Modus Operandi by Mauro Corvasce (universal ebook reader txt) 📕

her ten dollar bill with the other. He promptly pockets the ten dollars and starts for the door.

8. Usually, the con man will pause to light a cigarette, giving the cashier time to discover that she has nineteen dollars instead of ten one dollar bills. He stalls until she tells him of the mistake, or, in the event the cashier overlooks the mistake or decides to pocket the extra nine dollars herself, he returns as though he has suddenly discovered the discrepancy. If the cashier calls him back (and most will), she will show him the nineteen dollars and tell him that he has shortchanged himself. The con man will thank her profusely for her honesty and combine it with the other compliments about her face or figure.

9. But wait, here comes the most important part of the con. The con man will then bring forth the single dollar bill that he had palmed and toss it down with the other nineteen dollars, suggesting once again to the cashier that she may need the change and asking her for a twenty dollar bill in return.

So, for his twenty-one dollars and five minutes, the con artist walks out of the restaurant with thirty-one dollars! Ambitious con artists register as many as twenty or thirty scores a day. Some scores have been known to occur twice in the same place on the same day, because the shortages are very seldom noticed until the count is made at the close of the day's business when the register is counted out.

These swindles are not always done by men; several women have become very efficient working shops where young men handle the cash registers. You guessed it, the womanly sex appeal added to the talk leaves the young cashier boys with nothing but memories.

Another short change scam is the envelope switch, which is very easy. The con artist enters a store and offers a handful of bills and small change for a twenty dollar bill. The cashier, only too happy to get small bills and change, will do it. The con artist takes from her pocket a stamped, addressed envelope and says to the cashier, "This is so I can send the twenty dollar bill to my mother for her birthday." After receiving the twenty dollar bill, and while the clerk is counting the money, she puts the bill in the envelope, seals it and returns the envelope quickly to her pocket. But the con artist is very shrewd, she has short-changed the cashier one dollar, and the cashier, thinking that he is on to her, finds it. The cashier tells the con artist that she is short one dollar. The con artist pretends to be flustered and very embarrassed. She says that she will have to go home or back to the office or out to her car or whatever and get the additional one dollar. She takes back the original bills and change and gives the clerk an envelope, in which the clerk thinks the twenty dollar bill has been deposited, and tells him to keep that in the register until she returns with the one dollar that she owes him. It may be hours before the clerk opens the envelope and discovers that the con artist has left an envelope with a blank piece of paper inside.

The Shell Game

No one knows exactly when the shell game was introduced to the American public but it has probably been played for hundreds of years. It was a popular pastime among the 49ers in California when they were digging for gold. By the turn of the century it had returned to the cities and was causing the police of Chicago so much trouble that they printed descriptions of the game in the newspapers to warn the public. But this only increased the shell men, or nut men as the press called them, and didn't discourage the suckers from the rural parts of America, who never read the big city newspapers anyway.

The way con artists operate the shell game is very simple. Three half shells of a walnut, a rubber pea, two milk crates, and a small table or even a large piece of cardboard complete the con artists's outfit. However, at least one booster (or shill) is essential to the success of the swindle. The shell game is played as follows:

1. The operator of the con game hides the pea under one walnut shell. Then, he moves the shells around the table and bets that no one can tell which shell the pea is under. The booster (or shill), who dresses differently than the con artist, is the first one up to play the game. It is very important that the con artist running the game looks slightly less affluent than the people in the area and that the booster dresses almost exactly like the people in the area.

2. The booster will come up to the game, and the con operator, with ease and carelessness (which only appears to be carelessness), allows the pea to slide slowly underneath one of the shells. This motion is seen by the onlookers. The booster makes a bet and, of course, wins, so the true victim is drawn into the game.

3. The operator appears to handle the shells more carelessly than before. He allows the pea to remain for an instant under the edge of one of the shells. The victim sees this and imagines that he has a sure thing. He makes his bet and picks up the shell only to find it empty. The shell operator, skilled in handling the pea, causes it to pass under the shell picked up by the victim and inside the next shell. This motion is too quick for detection.

Some of the old-time shell game operators were real artists in the truest sense of the word. Not only were their fingers trained to a degree of deftness rarely seen today, but their shtick or spiel was so hypnotic in its effect on suckers that, had they gone