Fun stuff to do to make a quick buck
(Be warned, these are ALL illegal activities!)
The Murphy Game – also known as White van speaker scam
In the white van speaker game, low-quality loudspeakers are sold—stereotypically from a white cargo van—as expensive units that have been greatly discounted. You explain the ultra-low price in a number of ways; for instance, that your employer is unaware of having ordered too many speakers, so you are sneakily selling the excess behind the boss’s back. You, the “speakerman” are ready to be haggled down to a seemingly minuscule price, because the speakers you’re selling, while usually functional, actually cost only a tiny fraction of their “list price” to manufacture. The gig may extend to the creation of Web sites for the bogus brand, which should sound similar to that of a respected loudspeaker company. You can often place an ad for the speakers in the “For sale” Classifieds of the local newspaper, at the exorbitant price, and then show your copy of this ad to “verify” their worth.
People shopping for pirated software, illegal porn, bootleg CDs/DVDs, drugs, firearms, or other forbidden or controlled goods may be legally hindered from reporting swindles to the police. An example is the “big screen TV in the back of the truck”: the TV is touted as “hot” (stolen), so it will be sold for a very low price. The TV is in fact defective or broken; it may, in fact, not even be a television at all, since some creative genius’s have discovered that a suitably decorated oven door will suffice. The buyer has no legal recourse without admitting to the attempted purchase of stolen goods.
Empty car lot
You find a vacant lot that is essentially used as free car parking and then start to charge people at the entrance, saying that the parking lot is under new management and now charges for parking.
False charity
You go door-to-door saying that the mark’s donation will help build better playgrounds, help starving children, etc.; thus the mark will give you money. You can even print out fake papers and brochures explaining the good that they will be doing.
Gas can
The gas can gig happens on the street or in a parking lot, usually near a big-box store or mall. Traditionally, you’ll be well-dressed, and carrying a gas can – though these confidence-enhancing elements are by no means necessary to the game. A false “sob story” is told to the potential mark, usually involving a wife and/or teenage (or infant) children waiting in the stranded car, or occasionally, teenage offspring home alone (the variations are numerous). Occasionally, the false story can involve the need to make a trip to a doctor’s office or hospital. Your story inevitably leads to a request for ten to twenty dollars for gas. It’s also good to ask for the mark’s address to “return” their money.
Just as with the alleged wife and/or children, the purportedly out-of-gas car might or might not be present; if questioned, you might vaguely gesture in the direction of a parked car or cars.
A variation of this gig has you claiming that your car was towed, and you need money to retrieve it from the towing company.
Landlord
You, the “landlord” advertise an apartment for rent at an attractive price. You should be someone who is either house-sitting, or has a short-term sublet at the unit, and takes a deposit and first/last month’s rent from every person who views the suite. When move-in day arrives, you are of course, gone, and the apartment belongs to none of the angry people carrying boxes.
Rainmaker
You, the “rainmaker” convince the mark to pay you to make something happen. If it happens, then the mark is convinced it is because they paid you, the rainmaker; if it hasn’t happened (yet), you can say you need more money to make it happen.
Robbed traveler
The best of the lot takes place at airports and train stations. You, smartly dressed in suit and tie appear to be in distress and look around bewildered, making sure the mark has noticed you. Then approach and tell them the story that your wallet or jacket has been stolen with all your money. Next, you appeal for help and ask if you can borrow a small amount of money for a taxi to your friend’s house or a hotel where you have a reservation, promising to pay it back as soon as you get access to your money. Experts at this game may even trick their mark into giving them the money (as opposed to merely lending it) in the belief that they are helping an upstanding member of society in genuine distress.
Street mechanic
The “street mechanic” approaches the mark’s car and says something is wrong with it – usually something the mark cannot immediately see – the bumper is turning into the wheel, for example. You then tell the mark that it is a very expensive fix, but you are a mechanic and will fix it for a discounted price. Really, you’re just creating an illusion, perhaps by sitting on the bumper. Then “fix” the problem in minutes.
Afterward, you may ask for only a ride at first, but then pretend to call your boss, pretending that you are late for work and the boss is angry, and then, tell the mark they have lost you a customer. The mark is made to feel guilty and grateful, and believe that they have been helped by a kind mechanic who has charged them less than the normal hourly rate (albeit plus a hefty tip) to replace the customer they lost
Newspaper swindle
You pretend to be a newspaper vendor in an area where many out-of-towners are likely to pass and also likely to want newspapers, such as a train station or airport. The papers you’re selling, however, are local newspapers that can be picked up for free. As the out-of-towners might not be aware of what papers are free in a particular city, they may end up paying for a paper unnecessarily. This gig has been observed in downtown Chicago using a local free paper, The Reader.
Fake raffle
You can sell tickets for a non-existent raffle, often either door-to-door or at a stall in a densely populated commercial space (i.e. a large shopping mall), to dozens of individual marks, making a sizable profit in the process. Because the marks never expected to win the raffle, they generally never realize they’ve been stung; and may not even think about it at all afterwards, because they only parted with a small amount of money (several dollars, for example).
Again, all of these “quick buck ideas” are illegal, but all are successful too.
Be careful out there – and don’t take any of these!
McGruff, the crime dog
As a reminder:
“If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime!”
