The Modern Con Man

2009-05-08T07:53:00.001-07:00

Hipster Griftster

2009-04-17T09:06:00.001-07:00

Is "Hipster Grifter" just another way of saying "Modern Con Man"? We hope so since the phrase is getting tossed around a lot these days, thanks to Kari Ferrell -- actually thanks to Gawker, which has been our definitive source on the story. Here are a couple of their links

Meet Kari.
The scammer spotted.
A visual history.
Charm in action.

Dirty Money

2009-04-13T21:21:00.000-07:00

The Black Money Scam (aka The Wash Wash) is one of those things that sounds so old-timey, like something out of The Sting, that it kinda makes you wish you were around in the '50s to watch a grifter at work with it. Hard to believe then that the scam itself isn't even a decade old.

If you want to see how it's done, watch this video. (It takes a few minutes but totally worth it)

When we watched the video last year, we thought well this is cute, if a little ridiculous. But then we read this news story today and realized that not only is it still possible to pull the Black Money Scam, but people seem to really be falling for it hard - and they're not happy. In fact, two Long Island con men are now dead (sheesh, they just can't catch a break these days!) killed in a house "littered with pieces of black paper used in the scam"...

True

2009-04-01T07:41:00.000-07:00

Did you know a recent study in American shopping habits showed that April Fools Day is the second biggest gift-giving day of the year? So hop on the bandwagon and buy this book today. Next year, let's go for number one.

And here's a fake history of the holiday, with a complete waste of a list.

"When Good Cons Go Bad"

2009-03-14T19:18:00.000-07:00

That's the title of a section in our book, but with this whole Bernie Madoff thing going on, it's not a bad subject to return to. While our take on the subject is a little less wild than his, movie-blogger Jeffrey Wells has a pretty well thought-out and extensive plan on what he'd have done in Bernie's shoes when it looked like things were about to tank.

It involves a plastic surgery in the Ukraine, bodyguards in Moscow, high-security in Vietnam, and of course massive amounts of cash. And that's just the first third of the plan. Click here to read.

2009-02-08T10:26:00.000-08:00

If you're in Northhampton, we hope you already got your tickets to Being Harry Houdini, this afternoon's celebration hosted by The Modern Con Man, Todd Robbins.

If you didn't get tix in time, you can always just read about it here.

Conned Man?

2009-02-04T12:06:00.000-08:00

This story is almost too crazy to believe. A guy scammed $600,000 from his clients – then lost it all when he sent the money to a Nigerian who told him he'd inherited a fortune. Wow. We suggest making Nigerian friends ASAP, as it turns out this ploy is going to keep Michael Axel from spending even one night in jail.

Someone is having a good laugh.

"Use your brains, man."

2009-01-21T08:00:00.000-08:00

This NBC report on the Secret Shopper Scam seems more interested in showing video of a pathetic-looking victim (hey, that's our job) than actually describing the scam. Since they have decided to leave that part out, here's an explanation. The old saying about "if something appears too good to be true" apparently does apply to getting a check for $5000 and being told you've been hired to spend it on yourself dining in restaurants and shopping.

Confessions of a Shopaholic opens February 13.

New Year, Old World

2009-01-07T08:08:00.000-08:00

Back off – we already have the story rights to this one. "The city of Walthamstow, in northeast London, Great Britain, has hired a magician to fight a scourge of card-based conmen." (for the entire story, check out the Ellusionist blog here). We got jealous just reading this line, too: "The officer spoke to the council and encouraged it to recruit Faja, whose older brother worked in a pub where members of the Magic Circle hung out." The Magic Circle! It might be 2009 now, but it's good to know the Old World, especially this dreamlike version of it, still exists out there.

A Very Nigerian Christmas

2008-12-24T07:42:00.001-08:00

It's that time of year again, so once again we warn you about this season's most successful scam.

More awards

2008-12-19T09:07:00.000-08:00

"The Perfect Mark of the Year" Award simply has to go to Janella Spears of Sweet Home, Ore., who at least supplies the answer to the oft-asked question: "Does anyone really fall for the Nigerian scam?" Because she not only did, she did it to the tune of $400,000. When a story like this begins with "Janella Spears doesn't think she's a sucker," you know you're in for a treat. Among the other notable things in the story (read it here), are:

The scammers told her the FBI Director and President Bush were in on the deal and needed her help...
...which meant sending $8,300 for a promised $26.6 million...
...even though more money was soon being requested...
...even though the emails were riddled with spelling errors...
...and the letter from President Bush himself saying the millions she was promised would otherwise go to terrorists, so she had to do whatever was needed to acquire it...
...so she wiped out a retirement account and mortgaged the house...
...even though everyone she knew, including family, the bank, and authorities told her it was a scam...
...because she believed the scammers when they promised each payment would be "the last one"...
...and in the end, she claimed she just wanted the millions so she could help people in need.

But she's not the only one winning an award today. Anna Song of KATU News deserves something for her attempt at sounding like a real journalist when she begins her introduction of Spears with the confounding need to let us know Janella has "no relation to the well-known pop star."

We have a winner

2008-12-15T08:27:00.000-08:00

"The Largest Investor Swindle Ever by a Single Individual" Award has just been won by Bernard L. Maddoff, whose Wall Street "Ponzi Scheme" took in over $50 billion. Congrats, Bernie.

If you're wondering how he plans on topping this – as if that's possible – don't expect much. Perhaps knowing that he'd be hard-pressed to beat his own record, he is reported to have announced that he is "finished."

Here's a pretty good story to start with.

And you can learn more about the man who started it all, Charles Ponzi, in Ponzi: The Incredible True Story of the King of Financial Cons (Library of Larceny)

"I might have been lying"

2008-12-04T07:59:00.000-08:00

And because it's on our mind, here are the lyrics to Elvis Costello's The Impostor. ( click here to watch a kick-ass performance of it from '79)

Trying to be too bad
Trying to talk too tough
Trying to jack the lad
You'd think he'd had enough
But he's not the man you'd think that he can be
I just don't know why you can't see
That he is only the imposter
That he is only the imposter

You've never been this far
You've always been too smart
And you know all our boys
Are really girls at heart
But he's not...

When I said that I was lying I might have been lying
Never let me hear you say you're not trying

This is your big decision
Hope you're not disappointed
He's got double vision
When you want him double jointed
And he's not...
He'll only bring you souvenirs
It's only gonna end in tears
And he is only the imposter

"Good morning, Mr. Rockefeller"

2008-12-04T07:49:00.000-08:00

We recently posted about The Impostor, a favorite theme of ours, and the most well-known recent example is probably the Clark Rockefeller story. Whether you followed it or not, a new article in Vanity Fair feels like the definitive piece on this "lifelong con game," exploring all his identities, Christian Gerhartsrelter, Chistopher Chichester, Christopher Crowe, and finally Clark Rockefeller.

Read it online here.

Ants in the pants

2008-11-28T12:48:00.000-08:00

Scamming almost half-a-billion bucks from investors would rank Wang Zhendong (say it fast and it sounds like "wangs and dong" – childish, yes, but true) as a master con artist. But then he went and got executed, thus disqualifying him from the title. His con of choice? "A bogus scheme for breeding ants to make aphrodisiacs." Read more about it here.

Kent Conned

2008-11-24T07:37:00.001-08:00

There are probably only a dozen types of con stories, but our favorite is the one about The Impostor... the latest having come to light this month in Dover, Kent (UK). Read the whole story here. Great detail about a clip-on ponytail – that's thinking on your feet.

Soon we will have to list the other eleven varieties for you.

2008-11-20T10:38:00.000-08:00

Article of the day: Audience happy to be hoodwinked.

