Michael Shermer Learns the Art of Con Games Part 2

[yimpka2]

Anyone ever want to hear about a REAL badman applying his trade....

I'm the real deal.

[slcanavan1]

i just have one question tho... what if the person opens the envelope and looks inside that they are fake?

[hofifut]

Actually, the "con" guys wouldn't have gotten very far.  There was a Blockbuster card. They're bankrupt now. :)

[beesonit]

I got conned like this before. By a guy named Sawyer. (James Ford)

[HRodriguez93]

@GrudgyDiablo you just talked shit on jews and you call him a racist

[lepermessiahify]

he has long hair i wouldn't trust him

[Hurlanator]

I've seen con artists in Sydney scabbing money by saying that they came to Sydney looking for work but it didn't work out and now they are on the street and the only reason they came is to help with medical bills most people might buy that these people are very, very manipulative and once they get your attention they have you.

Two problems with scenario for the guy I saw Centrelink gives out money and housing and there is Free universal healthcare

DON'T MAKE EYE CONTACT, EVER!

[mzmadmike]

"Let me give you an envelope I claim contains cash."

That's when you know they're a crook or a cop.

[kendigjl]

As soon as two unusual things happen my spidey sense would tingle. Then when someone handed me an envelope full of money I'd be full tilt looking for the catch.

[sqazsquat]

life lesson #26: never do business with an arab. they're greedy fuckers who'll stoop to any level to get money.

[Nightscream72]

What I'd like to know is, does the mark ever just say, okay, let's go inside the building and look for the wallet's owner TOGETHER? Even after the guy with the long hair has been gone several minutes, the mark lets Shermer go in after the guy, and again, ALONE. Why is this? Does the thought that he has $3,000 cash in his pocket simply reassure him that he has nothing to worry about, ever AFTER the long-haired guy has not returned?

[Gazdo01]

Even after ALL THE EXPLANATION, the guys still believed he could "keep all the money inside the envelope"??!!

The so retarded he deserves to be stolen from!

[pomegranateish]

What a dumb fuck not to realise by the end that there was no money in the envelope. They've already told you it was a con, why the fuck would they con you INTO $3000.

[MrDon275]

I am going to do this except i wont come back.

[packerfan748]

this was in the sting!!!!

[TheTylerGiese]

im going hard - balls deep into michael shermer's poop hole. all i do is win win win no matter what

#winning

throw your hands up...................and they stay there.......

[TheLunaDivider112]

That guy is dumb, I wouldn't give up my wallet for 3 grand. The con man was pretty interested in the wallet too...

[ai1888]

That guy is a little slow on the uptake i see.

[00Billy]

A great version of the same con is in the movie The Sting.

[jrk987]

Hold on there's a HUGE red flag here:

"I'm going to put it in this envelope here"

Where the fuck did the envelope come from?

Who carries an envelope in their pocket???

[xxproffxx]

@jrk987 i guess at that point no one really stops to think about the envelope but more about the 3k

[nvidiaryan]

@jrk987 People generally aren't very observant, they are focused more on the wallet, the money, etc.

[deljugo]

@jrk987 I´ve seen this one but the money is already in the envelope when they find it in the wallet

[JoshuaZelinsky]

@jrk987 Yeah, despite that there's a huge red flag, the con works pretty well. Once someone is roped in. When one is looking for details that don't fit together, hindsight bias and the illusion of transparency make them stand out a lot more then when it is actively happening to you.

[slcanavan1]

@jrk987 Just as Fay Faron says in the beginning of the video. A con is like an ambush it happens quickly and before the victim has a chance to think or catch on to the scheme. The vicitim in this video was distracted by the money that he wasnt thinking "hey wait, why is that guy just carrying around an envelope?" because he was to focused and worried about the money he was holding.

[thehailking]

I have heard that some contractors that knock on your door will put hail damage on your house if you don’t have any and that there is a website that teaches them how to do it hailfraud dot …

[MishuTaste]

I think the greatest con artists are politicians. They smile at the camera & promise me the world in exchange for my vote. I vote for them & they get elected. Then they pass laws that restrict my freedom & raise taxes so I have less spending money. But they can vote for their own pay raises to increase their standard of living at my expense!

[TheForwardGaze]

Most con artists are sociopaths.

