67 Sentences With "confidence tricks" | Random Sentence Generator

What are the lies and confidence tricks that someone can use to get to the top?

All the shadows she hoped to leave behind — police corruption, arson, insurance scams, confidence tricks and, inevitably, murder — are catching up with her.

It did not take long for Jeremy Wilson to return to a life of forgery and confidence tricks after he was released from federal prison in November, investigators said.

This is a list of notable literary works involving confidence tricks.

This is a list of notable individuals who exploited confidence tricks.

Also, oxytocin has also the potential for being abused in confidence tricks.

This is a list of fictional portrayals of confidence tricks found in television and the movies.

Thai Tailor Scam (also known as the Bangkok Tailor Scam) is one of the most common confidence tricks performed in tourist hotspots in Thailand, such as Pattaya, Bangkok, Phuket, and beach towns like Khao Lak.

JM Staniforth: Herbert Kitchener attempts to raise £100,000 for a college in Sudan by calling on the name of Charles George Gordon A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ... intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men') at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')".

Internet scams are schemes that deceive the user in various ways in attempt to take advantage of them. Internet scams often aim to cheat the victim of personal property directly rather than personal information through false promises, confidence tricks and more.

Using confidence tricks (deception) to get possession of property is larceny. Larceny by trick is descriptive of the method used to obtain possession. The concept arose from Pear's Case decided in 1779.King v Pear, 1 Leach 212, 168 Eng.Rep.

During middle age, he suffered from financial hardship and fell victim to a number of confidence tricks for which he took the blame. He was known for his friendly and outgoing personality, and his few speeches in the House of Lords were viewed positively.

A native of Chicago, Illinois, Tom O'Brien first appeared during the early 1880s, becoming notorious for his con games and confidence tricks. This was most evident in such major cities as New Orleans, Chicago and New York City where he based his operations for much of his criminal career. He frequently visited New Orleans throughout his life, both to devise new schemes and to see his mistress Anne Grey. Grey, a highly popular courtesan and madam in the city's underworld, ran a high-class "bagnio" on Burgundy Street and was extensively involved in confidence tricks in New York, Atlanta and Paris before arriving in Louisiana.

Creative real estate investing is any non-traditional method of buying and selling real estate. Confidence tricks and pyramid schemes in the 20th and 21st century such as Nouveau Riche (real estate investment college) have embraced the term, leading contemporary usage of the term to be synonymous with unscrupulous practices.

The judges described these as elaborate confidence tricks, in which victims were invited to dinner and then "ensnared" in rigged games that involved a cast of fictional characters and realised enormous profits for their perpetrators. After an appeal in 1987, the sentence was reduced to 1 year and 2 months. To avoid imprisonment, Briatore lived as a fugitive in Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands.

During his life, he served time at several prisons, including Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary, where he befriended the notorious Al Capone. They had a falling-out in 1936 when Capone refused to join in Whitaker's prison strike, but reconciled later on. Whitaker was skillful at resetting car odometers with a screwdriver. He supplemented his income with this and other confidence tricks.

The amount of money or materials in the universe is not fixed and, as such, the economy operates under supply and demand. Market manipulation is possible on a large scale, particular examples being ramping and bear raids. CCP does not issue refunds on in-game purchases. Hence, there is always the risk of certain types of confidence tricks or other scams.

Petty crime, however, is more common, particularly in the form of pickpocketing, which occurs mainly on the city's public transport network. Additionally, confidence tricks such as the Maradona scam are sometimes common, especially in regard to tourists. Levels of crime are higher in the southern districts of the city, particularly in Ferentari, a socially-disadvantaged area. Theft was reduced by 13.6% in 2013 compared to 2012.

Real Hustle is an American television program that aired on truTV in 2008. The show demonstrates confidence tricks and other scams performed on members of the public. The show was cancelled after 1 season The program shows ways in which people can be scammed out of substantial amounts of money with relatively little effort. The ultimate goal is to educate the viewer on various scams.

Luan Da (, died 112 BC;Sima Qian 1994, p. 239) was a religious figure during the early Han Dynasty from the state of Yue. He professed to know the secret to immortality and be able to communicate with spiritual beings. Possessing the gift of gab and adept at confidence tricks, Luan Da gained the favour of Emperor Wu of Han, also known as Han Wudi.

Email fraud (or email scam) is intentional deception for either personal gain or to damage another individual by means of email. Almost as soon as email became widely used, it began to be used as a means to defraud people. Email fraud can take the form of a "con game", or scam. Confidence tricks tend to exploit the inherent greed and dishonesty of its victims.

In 1988 McCall, Idaho, Sarah Walker (Alexa Blair) assists her father Jack Burton (Gary Cole) with a number of confidence tricks. Sarah begins saving her earnings in a piggy bank to go on an adventure with her father. When Sarah's grandmother (Pamela Roylance) forces Jack to leave Sarah, Sarah sneaks into his car. Jack returns Sarah to her bed after she has fallen asleep, taking the piggy bank with him.

An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the fraudster requires in order to obtain the large sum. If a victim makes the payment, the fraudster either invents a series of further fees for the victim or simply disappears.

The Brothers Bloom, orphaned at a young age, begin performing confidence tricks as young children; Stephen dreams up elaborate scenarios and his younger brother, Bloom, creates trust with the marks. Stephen creates his first con as a way of encouraging his brother to talk to girls. Twenty-five years later, the brothers are the world's most successful con men. They even have a regular accomplice: Bang Bang, a Japanese explosives expert who rarely speaks.

Cackle-bladder (or cacklebladder) is a means of faking someone's death through the use of a rubber bladder filled with fake blood. Its name is derived from the fact that traditionally chicken blood was used. Cackle-bladders are used particularly in confidence tricks and espionage. As part of a con, a cackle- bladder can be used to fool the mark (person being conned) into believing that one of the con artists has been killed.