Hoodwinked
When: Saturday, 3 and 8 p.m.
Where: CityStage, 1 Columbus Center, Springfield
Cost: Tickets, priced at $26.50, are available at CityStage Box Office at 1 Columbus Center, by phone at (413) 788-7033, or online at Ticketmaster.com
For more info: Call 413-788-7033 or visit www.citystage.symphonyhall.com

Con Ed

2008-11-19T15:57:00.000-08:00

Portfolio magazine just ran an article featuring "America's No. 1 Con Man." As the intro states, "Former grifter Todd Robbins has made a career out of the art of deception. Here are his lessons for how to avoid getting played for a sucker..." Click here to read the whole thing.

When you're done, order our book for way more – and better – information. Sorry, but it's not like Todd's gonna give away the good stuff for free.

Science of Scam

2008-11-18T09:09:00.000-08:00

BoingBoing is back in our line of business (here's the BoingBoing review of our book, The Modern Con Man) with an interesting little story about the science of scams... specifically, how – and why – Paul J. Zak, a neuroeconomist and director of the Center for Neuroeconomics Studies at Claremont Graduate University, was once taken by one of our flam-flam favorites....

Click here to read the whole thing.

Tour Dates

2008-11-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

As promised, here are the November tour dates for Hoodwinked. If you're anywhere near these theaters (within, say, a six hour drive), you owe it to yourself. Seeing Todd Robbins (America's No.1 Con Man) in person is one thing – but this time he's bringing his "associates" and, truly, this one-of-a-kind show is not to be missed.

November 18
State Theatre, Easton, PA – 8PM

November 19
Lyman Center, New Haven, CT

November 20
Proctors Theatre, Schenectady, NY – 8PM

November 21
Tarrytown Music Hall, Tarrytown, NY – 8PM

November 22
City Stage, Springfield, MA – 3PM & 8PM

Hoodwinked, hitting the road

2008-10-19T17:14:00.000-07:00

Check out this great promo for the upcoming Hoodwinked tour. Next month, Todd and the gang are finally taking the show on the road so we'll be posting more show details this week. In the meantime...

Click to watch.

2008-08-23T10:36:00.000-07:00

We're suckers for any movie about grifters (and have been long overdue for a decent one), especially when the official synopsis contains this little tease: "Eager to retire, Bloom agrees to take part in one last grand scam." Man, those things never turn out as planned (which is why we have sworn-off retirement).

Check out The Brothers Bloom trailer here.

But if you can't wait until its release in October...

Two Con Men: Their names are Clever Chan and Tricky Ching, and if that wasn't enough, they also engage in "the age-old competition between a rookie con artist versus the ultimate, experienced flimflam man." Awesome! Buy here.

Carry on Con Men: This is the sequel to Two Con Men, and while "Clever Chan is back matching wits with Tricky Ching, this time it's personal." Also features five popular inmates of the Big Flower Brothel... Little Clam, Crazy Girl, Sticky Pudding, Tomboy, and the Tigress. Needless to say, "It's a con-test of hilarious con-sequences!" Buy here.

He didn't learn this from our book

2008-08-10T10:54:00.000-07:00

The AP headline reads "19 indictments for accused underwear-survey conman" and the report begins "A man accused of conning parents into allowing him to be alone with their children to conduct a 'marketing survey'..."

This story is a very disturbing one and not just for the obvious reason. No, it's also upsetting to see someone who tricked parents into letting him fondle their kids labeled as a con man. How about pedophile?

And at the end of the piece, it refers to what he did as a "scam." Give me a break. You want to know what a scam is? Try reading this.

A tip of the hat

2008-08-03T17:29:00.000-07:00

Click here to read The Modern Con Man co-writer Jack Silbert's tribute to another literary con artist, Lee Israel. Her book, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, has been getting a lot of attention lately, and Jack's piece is a sweet and funny reminder of how little we know about those around us.

Buy the book here.

2008-07-22T07:51:00.000-07:00

We just returned from the UK, where – as fans of the sensational – we were particularly taken by these headlines for the Evening Standard ("London's Quality Newspaper"). These three appeared within the same 24 hours... which made us want to extend our trip to see what happened next.

Four Conmen of the Apocalypse

2008-07-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

Follow this link for a profile of Richard Turner, one of the other con men in Hoodwinked. Richard, a wicked card sharp (and possibly blind), is photographed second from the left. Left of him, of course, is Todd Robbins, who we thank for not draping anything over his shoulder.

Also, just asked Todd about plans for the Fall tour of Hoodwinked... "There are only five of them right now, but a full tour is to happen in 09."

2008-07-10T16:32:00.001-07:00

Those in Montreal have the rare chance of catching The Modern Con Man himself, Todd Robbins, in a live performance next week that's part of the prestigious Just For Laughs festival. As the program says: "Hoodwinked is the first show of its kind. The cast of con men, cheats and swindlers expose the secrets of the streets in a wild night of schemes and scams. Throughout the evening, volunteers from the audience will be invited on-stage to participate in the scams, and at times the entire audience will be conned."

Buy tickets here.
And for those who can't make it, Hoodwinked will be touring in the US next November. More to come on that...

Expert Analysis

2008-06-29T09:05:00.000-07:00

There's some story we missed this week about Anne Hathaway's ex-boyfriend and some fraud and conspiracy charges that recently landed him in jail. This story gives a lot of details (our favorite being that he paid "lowly church officials to dress up in Vatican robes to make it appear he was well connected").
But the best reporting on this story comes from ABC News, which felt it necessary to get a professional's perspective on this whole thing:

"The easiest thing about the con is people think they're getting the better end of deal," Todd Robbins, the author of "The Modern Con Man: How to Get Something for Nothing." "The person perpetrating the crime makes people think he has some inside information that other people don't have, that they can use for their benefit. He fans the flames of the victims' greed."

Praise for Trash

2008-06-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

This Saturday is your final chance to see Carny Trash, Aye Jaye's show at the Steve Allen Theater (4773 Hollywood Blvd). From the LA Weekly review: "Jaye has a rich background in the art of con art. His lecture-demonstration paints a vivid portrait of Americana, mid-20th-century, a rare blend of garishness and romanticism, a study in how Minnesota farmers were dazzled and tricked before there was TV. The act includes an assistant named Charity (all funds go to Charity)..."

Pictured above is the man himself, right of Todd Robbins (America's No. 1 Con Man) from our Workplace Pranks and Other Ways to Con you Co-Workers DVD shoot. Buy here.

UPDATE: A reader has informed us that the show has been extended until early August. Thanks for the tip! Time to see it again...

Free advice

2008-06-25T16:33:00.000-07:00

We get tired of giving the same advice over and over but apparently some people are slow to believe us. So once again: Please, make sure to get personal references before deciding on a witch doctor. Stories like this are 100% avoidable.

And we're back

2008-06-11T11:12:00.000-07:00

We've been unable to post for a few weeks due to, well, something way too dull to get into. But luckily we're back in time to urge you to check out Aye Jaye and his show Carny Trash, playing the next few Saturdays at the Steve Allen Theater (aka The Center for Inquiry). He's the gifted author of The Golden Rule of Schmoozing and you might remember him as "The Boss" in our Workplace Pranks DVD... but this show, in which "the authority on carnival lifestyle exposes tilt-a-whirls, con artists, and pinheads," might just be his finest hour.

Buy tickets here.
And for more on Aye Jaye, check out his world.

A blurb!

2008-05-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

"Since I began putting the information inside THE MODERN CON MAN to good use, I have made $12,568 and lost 7 friends, and all this in only 36 hours. Totally worth it. This book may not make you smarter or more handsome, but it sure as hell will make you a lot more interesting — and dangerous — to hang out with."