[jacksonrevello]

This con is done in 'the sting'

[lykopis]

oh man i hope i wouldn't fall for it, but i bet i would.. i just hope id open that freakin envelope and check before handing over any money.. and i certainly hope i wouldn't hand them my entire wallet/purse

[72gknows]

he still never got it

even at the omega

[Jerseygirl8999]

OMG- this is so scary holy crap i would have fell for it

[supercrevolution]

Is it wrong for me to want to try this?

[skaterock7734]

Lol no, some of us do it constantly.

[supercrevolution]

I'll do it!

[skaterock7734]

Do it up ;)

[NobleRoyalty]

Nah, it just shows you're pretty pathetic for praying on the innocent and soft-hearted.

Just tough it out when the favor is returned to you by some not-so-soft-hearted individual. x)

[supercrevolution]

Haha...I was only trolling.

Go away noob xD

Just kidding, have a nice day.

[NobleRoyalty]

Mhmm..

[rokket326]

i dont know if i would have thought od this on the spot, but if i were the mark, i would have just said to split the $3000 evenly as a means of trust.

[tizerist]

i would have just said

its three grand, give me one one grand

you two get the rest. see ya!

[Migslayer101]

PWNT

[fearzone2000]

that is a classic.. and people always fall........ This tv show must be watch by everybody.

[Hateblade]

"Herd mentality" in action. The guy figures that if his new buddies can give up their cash then why not me? Peer pressure plays a big role, too. Greed is only part of the equation.

[hasan218]

its like the con artists always say "You cant con an honest man"

I mean if the guy was completely decent , he will not act depending on his greed.

but this is how things done. you are greedy...some one will teach you a lesson someday.

[TrickyNick79]

That is something con artists say to justify their actions. You CAN con an honest man.

Con artists are not some sort of roaming judiciary handing out punishments to those they feel deserve it. They want the cash, regardless of whose it is.

[casper71146]

i agree with both hasan and trickynick. :s Is there something wrong with me?

[Hessenkittel]

I hope not, casper71146, because so do I. Where the pigeon drop is concerned, hasan218 is right, you couldn't do that with an honest victim. But I trust there are more than enough schemes out there for duping decent people too.

[xSilverPhinx]

@TrickyNick79

Couldn't agree more.

[TrickyNick79]

@xSilverPhinx Thank you!

[StKildaFan]

@TrickyNick79 The saying is "Find someone who wants something for nothing, and give them nothing, for something" Nearly all cons work on this principle. A truly honest person wouldn't fall for it. But I'm not sure there are many truly honest people. Myself included.

[TrickyNick79]

@StKildaFan In my search (see my profile) I've found that the 'can't con an honest man' cliche is more of a narrative device in fiction (your quote is also in the tv show Hustle) or as an excuse for ethical dubious behaviour. Beijing Tea Scam, Melon Drop and Charity Collectors on The Encyclopedia of Scams website for scams for honest people. More importantly, GO THE PIES!

[StKildaFan]

@TrickyNick79 Now how's this for an odd coincidence, I actually saw your show at the Jam factory yesterday and was thinking to myself "Is that the guy from that show on channel 9?" and it was, and here I've been arguing with you over youtube without realising it. I have been thinking it over actually and I did generalise. I read an interview with Simon Lovell just last week and he did say that you can't empathise and be a conman. So fair cop. And Go Saints.

[markolas1]

Hahaha...the "pigeon drop" - that was on an episode of the Golden Girls. Blanche & Sophia got suckered.

[jkun17]

"go to the nearest pay phone and start charging things up on it"

man this episode is so dated lol

great show

[OldeAtheist]

Pay phones still exist and why would you want to use a phone that could be easily traced to you?

The nice thing about pay phones is that they can call toll free numbers... well, toll free!

[RatHacker]

I would have wanted to turn the wallet in. I don't know maybe me just being paranoid about stuff would make me suspicious about giving up money or especially my whole wallet. I guess you could call me selfish. Greed is what gets all of us in trouble. I'm a 19 year old, I'm poor so cons don't really matter to me. Thanks for posting, I'm sure it made people more aware of this stuff.

[pickwickthesecond]

It's interesting how quickly a con artist will leave if you ask him/her to put their story to the test. A man came up to me in a parking lot with a long story about being (a) stranded (b) with a hungry family (c) which needed expensive home repairs AND (d) to pay for his dead mother's burial. It was so implausible I figured it might be true; I offered to buy him a bunch of food at a bakery 20 feet away, but he stopped talking MID-SENTENCE and almost ran away when I said I didn't have cash.

