Ed McBain, noir thriller writer and creator of the 87th precinct series of books wrote ‘The Con Man’ in 1957. The novel tells the parallel stories of a con artist and the investigation into the deaths of two girls.
Reissued many times over the years, the book has a some great covers.
In 1972, writer Clifford Irving sold a fake autobiography of reclusive millionaire Howard Hughes to publishers McGraw Hill. Despite lie detectors, phone calls from real Hughes and extensive tests by handwriting experts to see if the signature on the contract were really by Hughes, the publishers stood by Irving.
In his account of the hoax, Project Octavio, Irving tried to shift some of the blame onto McGraw-Hill
“A moment in time arrives…when the victim’s willingness may lead him, consciously or otherwise, across the thin dividing line between gullibility and culpability.”
It’s an excuse that con artists from the smallest street hustler to the largest Ponzi schemer uses to excuse their actions and assuage their guilt: - You can’t con an honest man.
It is true that scams, by their very nature, require a certain willingness from the victim. If the victim is not willing, the scam becomes petty theft. The mark must freely hand over the money.
Exploiting the weakness of the mark does not make the mark culpable. Certainly, the mark may be guilty of a crime but not the crime with which we accuse the con artist.
Imagine I tell you I want your help in a card cheating scam. However, the scam is a double bluff and you end up penniless.
Do you deserve to be scammed?
Does being the perpetrator of one crime, make it ok to make you the victim of another?
As a con artist, am I less culpable for my crime because you areparticularly gullible or particularly dishonest?
I’m very excited about this new scam to hit Australia.
Firstly, it’s an excuse to use the meme ‘2.0′ to describe it.
Secondly, it’s devastatingly simple, risk free for the con artist and would have a high success rate.
Step One: The con artist advertises in the local paper for secret shoppers. Stay with me, it’s not your usual secret shopper swindle.
Step Two: The mark responds to the advertisment and is told they will be testing customer service at Western Union. They are given 2000 euro in fake traveller’s cheques.
Step Three: The mark cashes the cheques and sends 1650 euro to the con artists overseas. They keep 350 for themselves.
Step Four: To allay any suspicions, the mark is asked to fill in a survey on their customer service experience.
The con artist gets to pass off thousands of dollars of cheques around the world, the mark gets paid and Western Union absorb the loss.
Pictured: Sen Const Mick Carmody. Not Pictured: Appropriate facial hair.
Comics are for nerds. Graphic novels are for nerds who don’t want to admit they are nerds.
The world of comics - sorry, graphic novels - is an excellent source for forgers and con artists.
Recently, a forger spent many hours trying to create a forgery of Lee Joong-sup’s painting, white bull. The forger was caught Lee is one of Korea’s most celebrated modernist painters.
One of these pictures is bull. Geddit?
A lot of hard work down the drain.
Now consider Mike Turner. Turner, who died in 2008 of bone cancer, is a legend in the comic community. He drew for Batman, Superman, The Flash and Soulblade. Not that I’m into that sort of stuff.
According to Bleeding Cool, ebay is full of fake Turner sketches. The listing shows a real sketch but the winning bidder gets a fake.
The comic community does not have the same resources to find forgers as the wider art community.
Not only that, it is far easier for a forger to fake a simple sketch then a complex oil painting.
Furthermore, many people outside of comics don’t even think of comics as ‘real art’.
A new study has shown that one in four Australian pokers players admits to having cheated while playing in private games, tournaments and casinos.
The study was conducted by Nicholas Johnson, an Australian entertainer and researcher into scams and fraud. The study, based on results given anonymously by 300 Australian card players, focused on the techniques and methods used in the popular game, Texas Hold‘em.
“60% of players are aware that cheats do operate in poker games,” said Johnson. “They are just not always aware of what the techniques are and how to spot them. Many players assume that cheats are using sleight of hand or marked cards to win.”
In reality, the most popular method of cheating is ‘collusion’ with almost half of card cheats using the technique. “Collusion involves two or more players working together to secretly gain an advantage over another player.” Johnson explained. “For example, a player with a strong hand may drop out in order to allow his partner to win. Collusion is particularly popular in internet poker where players can freely communicate with their confederates.”
However, Australian card cheats also rely on more skilful techniques to defraud their opponents. “We found in the study that 8% of card cheats are mechanics, relying on dexterity and skill to win. They will deal cards from bottom of the deck, swap their cards for better cards after the deal or even stack the deck while shuffling to guarantee themselves a winning hand.”
For more information on card cheating in Australia and Nicholas J. Johnson, please call 0409461776 or email sleightofhand@conman.com.au .
Techniques used by Australian card cheats
Where Australia’s witness and/or suspect card cheating