Eric Garcia, author (Matchstick Men)

2008-05-12T22:41:00.000-07:00

(four stars) Fun and mostly harmless."
- WarCry/The Salvation Army

Who knew that the Salvation Army has been publishing a newspaper called War Cry since 1879?

2008-05-11T18:24:00.000-07:00

"Get your con on! Working is for saps. The Modern Con Man teaches would-be swindlers how to get on the grift. – The Guide, LA Times

At the newsstand

2008-05-07T14:18:00.000-07:00

Here's the Metromix article, out today. Click on the image to get a more readable size, or just click here for the online version. Might be easier that way (and, honestly, we just like that photo more).

Scam Cinema

2008-05-07T07:04:00.000-07:00

Last week, we had to turn down the opportunity to catch a test screening of Rian Johnson's The Brothers Bloom, about two of the world's best con artists taking on one last job (yeah, yeah, we know... but if Brick is any indication, we're happy to see the guy play around with clichés). Now we have to wait until October 24 like everyone else.

Another movie we're looking forward to is Charles and I, starring Bollywood top star Sanjay Dutt. According to this article, "the racy thriller will be helmed by ace director Prawaal Raman and tells the story of the enigmatic French criminal of Indian and Vietnamese origin who sent the police forces in half a dozen countries on a wild-goose chase... On roping in Sanjay for the lead role, writer-director Raman said: 'Charles is a complex character - a charming man with a dangerous mind and dangerous intentions. Finding the right actor who has the ability to exude all these qualities at the same time was a tough call. We were looking for an actor who radiates star power coupled with the finest acting prowess to portray Charles. The only actor in my opinion who fitted that profile was Sanjay Dutt.'"

We couldn't have said it better. No release date has been announced but we'll pass one along as soon we can.

Pigeon Dropped?

2008-05-07T06:46:00.000-07:00

Is it possible that the people who pulled the Pigeon Drop on Caroline Stevens (which we wrote about here back in March) have been pinched? This story occured pretty close to that one. But then again, all Pigeon Drops sound alike ("...three people approached her outside the James Island Wal-Mart and promised her $75,000 in exchange for $8,000..."), and the marks are often cut from the same naive and hypocritical cloth.

2008-05-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

"The Modern Con Man: How To Get Something for Nothing ... aims to effect a renaissance in these peculiarly American dark arts. These gentlemen are experts in the pool-hall hustle, the train-station grift, the boozy bar bet and every other sort of elegantly fixed wager from days of yore – with a modern twist..."

That's from The Con is On, an article in this week's Metromix, out on Wednesday – but you can click here to read the full online version today. We're going to post scans from the print edition when it's available. Metromix set up a nice photo shoot for us in a local bar and the results ought to be, for better or worse, entertaining.

Your Morning Deception

2008-05-02T07:50:00.000-07:00

From Up and Then Down, Nick Paumgerten's article about elevators in The New Yorker:

"In most elevators, at least in any built or installed since the early nineties, the door-close button doesn't work. It is there mainly to make you think it works... Once you know this, it can be illuminating to watch people compulsively press the door-close button. That the door eventually closes reinforces their belief in the button's power. It's a little like a prayer. Elevator design is rooted in deception – to disguise not only the bare fact of the box hanging by ropes but also the tethering of tenants to a system over which they have no command."

We've all suspected this to be true but it never stopped us from hitting the button. There's probably a lesson in there somewhere about why some marks, despite suspecting that some sort of con is being played, allow it to continue anyway.

This con's from a land down-under

2008-04-30T14:30:00.000-07:00

Since we just introduced you to Australia's Honest Con Man, we thought this was the perfect time to share something we call Australian Poker. It's a lovely and innocent-looking game that really isn't a game at all...

How to Win at Cards - The best video clips are here

The Honest Con Man

2008-04-29T07:29:00.000-07:00

Todd Robbins may be America's No. 1 Con Man, but what about the rest of the world? Meet Nicholas J. Johnson, a/k/a Australia's Honest Con Man.

Johnson, a "professional liar," has a blog that we've just discovered but will make a habit of visiting, and this recent post – "The Cardsharps" – is a perfect example of why. Simply put, the man lives and breathes this stuff. Like when he passes a street chalk artist, which gets his mind thinking...

Global Grift

2008-04-26T07:42:00.000-07:00

Headline of the week: "Conmen not my agents, show promoter Pinky warns actors." (Her agents are two other conmen.) Pinky Mothie, a South African Bollywood producer preparing for her upcoming film Bollywood College (shooting in Mumbai) learned that several actors had been approached by con men claiming that Mothie had cast them in the new film and needed money to confirm travel and stay in India. Pinky is now developing this true story into an exciting, action-packed musical full of great tunes and gunplay.

Picture of the week:
This from a story about a Chinese "army major" who spent two years scamming over $30,000 from some girls he dated. When police were called in to investigate a possible crime, the major's high-pitched voice and fair complexion drew suspicion. Soon, an even bigger scam was revealed – one that should come as no surprise to anyone seeing this picture.

Scare of the week: When we read the headline "Con-artist jailed for swindling pub customers" we thought for sure some British lawyers were coming, wagging a copy of our DVD "How to Scam Your Way to a Free Beer" in our direction. The story turned out to be a lot less exciting than that.

Mamet-fest continues

2008-04-23T07:27:00.000-07:00

Tonight at the Aero theater: Mamet's House of Games, in which a psychiatrist steps into the world of con artists in hopes of learning a thing or two. She does. It begins at 7:30pm.

And here's a link to an earlier post about The Pigeon Drop, an old con that Mamet uses in a pretty fresh way.

Site of the Week

2008-04-22T07:53:00.000-07:00

Pop Sensation is a blog dedicated to the art of the pulp paperback, and it's definitely worth bookmarking. Rex Parker posts front and back scans of some gem from his vast collection (adding spot-on observations) and –as of last week– he's willing to sell them to anyone interested. Just get in line... this redhead is ours.

Do not worry. It's in English.

2008-04-19T08:23:00.000-07:00

Day Two of the Aero's Mamet-fest includes The Spanish Prisoner – 7:30, tonight. If you haven't seen it, the movie features no Spanish and no prisoners – the name comes from a con that dates back to the early twentieth century, and which has today been modified as the e-mailed Nigerian money transfer scam. But the movie's not about that either. Go see it. It's one of his finest.

SPOILER ALERT! – That means we're about to ruin it. You are warned. We love the movie, in which every hidden truth is eventually and neatly revealed. When a movie does such a fine job of that, though, an inconsistency really stands out. And in The Spanish Prisoner, there's only one those. In the bathroom scene above, how does the red notebook get switched? It's never out of sight and no one gets close to it. So if anyone has any ideas...

Save us the aisle seats

2008-04-18T09:12:00.000-07:00

In conjunction with the release of our book, the Aero Theater in Santa Monica is doing a David Mamet film festival, beginning tonight with Glengarry Glen Ross. When Mamet – our Godfather of Grift – adapted his play for the big screen, he added a new character, specifically for Alec Baldwin. The role was Blake, and the performance, as you know, was brilliant.

"We're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know, first prize is a Cadillac Eldorado. Anybody want to see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired." For one of the longest quotes pages on IMDB, click here. Memorize it all for the sing-a-long tonight.

7:30PM, Aero Theater, 1328 Montana Avenue @ 14th Street. (Tomorrow: The Spanish Prisoner)

It's been quite a year

2008-04-17T10:32:00.000-07:00

It's only April and already we've had twin brother grifters, and a "cunning co-ed con artist" – and today we can add Helen Golay and Olga Rutterschmidt (age 77 and 75 respectively) to the club. The two were just convicted of an insurance scam we would've said was brilliant, if not for the part where they ran over homeless guys to collect the money. Can someone please make a movie about this?

