This is an old revision of the document!
A List of cons, hustles & scams
see also List_of_scams
Ponzi Scheme (1918)
The “Money-Box Scheme”
Spanish Prisoner (the advance-fee scam or “Nigerian Prince”)
Fiddle game
Jamaican Switch / Pigeon drop
Green goods
Pig in a poke (cat in a bag) (late Middle Ages)
Iraqi Dinar
Badger game
Clip joint
Melon drop
Baltimore Stockbroker
Three-card Monte
Diploma mill
World Luxury Association
Phishing
Technical support scam
The Affinity Church scam
Beijing tea
Big Store
Change raising
Mystery shopping
Predatory journals
Psychic surgery
Rain making
boiler-room scam
419 scam
Rip deal
Unsolicited goods
Catfishing
Cackle-bladder
Kansas City shuffle
Little blind mouse
Pump and Dump
Salting the mine
Toledo Panic Button
via Leverage
The Lost Heir
A Rip Deal
The Spanish Prisoner
The London Spank
The Geneva Paso Doble
The Apple Pie (“It’s like the Cherry Pie, but with lifeguards.”)
The Cherry Pie
Glengarry, Glen Death
The Turnabout
Ponzi Scheme
The Mona Lisa Variant
The Wire Game
The Swedish Rail Con
The Cairo Flyer
The Double-Blind
A Fiddle Game
The Pill Scare
The Berlin Shuffle
Little Orphan Annie
The Skagway Shuffle
The Mummy’s Tiara
The Vegas Wake-Up Call
Like the Cuban Sandwich except “the boyfriend shows up.”
The Cuban Sandwich
An Edward Albee
The Spanish Turnabout
The Peking Watch
The Moscow Circus
The Romanian Circus
The Snipe Hunt (“she’s running a variant. It’s called a Snipe Hunt. It’s the Circus, but it’s leaner and faster.”)
The Roman Wedding
The Peruvian Slide
The Boca Backlash
The Oklahoma Little Chucky
The Chilean Custard
The Moonwalking Bear
The Big Store
The MassDOT Special
The Wicked Stepsister
The High Minne Scam Variant
The Lazy Dachshund
The Pizarro Pressure Point
The Double-Pronged Monkey Con
A Radio Play
The Oligschlager Shuffle
The Arkham Ascent
The White Van Speakers
The White Rabbit
A Swap-and-Whisper Campaign
The Trojan Horse
The Burn Scam
The Nigerian Prince
Ponzi Scheme
The Smash and Grab
Three Card Monte
Zanzibar Marketplace