The Scam Handbook: The Secrets of the Con Artist

Three-Card Monte . . . AKA Find the Lady

The Set-up
Cardboard box on a busy street. The dealer shuffles 3 cards. The onlooker bets the position.

The Lure
Someone (the shill) always seems to be winning. The look-out signals the approach of cops. The roper seeks out marks. The muscle man takes care of complainers.

The Sting
The mark is persuaded to join the game. He never wins.

From the charming and seductive hustler — an icon of 1920s film noir — to the cyber hack who can truly vanish without a trace, The Scam Handbook exposes all the tricks of the trade with a revealing look at:

• Why the mark never sings (p. 31)
• Anatomy of 29 scams from classics like the Pigeon Drop (p. 64) to the Information Age cons like credit card cloning
• Scammer Hall of Fame with profiles of the most notorious and intriguing grifters, from Joseph “Yellow Kid” Weil to Frank Abagnale Jr

The hand is quicker than the eye! Get wise to the con.