Where no one knows your name

2008-04-17T09:09:00.000-07:00

In a NY Times article today, an ex-jewel thief shares a tip about starting a new life: Dubai... a city "so preoccupied with its future that no one would be interested in [your] past." Con men often need to go someplace to start over. For most of us, though, that place turns out to be college. But options are good.

A grifter's paradise

2008-04-15T07:35:00.000-07:00

At the end of the Nineteenth Century, Coney Island was a con man's dream: The water, the women, and the freedom to play the three-card monte openly, without hassle, on the beach. Just beautiful. Eventually, like everywhere else, these grifters were no longer welcome there. Today you have to go down to Canal Street to see them taking down suckers with the same game, now always on the ready to run.

For any place that's been around for over a hundred years, Coney Island has done its share of changing. The video link below, found on Kinetic Carnival, a Coney Island blog, does a good job of questioning how much a place can change before it's really not there anymore.

Click to watch "Endangered Coney Island."

Book excerpt!

2008-04-11T18:58:00.000-07:00

In case you missed it, the NY Post ran an excerpt of our book. Their choice was on add one – part of "grifter history" we include between chapters – but we'll take it.

Click to read "Meet the King of NY Con Men."

Turndown at the Sundial

2008-04-11T08:41:00.000-07:00

A quick recap of "Sweetwater Swindle": con man comes to town; con man cons; con man leaves town with police officer's ex-wfie.

But it looks like the story ends in Cottonwood, AZ, at the Sundial Motel. "John Doe" is revealed to be "smooth-talking Todd Joseph Sweet," although he's used Jamie Turpin, Douglass Clegg and Joseph Dragone as aliases. According to the Canadian National Post, he has posed as the heir to a Vegas casino fortune, a real estate magnate, a preacher, and a Navy Seal who "rescued" Jessica Lynch from Iraqi captors. As The Verde Independent is reporting, Laura Meridith — the Sundial's manager — works closely with the Cottonwood police to "screen tenants." And when you've hit the road with a cop's ex, this is not a good thing.

So what've we learned? Avoid the Sundial Motel. We recommend The Annabell Inn just down the road on 7th Street, where Annabell herself makes a tasty breakfast and is happy to act as a tour guide if asked.

Not that you can trust the media

2008-04-09T14:06:00.000-07:00

From today's review:

A handy, illustrated manual for would-be artists of deception! Todd Robbins is a con man and a good one at that… He parts fools from money with the precision of a surgeon. Even more enjoyable, though, than the nostalgic whisky-and-shadow-soaked hinterland the book evokes is the sinister pleasure Mr. Robbins takes in swindling. "The world is…separated into the Deceivers and the Deceived," he writes. "The sooner you decide which group you want to be in, the better off you will be."

- The New York Observer

But where were the warning signs?

2008-04-08T21:53:00.000-07:00

Here's the Boston Globe article about the book Bringing Down the House, which the movie 21 is based on. Long story short: most of the "true story" isn't exactly true. But should we really be surprised when a supposed first-person account of a scam turns out to be just that?

Thanks Pranks

2008-04-07T23:43:00.000-07:00

The URL "pizza.com" just sold for $2.6 million... so here's hoping Joey Skaggs can someday make a bundle off "pranks.com", an equally great name, and not a bad site, either. Thanks for the mention, fellas!

(btw, we came dangerously close to calling this post "Pranks a million")

The Modern Convict

2008-04-07T11:47:00.000-07:00

Our good friend, now known as "CT63" in the Hollywood police computer system, recently began a stint doing community service. He obviously didn't wait to read The Modern Con Man, and now look what happened... busted! The good news is he's blogging his experience. Check out the Hollywood Community Service Blog here, but not before ordering a copy of the book. It's obviously too dangerous not to.

How to Scam Free Beer

2008-04-05T16:13:00.000-07:00

Because even though The Modern Con Man book came out this week (order it here), we are well aware that some people just hate to read...

A real crime

2008-04-05T06:13:00.000-07:00

"There’s a con-artist loose in Aiken county," is how WRDW (South Carolina) begins its story. Seems the Wal-Mart on Richland Avenue is the latest victim of this mystery man’s mind-blowing powers of manipulation and obviously well-practiced sleight-of-hand trickery. It's like a scene right outta The Sting:

“According to the incident report from the Aiken Department of Public Safety, a man handed a wad of money over to the cashier asking for big bills back for a small purchase. When the cashier handed the money over to the man, he put some of the money into his pocket and told the clerk that he did not get enough money back. That's when the cashier gave him more money.”

Wowza!

Honestly, creeps like this are ruining it for the rest of us. We prefer to scam our way to a free drink, or grifting a good meal at the expense of a friend. But sullying the classy title of con artist with a "con" so lacking in artistry, something so incredibly ... lame? That's the real crime.

The mix for our mixer

2008-04-04T05:12:00.000-07:00

Co-writer Jack Silbert put together the playlist for last night's little launch party. In perfect Jack Silbertness, the songs were painstakenly thematic and numbered 52 (for a deck of cards).

1. Bookshop Casanova / The Clientele
2. Kate Of The Human Race / Jimmy Silva and the Goats
3. April Fools / Rufus Wainwright
4. Runnin' Out Of Fools / Neko Case
5. I'm Just A Lucky So And So / Ella Fitzgerald
6. Even The Losers / Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
7. One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer / John Lee Hooker
8. Viva Las Vegas / Elvis Presley
9. Atlantic City / Bruce Springsteen
10. Coney Island Baby / Tom Waits
11. The Last Of The Famous International Playboys / Morrissey
12. Can't Con an Honest John / The Streets
13. Heads You Win - Tails I Lose / The Beach Boys
14. House Of Cards / Radiohead
15. Ace of Spades / Motorhead
16. It's Tricky / Run-D.M.C.
17. Magic Trick / M. Ward
18. Things Are Not What They Appear / Gothic Archies
19. You Got Played, Little Girl / East River Pipe
20. Betcha Nickel / Ella Fitzgerald
21. Luck Be A Lady / Frank Sinatra
22. Tumbling Dice / The Rolling Stones
23. Shooting Dirty Pool / The Replacements
24. Gambler's Blues / B.B. King
25. Casino Queen / Wilco
26. It's Not My Place (In The 9 To 5 World) / Ramones
27. Bang the Drum All Day / Todd Rundgren
28. The Carny / Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
29. Ramblin' Man / Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan
30. Eyes Sharp / Liquid Liquid
31. The Magic Number / De La Soul
32. Three Is A Magic Number / Blind Melon
33. Magic / Bruce Springsteen
34. Waiting For A Train / Jimmie Rodgers
35. Streams of Whiskey / The Pogues
36. The Lucky One / Freedy Johnston
37. The Money Will Roll Right In / Mudhoney
38. Greenbacks / Ray Charles
39. Money For Nothing / Dire Straits
40. Little Games [Single Version] / The Yardbirds
41. Jokerman / Bob Dylan
42. Poor Little Fool / Ricky Nelson
43. no queen (the gambler) / cynthia nelson
44. The Other Side Of The Coin / Solomon Burke
45. The Wanderer / Dion
46. Ramblin' Man / The Allman Brothers Band
47. Traveling Light / Bob Neuwirth
48. There Stands The Glass / Ted Hawkins
49. You Cannot Win If You Do Not Play / Steve Forbert
50. You Win Again / Hank Williams
51. Cheater's World / Amy Allison & the Maudlins
52. Fools Gold / The Stone Roses

