"Don't Look a Smith Horse in the Mouth" is the tenth episode of the sixth season of American Dad!. It aired on January 3, 2010 on Fox and is the first American Dad! episode to air in 16:9 720p high-definition.
Fernando Sucre, played by Amaury Nolasco, is a fictional character from the American television series, Prison Break. He is introduced to the series in the pilot episode as the prison cellmate of the series protagonist, Michael Scofield quickly growing into a major character in the series.
Trapped in the Closet: Chapters 23–33 is a 2012 series of music videos and the third installment of the Trapped in the Closet series by R&B artist R. Kelly. In a then-recent interview, Kelly said the new installment would feature 11 new chapters when it premiered, along with another 30, which would be filmed in January 2013. When this saga premiered, it featured the return of several cast members, including the main character, Sylvester, played by Kelly.
Sathuranga Vettai is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language heist film written and directed by debutant H. Vinoth, starring Natraj and Ishaara Nair in the lead roles, while Ponvannan, Ilavarasu, and Piraisoodan, among others, play supporting roles. Produced by Manobala, it features music by Sean Roldan and cinematography by K. G. Venkatesh. The film, touted to be an "indianized con movie", was released by Thiruppathi Brothers Film Media on 18 July 2014 and received positive reviews from critics. It has been remade in Telugu as Bluff Master and is being remade in Kannada as Jagath Khiladi. A sequel titled Sathuranga Vettai 2 starring Arvind Swamy and Trisha began production in October 2016 and wrapped in March 2017, but has not released as of 2023.
The Hustle is a 2019 American comedy film directed by Chris Addison, starring Anne Hathaway, Rebel Wilson and Alex Sharp. It was written by Stanley Shapiro, Paul Henning, Dale Launer, and Jac Schaeffer. It is a female-centered remake of the 1988 film Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which is a remake of the 1964 film Bedtime Story. The film follows two women who set out to con an Internet millionaire.
Teddy is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language fantasy action film written and directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan. The film features a teddy bear in the title role, along with Arya, Sayyeshaa, Sathish, Karunakaran and Magizh Thirumeni. The soundtrack and film score were composed by D. Imman and is produced by K. E. Gnanavel Raja under his production banner Studio Green.
