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A confidence trick, or con for short, (also known as a scam) is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. The confidence trickster, con man, scam artist or con artist often works with an accomplice called the shill, who tries to encourage the mark by pretending to believe the trickster.

Confidence tricks in general exploit the greed and inherent dishonesty of their victims; it has been said by confidence tricksters that it was impossible to con a completely honest man.

Well-known confidence tricks:

• Three Card Monty, The Three-Card Trick, Follow The Lady or Find the Lady. The trickster shows three playing cards to the audience, one of which is a queen (the lady), then places the cards face-down, shuffles them around and invites the audience to bet on which one is the queen. At first the audience are sceptical, so the shill places a bet and the trickster allows him to win. This is sometimes enough to entice the audience to place bets, but the trickster uses sleight of hand to ensure that they always lose.
• The Spanish Prisoner scam, which is essentially the same as the Nigerian money transfer fraud. The basic come-on is "we need your help to get some stolen money out of its hiding place". The victim sometimes goes in figuring he or she can cheat the con artists out of their money: anyone trying this has already fallen for the essential con, by believing that the money is there to steal.
• The 1920s and 1930s favorite The Big Store, around which scam the plot of the film The Sting revolves.
• Religious cults. Some religious cults have been described by their critics as confidence tricks. It is alleged that their aim is to obtain money from their followers by deception.

Famous con artists:

• Victor Lustig, sold the Eiffel Tower
• Joseph Weil, a.k.a. the Yellow Kid, one of the inspirations for the Academy-award winning film The Sting.

Confidence tricks in the movies (an incomplete list):

• Flim Flam Man, The. 1967. Produced by Lawrence Turman; directed by Irvin Kershner and Yakima Canutt. Twentieth Century Fox.
• Grifters, The. 1991. Produced by Martin Scorsese; directed by Stephen Frears. Miramax Films.
• House of Games. 1987. Produced by Michael Hausman; directed by David Mamet. Orion.
• Music Man, The. 1962. Produced and directed by Morton da Costa. Warner.
• Paper Moon. 1973. Directed and produced by Peter Bogdanovitch. Paramount.
• Rainmaker, The. 1956. Produced by Paul Nathan. Paramount.
• Sting, The. 1973. Directed by George Roy Hill. Universal.
• Spanish Prisoner, The. 19??. Produced by ??; directed by David Mamet.

References:

• Maurer, David W. 1940. The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man and the Confidence Game. New York: The Bobbs Merrill company.
• Maurer, David W. 1974. The American Confidence Man. Springfield: Charles C. Thomas, Publisher.

See also:

• carny