Our latest obsession

2008-04-03T07:14:00.000-07:00

In 1960, when Yogi Bear left The Huckleberry Hound Show to star in his own, Hanna-Barbera created Hokey Wolf to take his place. Hokey was a sharp-dressed (and not just for a wolf) con-artist with a bowler-wearing sidekick named Ding-a-Ling. Lead by Hokey, the two were always trying to scam their way to a free meal, and among our favorite episodes/schemes are:

"Tricks and Treats," in which Hokey tries getting food from a farmer’s barn by pretending to be caught in a trap; "Pick a Chick," where Hokey and Ding, disguised as chicken inspectors for a contest, go after all the chickens in a henhouse; "Movies are Bitter Than Ever," in which the twosome pretend to shoot a movie with a dog in order to steal some sheep; and "Who's Zoo?," which has Hokey acting as a zoo doctor in an attempt to swipe some steak from a lion that isn't eating

And what happened to Hokey? Well it should be noted, in this political season, that even though Hokey did disappear for many years, a good grifter is hard to keep down, and when this wolf-in-wolf’s clothing reappeared in a 1988 TV-movie, The Good, the Bad, and Huckleberry Hound, he'd somehow scammed his way to being the mayor of a western town named Two-Bit. He didn't stop there, though, working his way up from Two-Bit to being mayor of Jellystone Township in Yo Yogi!, a NBC Saturday morning cartoon that ran in the early 90’s.

As seen in the cafeteria...

2008-04-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

Having just posted about Starbucks, it's worth mentioning a little coffee scam we recently witnessed in the caf. This guy took one of those large cups intended for coffee, but filled it instead with frozen yogurt. It was like five times the fro-yo for a quarter of the cost. After he popped a sip-lid on top and paid the 99 cents, he pocketed a plastic spoon and coolly strolled back to his desk. We immediately voted him Employee of the Month.

The Empty Promise

2008-04-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

We just saw this Starbucks ad in the New York Times and had to comment. In case you can't read it, it says that since there are "over 87,000 possible combinations" when it comes to ordering their espresso beverages (caf, decaf, multiple shots, flavored syrup, skim, no fat, various sizes, etc), they're going to make a promise to you, the customer: if your drink isn't perfect, "we'll make it right." It ends by saying "This isn't a promotion, this isn't 'for a limited time only,' this isn't 'while supplies last.' This is every coffee, every day, forever."

This is what we call The Empty Promise... that is, what they're really promising is what every place promises. The difference is that the other guys don't take out full-page color ads to say it: If we made a mistake, let us know and we'll fix it. Starbucks isn't claiming that if they goof up you get a free drink or or your money back or that they'll shine your shoes. They're saying they'll fix it. It's a lot like, I guess, if you order a cheeseburger at Burger King and you get a plain ol' burger. Can't we assume they'll correct that mistake when you bother to point it out? Or if you order a chocolate shake and you get a vanilla one by accident? The Empty Promise is a great tool for the modern con man at work (for more on the modern con man at work, make sure to check out this month's Penthouse). You make a pledge to your customer for something that you were going to do anyway — doesn't matter how unspectacular it is. If you ham it up a little, a lot of people will be surprisingly thankful. And that can go a long way.

We didn't think we coud love these guys any more...

2008-04-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

...but now we do!

(btw, that's "any more" up there... not "anymore")

No joke

2008-04-01T08:07:00.000-07:00

The day has come. The Modern Con Man is finally available. So depending on where you go (here's the Amazon link, for your convenience), you can now learn "how to get something for nothing" ... for somewhere around twelve bucks.

Last day to pre-order!

2008-03-31T06:40:00.000-07:00

Just one more day until The Modern Con Man becomes available. So pre-order right now, right here. Yeah, we suppose you could wait until it comes out tomorrow, but that wouldn't be pre-ordering. That's just ordering, and that's for everyone else. Aren't you too much of an insider for that though?

21 (months)

2008-03-29T08:19:00.000-07:00

Last week in Vegas, NYC-pal Scott reminded us of his college friend who had Kenny Rogers' The Gambler stuck in his head for two years. Straight. Without a break. No joke. This guy couldn't shake the song – couldn't fold it, couldn't walk away, couldn't run. He tried everything, including hypnotherapy, and there were even plans made for electro-shock. Fortunately, before it came to that, the song miraculously reached its end...

"...So when he'd finished speakin',
he turned back towards the window,
Crushed out his cigarette and faded off to sleep..."

Speaking of Vegas, we busted the Tropicana and were shown the door, walking away up $160. And speaking of busting the casinos, check out 21 in theaters and let us know what you think (reviews have been mixed). Beautiful coeds trained to scam millions certainly sounds appealing...

Hollywoodmade

2008-03-27T23:26:00.000-07:00

You know those mythical "men-behind-the-men" who run the world by pulling strings from behind a veil of secrecy? In the The Modern Con Man's world, these mysterious puppet-masters actually don't mind a little attention. In fact they have a new website: Hollywoodmade.com

If he's getting our royalties...

2008-03-26T09:39:00.000-07:00

Tower is making the same Tom Robbins slip, even listing him by name at the top as author, right next to the cover of the book. Conveniently, right underneath, they make it easy to order other books by him: Still Life With Woodpecker, Another Roadside Attraction, Skinny Legs and All...

Even Con Men Get the Blues

2008-03-24T18:22:00.001-07:00

Our book is a week away from publication, and while poking around online we noticed something at a few bookseller websites. In the "about the author" section regarding co-writer Todd Robbins, now and then his bio seems a little, well, untrue. This sort of deception goes right in line with The Modern Con Man book and certainly with Todd Robbins...

"He was born in Blowing Rock, North Carolina on July 22, 1936. Robbins studied journalism at Washington and Lee for two years and later graduated from the Richmond Professional Institute in 1961. He attended the Graduate School of Far Eastern Studies at the University of Washington. From 1957 to 1960, Robbins served in the U.S. Air Force stationed in Korea as a meteorologist. During his years in the service he took courses in Japanese culture and aesthetics in Tokyo."

Was this some sort of marketing ploy that Bloomsbury devised? And if so, couldn't they have asked us to pen something a little more fun? No. Turns out it's something far dumber. These sites are just pasting in the bio of Tom (Even Cowgirls Get the Blues) Robbins!

What's hot now?

2008-03-19T17:49:00.000-07:00

The April issue of InStyle magazine just hit the stands and look no further than page 341 to find the answer to the above question. Here's a peek if it's just killing you to know...

The Sweetwater Swindle

2008-03-18T15:15:00.000-07:00

There’s some connin’ going on in Sevier County, TN, although after reading this story, we’re still not sure how it worked exactly (ok, we admit: we sorta just skimmed it)…

“He convinced local people that he would buy their property… but he needed them to open a checking account in their name so he could have the money transferred here. He would then offer them a large sum of money if they would do that for him. Then he ‘arranged’ for them to purchase for him new cars from Jacky Jones Ford in Sweetwater.”

Even though it’s a little hard to follow, who cares. Read the whole thing (or skim it like us) and you'll see why it's our favorite story of the week. It's just got some great local color:

“Jacky Jones Ford in Sweetwater.”
“Turpin had bragged about … purchasing William Poe's farm.”
"He told us he was one of eight special forces solders involved in the rescue of soldier Jessica Lynch in Iraq and that he and the others had been shot, but he survived.”

And the clincher:
"'John Doe' is on the lam with a new girlfriend, the ex-wife of a Sweetwater police officer.”

That's right, this grifter hit the road with Johnny Law’s ex! John Doe, let us know where you are and we’ll send you a signed copy of our book.

It's true. We've seen it.