[slynkdnb]

"Oh shit, thankyou, yeah thats my wallet. I must have dropped it. So the hotel is just a few blocks away. Have a nice day!"

*run*

[DragonovSVD]

stranded car on highway w/guy on crutches needs cash for tow, I give him $20 feel good deed done, 1 hour later I see him on other side of highway so I stop and he forgot about his crutches as he tried to get into his car so I grabbed it smashed his wind shield and told him I was going to break his legs for real if he didn't give me my $50 back. He had only 3 $20's gave that to me and said keep it just don't hurt him. Conned the con and I felt even better than the first time I helped him !!!

[1971ojoalparche1971]

A broken leg would have made you feel even better, but great you got your money back.

Recently I was stopped by a guy who needed cash for some gas, and was standing there with a lady carrying a baby, I guess his wife. Seemed tough not helping them, but the baby gave it away for me. Seemed just too staged and I just left them.

I saw them close at the same spot a couple of weeks later.

[DragonovSVD]

Some people make a living that way but at least they aren't out killing or armed robbing people for it !

[1971ojoalparche1971]

But how do you know those same people do not steal, kidnap, or murder? That's the problem. I assure you they will rob you at gunpoint when they are desperate. They con you because it's safer to them, but they don't care about your life.

Crime is crime dude, and it's all some people know.

[jamesstephenbrown]

"Crime is crime dude, and it's all some people know."

What an inane comment. Hmm, parking infringement is the same as rape/murder. I think you're perhaps over-simplifying a little.

[therugdoctoranimesux]

Hahahah, awesome video!

My guard would've gone up as soon as I saw a guy behind me at my feet, holding a wallet (even if it wasn't mine)! Those con men are tricky!

[yodamace1]

"Oh, there's no money. Ah ha ha!"

*punches Michael Shermer in the face.*

[cankarales]

that was a very good test!

[brianjaymchugh]

a guy came up to me holding a gas can and asked if i could spare some money because he was stranded. i gave him a little bit and felt so good about helping out my fellow man, then my friend told me thats a VERY common scam. so now anytime anyone asks me for money i just stab them in the face.

[cjunk351]

hahahaha "so now anytime anyone asks me for money i just stab them in the face. " lol very good.

[marcusdavidus]

this only works in usa

[darkshadowman]

if it was me from the beggining i would have lied and siad it was mine

[CaptainFeigh]

I love how he's not a person, he's a pigeon.

[m0nk3ym1nd]

This takes my respect for Michael Shermer down a notch. The pigeon "got took", not for money, but for his esteeem. How many of his friends will see this? What will his kids think of him? University psychology research departments have pretty strict rules about the use of deception in research. This doesn't even have the rubric of research to cloak itself in.

[ZacharySarver]

I think you're overthinking this a little. This wasn't "research." This was a teevee show, for entertainment. And people get caught doing stupid things on teevee all the time. His friends will have a little laugh, his kids will see their dad on teevee. Big deal.

[phdecora]

good point

[AdHocRationalizing]

This isn't research and it never pretended to be. This is more like "candid camera" or "punked", although a little more informative as it shows how a particular con works.

[PMX]

"Oh there's no money!"

[perfectionbox]

In the next demonstration, the mark gets wise, pulls out a gun and in a fit of rage shoots the others. Then they stand up laughing, explaining to the camera crew that they had squibs planted on them and the mark is part of the act. But it's too late; one of the camera people bought it and died of a heart attack.

[youguin]

Nope, sorry, priss. While I've been the target of maybe six or seven cons, I've yet to be conned. In fact, I've reversed the con twice on separate quick change artists. If you're really good at math, this con is SOOOO easy to reverse. Anyway, one of them, when he realized what happened, actually came back and tried to get me to give him his proper change. Yeah, right, I said as pointed out the security guard.

[sourmanofcoal]

so many people get screwed lol

[zipalooie]

"Hey did one of you guys drop a wallet?"

"Oh my god, my wallet!!! Where did you get that?" *swipe* "I have so much money in there, wow thank you! Here's a hundred for your troubles." *run away*

[Lykil]

That would have been unbelievably great

[GestapoAnon]

@zipalooie The correct course of action! Conning a con. You're still a thief, but he deserves it and there's no way he can prove it's his.

