Chapter 6: The Arts of Deception: Classic Cons

The old rogue slurped his ale noisily, complaining to the bartender, "The thieves these days, they've lost the art of it all. Like a bloody bunch of bandit half-orcs: Their idea of an elegant theft is a rich victim bashed neatly on the head, so his fancy clothes don't get scuffed so much and can be fenced more dear." The young bartender raised his eyebrows, a little wary but curious about what the wizened old coot had to say. "Now, in my day, the thief we all looked up to was one whose only weapons were his wits and a steady, speedy hand. It would be hours before his victim even knew'd he was robbed, and then he couldn't be sure who done it.

"There was this one guy, Willie—Cool Willie, they called him, 'cause he never lost his cool. He know'd ALL the scams . . . "

Since day one, there have been people eager to get a free ride, to swindle others out of anything they can. These people, it has been observed, are typically the best targets for the swindler. After all, how likely are you to report a con man, when the reason he succeeded was that you thought you were taking advantage of him? Playing off other peoples' greed is the key to a successful swindling career, on whatever scale it is performed.

An astute swindler is always on the lookout for opportunities for a good racket. Some of these situations and scams have been nearly immortalized, and are classics: Not only does it seem everyone knows them, but everyone still uses them—and they still work. An excellent book filled with real-life anecdotes of classic cons is The Compleat Swindler, by Ralph Hancock with Henry Chafetz (New York: Macmillan, 1968).

What follows is a sampling of scams for the novice pigeon plucker.

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