2008-03-17T17:39:00.000-07:00

Todd Robbins, "America's No. 1 Con Man" and co-author of our upcoming book (2 weeks away) The Modern Con Man, has many, many skills. And as his bio says, some of them are even legal. This week's issue of The New Yorker spotlights one of them in a feature article ("The Real Work") by Adam Gopnik:

"Todd Robbins is now perhaps the last remaining sideshow artist capable of doing the Human Blockhead act (a six-inch steel nail goes into and up the nose) while giving a scholarly account of its origins."

We said Todd had some legal skills. We just never said they were useful ones.

"The Big Question"

2008-03-14T06:35:00.000-07:00

From the Head's first run ends with a question — the big question — and an unexpected cliffhanger! While we wait for the next batch, catch the first nine episodes all over again right here.

Doing the devil's work for him.

2008-03-13T15:22:00.000-07:00

The Pigeon Drop strikes again! Caroline Stevens was so anxious to get a huge chunk of some "found money" (her take would’ve been a cool $15,000) that she handed over $2,700 – money she says her family would’ve used to pay bills. The Pigeon Drop is a fairly simple scam that we mentioned the other week and, even thought it’s a cliché, those who fall for it have only themselves to blame. Not that Caroline sees it that way. Even though she gave thousands to complete strangers who promised half of the $30,000 in exchange for her $2,700 “deposit,” she’s playing the victim here. She says she wasn’t thinking about the money. She just got confused. “They had me so cluttered,” she told a reporter, “I didn't know nothing about what I was doing.” This includes a drive to the bank to withdraw the cash.

Caroline claims she trusted the women because one said she went to the same church and had been “saved” too. But greed, and nothing else, is to blame. At the very least, shouldn’t she have tried to convince the ladies to give the found 30K to the church? Did she forget Luke 12:15, where Jesus warned, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed”? It’s a sin and it might be time for Carolin to hit the confessional.

And now she’s getting all preachy, saying "You better plead the blood of Jesus on the people because they're out there. They'll get ya." (Someone please translate.) Fine, but we’ll throw it right back at you, Caroline, straight from 1 Timothy 6:9-10 (via Google): "People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction."

Idiot.

"Resilience"

2008-03-07T07:58:00.000-08:00

Mr. Personality returns to From the Head. Next week's ninth episode is the last of Series One. Shoes, please don't keep us waiting long for the next batch.

Moving at the speed of lies

2008-03-05T06:47:00.000-08:00

“A lie can get halfway around the world before the truth can even get its boots on.” - Mark Twain

Seemed like an appropriate Quote of the Week... if not the year.

Cover your tracks, people

2008-03-04T10:49:00.000-08:00

Margaret B. Jones wrote a memoir about being raised by a foster mom and and surviving as a drug-dealing gang member. Love and Consequences is the name of the book, out last week, by Penguin. An editor worked with Jones for three years to get the book written. Turns out Jones went to a private Episcopal day school while being raised in the sunny San Fernando Valley by her real family, and that nothing in the book actually happened.

And the craziest thing is it all fell apart when her own sister read about the book in The New York Times. The lesson: find the weakest link in whatever scam you're running, and never forget that weak link's birthday. Ever.

Anyway, the best part about having a book called The Modern Con Man (available in just 28 days) is that no one expects it to be entirely truthful.

Full story here.

Impossible

2008-03-04T07:42:00.000-08:00

Not long ago, wanting to "keep up with the Jonses" meant having to maintain a lush, green lawn or buying a BMW. But pressure to "keep up with the Jonses" is the reason Robert Irvine - celebrity chef host of the Food Networks' Dinner: Impossible – is giving as to why he lied on his résumé, fabrications that make you wonder who the hell the Jonses are anymore? Among those lies:

That he is friends with Prince Charles.
That he cooked for four U.S. Presidents.
That he was granted British knighthood.
That he owned a castle in Scotland.

From the network's website this morning (although probably not for long), an intro for Irvine says "If you could combine James Bond and MacGyver, you would get Robert Irvine, a real life chef extraordinaire." Hmmm.

(Food Network, this is a minor point since you're probably changing the site, but if you'd really wanted to make that point above, one of the two people in your "If you could combine" scenario probably should've been food-related. A Bond-MacGyver spawn would kick major ass but it doesn't make us think Black-Pepper-Crusted Wagyu New York Steak with Black Truffle Vinaigrette. And while we have you, if we find out that Rachael Ray isn't really Italian royalty and a direct descendant of the Medicis, we will never forgive you! We love her BBQ Spiced Chicken.)

The So-Called Pigeon Drop

2008-03-03T18:25:00.001-08:00

This week, a man in Shreveport, LA, was duped into handing over $40,000 in cash to a sharp-dressed (see for yourself) con artist. The scam used was one of the classics - The Pigeon Drop. There are many variations but the key to them all is how the greed of the marks works against them. And if you're not sure what the Pigeon Drop is, do not ask Detective Bobby Herring, who is handling this case. As he explains:

"Someone offers you more money or some money, but they want a trust and they want to hold your money before you can get the money."

Got it? If not, try this. The Pigeon Drop has been used in everything from The Golden Girls (in the episode "Cheaters"), to Lost. The best use we've seen though is in Mamet's House of Games but just in case you haven't seen it we won't say why. But we will link to the brilliantly played set-up.

"The Waiter"

2008-02-29T12:15:00.000-08:00

George Griffith does it again! This seventh episode of From the Head continues to build onto a tiny, yet fascinating, world. Also, an old friend makes a very welcome return.

Employment Tip, Final Edition

2008-02-29T12:10:00.000-08:00

And now the eighth and final Employment Tip from our book excerpt in Penthouse:

Here are not only some real-world employment tips, but also ways that the modern con man lifestyle can come in handy after you've punched out.

House Painter:
"No matter how much I might be asking around for work, if I'm ever asked how I land clients, I always lie and claim it's from referrals and word of mouth. 'I honestly don't know how to get new clients. The work's been coming to me for the past few years. I'm kinda embarrassed to say it, but I hardly have to work to get work.' It gets them every time."

Tip to the Modern Con Man:
"The cliché is true, even socially. If you act like you don't need it or want it, people are quicker to give it to you."

The March issue of Penthouse is currently on newsstands.

Employment Tip, No. 7

2008-02-28T08:13:00.000-08:00

For the rest of the month, we'll be sharing daily Employment Tips from our book excerpt in Penthouse:

Here are not only some real-world employment tips, but also ways that the modern con man lifestyle can come in handy after you've punched out.

Injury Attorney:
"If you're in a hospital with your spine being held together by duct tape and a brace, and I show up, you know it's not just to hand you a get-well-soon card. I like that there's an immediate understanding. I'm looking for gain from your pain. This won't cost you a cent, but if we win, I'm taking a big piece. Nice to meetcha."

Tip to the Modern Con Man:
"If you get caught doing what you're doing, be up front. If you're hitting on a girl and she calls you on it, say 'Yep, you got me. I wanted to talk to you from the moment you walked in.' The weirdest thing is, when you play things like you got nothing to hide, it actually makes you more mysterious. People, and I mean women, really dig that."

Tomorrow: For the final installment, a House Painted finishes the job.

Employment Tip, No. 6

2008-02-27T12:07:00.000-08:00

For the rest of the month, we'll be sharing daily Employment Tips from our book excerpt in Penthouse:

Here are not only some real-world employment tips, but also ways that the modern con man lifestyle can come in handy after you've punched out.

Graphic Designer:
"When I design catalogs or brochures for events, the most important thing is whether or not there's a section of paid advertising in back. If so, I tell the client I'll do their job for free as long as I get a full page for myself in the back section. They say fine, as they were expecting to have to go out of pocket for getting the thing designed. Then all I do is break the page into eight sections and sell of the space myself to other businesses. Usually ends up about double what I would've made."