[Obelisk2290]

yeah he can laugh now he still thought he was getting 3 grand

[Guaguanco11]

I wonder how many people have been conned by this trick? 1000's?

[sourmanofcoal]

probably more, cause its the oldest con in the book as the show says

[NoobixCube]

It's probably not THE oldest con. Television and the internet can be pretty misleading for the sake of a good story. There were probably a lot of simpler cons around before the pigeon drop was devised. In the stone age, cons probably ended with a rock to the back of the head. "You go tell the others, I'll guard the mammoth carcass!" *thunk* "Grognar died tragically fighting the mammoth. All the more for the rest of us."

[Phenobarbitol]

Oldest con: Ooo! Ug! Look, poonanny!

*steals rock*

[Bugaboo2226]

lmfao

[dreamy2]

That fish is no honest man either.

[sourmanofcoal]

yep, he is some retard that thought he would get lucky,lol

[camelotnax]

The extra bonus for con-men is that their victims almost never go to the police since they feel stupid or like accomplices to theft themselves. Thats why splitting the contents of a wallet is almost a bulletproof con!

[camelotnax]

How many young losers just learned a new con...?

[BrimStone1st]

Maybe, but how many people learned how to actually avoid being conned this way, and even by other fast talking cons? I think most people who learn of these tricks won't be any less caring of fellow human beings than they were before seeing this.

...I hope ^_^

[world09a]

just don't be gullible simple as that! Do these people live reality

[sourmanofcoal]

yep, these people are total idiots, they think the world is there to support them, they dont realize that we live in a predator vs prey world

[chriskendall1]

You live inside a giant con game.

[Unnoticed37]

Michael Shermer does us all such a service.

[prayfertrey]

People who are easily conned can't be helped, they often won't be helped.

[effyleven]

In the UK, *some* people (me included) would take that wallet to the Police Station and hand it in as lost property. [If it isn't claimed in 6 months, it becomes the finder's.] The whole idea of divi-ing up the spoils on the street would immediately strike me as DIS-HONEST, so why would I enter into a finacial arrangement with an obviously dis-honest person? No! I'd be outta there.... NOT conned!!

[flug747]

That's what I thought. He got conned because he was greedy and dishonest. Splitting it up? Imagine what a person who's just lost $3000 must go through. So this 'pidgeon' got what he deserved. Greed is at the heart of most cons. In this situation I would probably trust Shermer, he's nice and polite. But I wouldn't trust the con artist for a second.

[fuckfuckfuckfuckcock]

It's easy to say that when you don't have a wad of cash in front of you.

[Inhumanheartbeat]

Unless, of course, you really needed the money. That, and the fact that most people in the world (regardless of nationality) are not so honest. Good for you, though. Glad to hear it. If it doesn't work on one person, these guys will just find another 'mark'. It's a numbers game, after all. And I have to say, if someone were willing to 'split' the money found in a lost wallet (i.e., stealing)... well they pretty much had it comming. Wouldn't you say?

[Escuerd]

Also, as lots of psychological experiments have shown, many seemingly normal, good people are willing to go along with things that are either morally wrong or factually wrong if it's being reinforced by others (see things like the Asch experiment or Stanford Prison experiment).

[quelorepario]

That is a nice experiment along with the Milgram experiment.

[auberginecow]

Next time someone asks you if that's your wallet, you say YES!

[jjuran]

"Next time someone asks you if that's your wallet, you say YES!"

:-)

Now I have to watch Ghostbusters again.

[quelorepario]

that's what I say!

[arloyola]

This happened to my sister whit a portable CD player instead of money. Time ago when CD players where expensive. In Chile it's called "El cuento del tio" The Uncle Story. Be aware and thanks Mr. Shermer.

[ampsarus]

*Doink* go have a massage ya mook

[Jaydarell]

Where's this from?

[oRichardCraigo]

That's a lot of effort for his wallet, just lure him somewhere then just take it off him.

[RobertlewisIR]

That's true. But physical force doesn't work for every criminal, especially if there's the possibility the victim could be armed.  With a con, you're gone before he realizes you're out to get him.

[RobertlewisIR]

Some day, I'm going to try that one, myself. I won't actually take the money, of course. But I think it'd be fun to try some of these tricks.

[thewarriorpope]

this is gay i would punch you in the face if you try it

[dailycrow]

dont be afraid baby face

[zenoizen]

very nice!

[rubbin]

sweet