Tip to the Modern Con Man:
"Life's a flea market. No one knows for sure the value of anything. Same goes for you. Walk into a bar and it's up to you to let people know how valuable you are, otherwise they'll set your worth themselves. And since no one knows, by all means exaggerate."

Tomorrow: An Injury Attorney helps us feel better.

"Oh, you've gotta be kidding..."

2008-02-26T10:20:00.000-08:00

From Slate today:

"Like all good stories, this one begins with a bull humping a cow in the middle of the road. In 1957, Alan Abel, a lecturer and jazz drummer was on his way to a performance in Denton, Texas, when he found himself caught in a traffic jam caused by the aforementioned beasts… [He had an idea] to write a satire about a group called The Society for Indecency to Naked Animals, or SINA, which would call for animals to be clothed for the sake of decency. Abel submitted his story to the Saturday Evening Post, but when the editors missed the joke and angrily rejected it, he got an even better idea and founded SINA for real in 1959. The agenda: to get Bermuda shorts on horses, dogs, and any animal taller than 4 inches or longer than 6. The battle cry: A nude horse is a rude horse! Thus was launched the career of America's greatest living hoaxer."

The article is about Abel Raises Cain, a documentary now out on DVD. Alan Abel’s hoaxes were all exaggerations of things he saw happening, designed to point out the absurdities. Just looking around today, is the outrage over mothers daring to breastfeed in public that far from wanting to hide animal genitalia? Not really. It makes us wish that some frustrating aspects of our real world would someday be revealed as practical jokes. The article continues...

"When a broke and crime-ridden New York City teetered on the verge of collapse in the 1970s, Abel launched Omar's School for Beggars, which supposedly taught unemployed professionals tactics for successful panhandling. When the uproar surrounding Dr. Kevorkian was reaching fever pitch in the '90s, Abel created a fake company that specialized in "euthanasia cruises." A ship with a greased deck would venture a few hundred miles offshore and then tip slightly, dumping its disconsolate human cargo into the ocean."

The hoaxes are funny, but as the piece points out, the very fact that they were believed (and, at times, fully embraced) is a little depressing.

"We can laugh at the suckers who thought dogs needed pants back in the '50s, but is 2008 really any less fertile ground for hoaxers, benign or otherwise? A squirrel-cooking creationist made a nearly credible bid for the White House. CNN employs an anchor who told viewers that illegal immigrants have caused a leprosy epidemic in the United States. And a couple of weeks ago, the Mississippi state legislators proposed a bill barring restaurants from serving meals to fat people—a push more than a little reminiscent of Abel's 2006 fat tax hoax, which he perpetrated with the help of Esquire."

Buy the movie here.

Employment Tip, No. 5

2008-02-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

For the rest of the month, we'll be sharing daily Employment Tips from our book excerpt in Penthouse:

Here are not only some real-world employment tips, but also ways that the modern con man lifestyle can come in handy after you've punched out.

Hollywood Agent:
"I have five lunch appointments every day, made a month ahead of time. The tide turns fast in this town and I know that one of the five I'm set to meet with is going to have more mojo than the others. I want the hot person for lunch and sometimes you don't know who's got the most heat until breakfast. My assistant has a lot of last-second apologies to make, but I don't just pay her to get my car cleaned, you know."

Tip to the Modern Con Man:
"There's no such thing as a sure thing. Even once you find your target – say, a girl who looks game or a sucker to challenge to pool or whomever – check out the rest of the room and find alternatives in case something goes wrong. Don't wait to do this ... there's nothing gained by limiting your focus before you have to. Just be nice to everyone because you're not only looking for another chump at all times, you might actually need someone to have your back when the chips start flying."

Tomorrow: A Graphic Designer lays it out.

Learning from others people's mistakes

2008-02-25T13:32:00.000-08:00

Reuters is reporting a still-in-development story (see below) that is already brilliant, although we'll do our best to share more if more becomes available. For now, it's a perfect illustration of how a disguise isn't something you just slap on, like – in this case – a wig and a school uniform. Whether or not the man was just trying to take a stroll, he clearly hadn't thought it through. Because what he put on was not a disguise... sounds more like a costume, and lame one at that. We've pointed out the difference before but we'll do it again for you now in case you missed it. A costume hides your true identity, but does not deny its existence. A disguise, on the other hand, fails if a hidden true identity is suspected at all.

TOKYO - A Japanese man was arrested for trespassing this week after turning up at a high school dressed in a girl's uniform and a long wig, local police said. Thirty-nine-year-old Tetsunori Nanpei told police he had bought the uniform over the Internet and put it on to take a stroll near the school in Saitama, north of Tokyo, on Wednesday, the daily Asahi Shimbun said. When students standing outside the gates started to scream at the sight of him, he dashed inside the school grounds, hoping to blend in with the crowds of teenagers, the paper said. They also screamed, forcing the man to flee, losing his wig in the process.

For the same results, he could've simply gone with this, or this.

Employment Tip, No. 4

2008-02-25T07:38:00.000-08:00

For the rest of the month, we'll be sharing daily Employment Tips from our book excerpt in Penthouse:

Here are not only some real-world employment tips, but also ways that the modern con man lifestyle can come in handy after you've punched out.

Telemarketer:
"Encyclopedias on CD-ROM are my beat. More often than not, the wife answers the phone. I find the easiest way for a woman to get off the phone is to say that she'd have to consult with her husband since it is a rather hefty cost. My go-to response is "I understand, but does your husband consult with you whenever he has to have the car looked at? As the man of the house, I'm sure he has financial things he takes the responsibility for. This is about your kids and their education. As the woman of the house, do you really need his approval for that?"

Tip to the Modern Con Man:
"If you want someone to say yes, make them feel like no is just a reflection of their own weakness, insecurity, or fear. It applies to almost anything, anywhere."

Tomorrow: A Hollywood Agent does lunch.

Employment Tip, No. 3

2008-02-23T08:49:00.000-08:00

For the rest of the month, we'll be sharing daily Employment Tips from our book excerpt in Penthouse:

Here are not only some real-world employment tips, but also ways that the modern con man lifestyle can come in handy after you've punched out.

Door-to-Door Salesman:
"I sell meat and I have this move called The-Turn-and-Talk. See, I keep my meat in the truck and I figure if I can get the customer to the truck, I can make the sale. It's getting them out of the doorway that's the biggest hurdle. So what I do is, while I'm talking, I turn and begin walking back... and I don't stop what I'm saying when I go. Often the customer will step out to listen and follow to hear what I'm saying. Next thing they know, they're looking at my meat."

Tip to the Modern Con Man:
"How's that apply to life outside the profession? If you wait for someone's approval, it might not come. Assume someone's interested in you and you'd be surprised how often that'll make it come true."

Tomorrow: A Telemarketer calls in.

Walking the walk

2008-02-23T08:36:00.001-08:00

You know us as Modern Con Men but have probably wondered to yourself, "Well, how modern are they, really?" How's this: we are now – after much debate – announcing our choice for Professional Rollerblader of the Year... Jeromy Morris. It was a tight race but Morris prevailed. It didn't hurt that he designed this T-shirt.
Get it here while they last.

Employment Tip, No. 2

2008-02-22T09:17:00.000-08:00

For the rest of the month, we'll be sharing daily Employment Tips from our book excerpt in Penthouse:

Here are not only some real-world employment tips, but also ways that the modern con man lifestyle can come in handy after you've punched out.

Car Salesman:
"Everyone knows we've marked up prices, but no one knows how much. So I can keep repeating 'the absolute lowest I can go' as much as I want. I'll even go lower than 'my absolute lowest' just for you. I make you feel like you're getting a deal – an insane deal, a deal in which I'm barely making anything anymore – when in fact I'm totally not sweating it. I do this sort of thing all the time."

Tip to the Modern Con Man:
"You gotta say you don't want to do something even if you do. Or pretend you can't do something even when you're planning on doing it anyway... like, 'You're only free on Thursday? Shoot, I already had plans for Thursday... but you know what? I don't want to miss this chance. So let me see if I can reschedule my other thing...' Do it with a smile, of course. You're happy to please. If you're happy to please others, they be happy to please you. People feel indebted when you seem to bend for them. So loosen up. My tip to you, whenever you can, pretend to bend."

Tomorrow: A Door-to-Door Salesman stops by.

"Hazmat"

2008-02-22T09:11:00.000-08:00

This episode of From The Head features Michael Gilio, the super-talented writer, director, and star of Kwik Stop ("...one of the unsung treasures of recent independent filmmaking... this is the movie to seek out." - Roger Ebert).

Employment Tip, No. 1

2008-02-21T07:28:00.000-08:00

For the rest of the month, we'll be sharing daily Employment Tips from our book excerpt in Penthouse:

Most modern con men, yourself included, are not likely to crisscross the country surviving on wit, instinct and a newfound knowledge of scamming free drinks. Chances are you're going to have to go to work. Here are not only some real-world employment tips, but also ways that the modern con man lifestyle can come in handy after you've punched out.

Electronics Store Clerk:
"I love working the television department because those things got so many controls. It's not like a video game or some CD, which is either good or just sucks, and either way, completely out of my control. TVs come with some settings! I make the cheaper ones look like crap – too dark, too contrasty, too washed-out, whatev – then set the more expensive ones to ideal settings. I can talk up the cheap sets all I want, play the customer a little by saying they're not that bad, but in the end the picture quality moves the buyer to where I want them."

Tip to the Modern Con Man:
"Hey, when you go out to meet girls with a friend, do you bring the best looking guy you know? Or do you want to be the one getting the attention? Well, that's my attitude when I work the floor ... and when I walk out the door."

Tomorrow: A Car Salesman offers advice.

Return of the Flim Flam Men

2008-02-18T22:58:00.001-08:00

In North Carolina, a group of con artists are working the change raiser to pretty impressive results, like turning the purchase of a bottle of hand sanitizer at Wal-Mart into a $650 gain. Read more here.

And bonus points to the McDowell News for using flim flam in the opening line, if even just to pull off a somewhat lame rhyme.

Incidentally, Guy Owen's book The Ballad of the Flim-Flam Man (1965) took place in North Carolina. But in that classic, the lead grifter didn't pull the change raiser. Crooked punchboards was his scam of choice.

"The Lingerer"

2008-02-18T17:30:00.000-08:00

One of the things we love most about these From the Head episodes is how, even though they're all about the same guy in the same room, each one is completely unique. This one's a perfect example of that. Needless to say, we're already looking forward to The Return of the Lingerer.

"The Lipstick & The Hair"

2008-02-15T19:15:00.000-08:00

Check out the newest episode of From the Head, featuring Matthew Lillard (Scream, Scooby Doo, and the upcoming Spooner) and Tom Irwin (21 Grams, My So-Called Life, and a founding member of Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble.) Watch Shoes grifts them both. You might learn something.

Every rose has its thorns...

2008-02-15T08:02:00.000-08:00

...some are just really, really, really small. We saw this photo last year on LAist, and considered sharing it before Valentine's Day... but then thought it would be more fun to do it the day after.

If we gave out awards, this florist would have one. Click the close-up for an even better view.

2008-02-14T05:59:00.000-08:00

“The art of pleasing is the art of deception.” - Vauvenargues

Only the Lonely

2008-02-12T18:10:00.000-08:00

Even though there must be suckers falling for those Nigerian Lottery email scams, you don't often find them copping to it. But when it comes to a love-based version of this same con – in which hopefuls send thousands of dollars to foreign potential bedmates – many victims aren't keeping so hush-hush. This twist on the classic Lonely Hearts Scam (made famous by Susanna Mildred Hill in the late nineteenth century) is found on almost every online dating site – yes, we're looking at you, too, Filipino Friend Finder – and these scammed lonely hearts are surprisingly willing to share their depressing, and honestly, pathetic stories. Google "dating" "online" and "fraud" and you'll find hundreds of embarrassing accounts, so many that we've had trouble picking the best quotes to share (although "He misspelled everything and I thought, 'This is no archaeologist'" isn't bad). We don't want to seem callous. Really. But with this being so close to Valentine's Day, well, we're honestly enjoying the hell out of them. And if most weren't so ridiculous, sure, we'd admit a few are probably a bit sad.

Check out the links below for a range of stories... like the woman who was emailing with a guy from Scotland who claimed his brother, in Nigeria, was hurt and needed money. She also "met" another guy from London whose son in Ghana had appendicitis. Both men promised to pay her back. Both men claimed to fall immediately in love with her. And both men were sent money. So of course she's now blaming eHarmony.

This one's the longest, but worth the fifteen minutes.
Love this headline.
Goddamn the price some people are willing to pay to get laid.
This guy thought he found the love of his life in Nigeria.
She actually fell for the line “You can trust me.”
In case you were in denial about Filipino Friend Finder.
Consider meeting the person you're going to marry.
She’s 25 and beautiful. Those should’ve been signs enough.

Valentine's Gift Idea

2008-02-10T15:40:00.000-08:00

Not looking forward to this Thursday because you’ve got no one to share it with? Get ready for some good news: the new issue of Penthouse just dropped and it’s got an excerpt from our book. Click to, um, enlarge ... and then look left of the Pet of the Year. No, not Danny Bonaduce – under him (the last time we ever want to be under Danny Bonaduce). Yep, there you go... Modern Con Man’s Best Scams. Yay. Unfortunately, though, this is not true. These are not our best scams. Doesn't matter. They did include a large and, we think, interesting section of the book, so even if you plan on picking up The Modern Con Man when it comes out, stop by the local newspaper stand today and pick up this issue. It’s got way better pictures.

But just remember to save "Boink: Erotic essays by horny coeds" (p.104) for your Thursday night reading.

"Funny Ha Ha"

2008-02-08T08:01:00.000-08:00

Shoes must've had the same conversation a hundred times a day. Man, this episode really depressed us...

Captured!

2008-02-06T11:09:00.000-08:00

We totally missed this story from last month, but someone on the government's Most Wanted list (and TV’s America’s Most Wanted website) has been captured: Esther Elizabeth Reed. Her crime: Identity theft. Unlike others who commit this crime, though, Reed did not run up debts. Instead, it appears she assumed these identities – one was Brooke Henson, a girl who’s been missing for most of the last decade – to attend a few colleges, Harvard and Columbia (for almost two years) included. In other words, she was getting a pretty good education (although to pull this off, she had to have some smarts to begin with).

When authorities were first onto her, Reed was able to split before they reached her apartment, leaving almost everything behind. She just took her cat, her brushes/combs and toothbrush … items no doubt heavy with her DNA. But now she's in custody and the story is ongoing. According to the New York Post , some actually suspect – perhaps in an attempt to figure out why she’d go to school rather than shopping – that she was training to be a foreign spy. Either way, this year is providing some great characters. We recently reported on actual twin brother grifters. And here is someone who the Post beautifully described as a “cunning co-ed con artist.” You really can’t ask for more.

Needless plug: If you really want an education, you can bypass the Most Wanted list and just pre-order our book.