Petty crime, however, is more common, particularly in the form of pickpocketing, which occurs mainly on the city's public transport network. Confidence tricks were common in the 1990s, especially in regards to tourists, but the frequency of these incidents has since declined. However, in general, theft was reduced by 13.6% in 2013 compared to 2012. Levels of crime are higher in the southern districts of the city, particularly in Ferentari, a socially disadvantaged area.

MacBride was a retired bunco cop who once arrested Ryan, a con man. After Ryan's release from prison, the two men opened a detective agency in Los Angeles. Their speciality involves the use of confidence tricks to trap criminals into revealing evidence of their guilt. Assisting them is another reformed con man, restaurant owner Malcolm Argos (Charlie Callas), and Maggie Philbin (Sharon Gless), Mac and Pete's naive-but-competent receptionist and assistant.

Antonio is a poor man who has to support his daughter and especially he should pay her stay at a prestigious boarding school to study dance. Antonio so starts with his friend Camillo to deceive the poor people of Rome stealing many sums of money with various confidence tricks. Among the various scams that famous are the receipt of a billion dollars for the prince of Katanga (Antonio in blackface) and the sale of the Trevi Fountain to a foolish entrepreneur.

After years of undertaking confidence tricks, Moist von Lipwig is caught by the Ankh-Morpork City Watch, and is sentenced to death under his current alias, Albert Spangler. After a brief spell in prison he is hanged by the neck, but not killed. He is brought before Patrician Havelock Vetinari who likens himself to an angel, offering Moist a change of life. He gives Moist the choice to either become the new Postmaster or be executed by falling down a deep pit.

A person who performs a practical joke is called a "practical joker" or "prankster". Other terms for practical jokes include gag, rib, jape, or shenanigan. Practical jokes differ from confidence tricks or hoaxes in that the victim finds out, or is let in on the joke, rather than being talked into handing over money or other valuables. Practical jokes are generally lighthearted and without lasting effect; they aim to make the victim feel humbled or foolish, but not victimized or humiliated.

Reprieve interviewed people who had dealings with him to support their claims that he may have had bipolar disorder. Stephen Fry was one celebrity who joined the campaign for clemency. Reprieve also released hundreds of emails that Shaikh had sent in 2007 to embassy staff in Warsaw and to a group of 74 individuals and organisations including Tony Blair. Campaigners argued that Shaikh's delusions of pop stardom were symptomatic of his condition, and may have made him especially susceptible to confidence tricks.

The Ram Jam Inn was a pub on the A1 in Rutland, England between Stamford and Grantham. It was frequented by the highwayman Dick Turpin in the 18th century, and it is alleged that one of his confidence tricks inspired the pub's name. The pub originally opened as a coaching inn called the Winchelsea Arms, but became known as the Ram Jam Inn by the early 19th century. Turpin was a temporary lodger at the inn, and resided here when he first found notoriety.

The Chief (Orlando Martins) agrees to allow his people to move, but only if they are led by Moses. Reverend Anderson and Julie blackmail Moses through their knowledge of his diamond smuggling in order to lead the people to the "Promised Land". Seeing through Moses's confidence tricks is an educated African, Ubi (Raymond St. Jacques). Ubi initially wishes to team up with Moses to con other Africans, but then attempts to steal Moses's show with a concealed flame thrower that has unexpectedly disastrous consequences for Ubi.

As well as featuring tricks and illusions for pure entertainment, he also included a regular segment (the "Bunco Booth") in which he exposed the confidence tricks of street charlatans. He also replicated the kind of results that have impressed researchers of the paranormal and parapsychologists in a segment called Under Laboratory Conditions, thereby demonstrating his scepticism about claims made in these fields. Daniels starred in his own stage show, It's Magic, at the Prince of Wales Theatre from 10 December 1980 until 6 February 1982.

Hustle is a British television crime drama series starring Adrian Lester, Robert Glenister and Robert Vaughn. Created by Tony Jordan, it was produced by Kudos Film and Television, and broadcast on BBC One in the United Kingdom. The show premiered on 24 February 2004, and ran for eight series, with its final episode aired on 17 February 2012. The show's premise is on a group of con artists who specialise in "long cons" – extended forms of deceptive frauds that require greater commitment, but offer higher rewards than simple confidence tricks.

Miller began working as a "capper" for Major S.A. Doran at his Royal Street gambling house and while there began learning confidence tricks and banco steering.Walling, George W. Recollections of a New York Chief of Police: An Official Record of Thirty-eight Years as Patrolman, Detective, Captain, Inspector and Chief of the New York Police. New York: Caxton Book Concern, 1887. (pg. 359-361) When he had saved $35,000, he moved to New York City and opened a small gambling den which later became known as a notorious "skinning dive" in the city's underworld.

Brome's play involves the sexual themes, generational conflicts, and the confidence tricks that are typical of his drama. Touchwood and Striker are two London neighbours, both justices of the peace; they maintain a vigorous and long-running quarrel. Their hostility is counterpointed by the affection of their heirs: Touchwood's son Sam and Striker's granddaughter Annabelle are in love. When Touchwood discovers this fact, he forbids their marriage, and insists that Sam inflict some serious injury on the Striker family to stay in his father's good graces (and his will).

Confidence tricks and scams are difficult to classify, because they change often and often contain elements of more than one type. Throughout this list, the perpetrator of the confidence trick is called the "con artist" or simply "artist", and the intended victim is the "mark". Particular scams are mainly directed toward elderly people, as they may be credulous and sometimes inexperienced or insecure, especially when the scam involves modern technology such as computers and the internet. This list should not be considered complete but covers the most common examples.

Edgar Laplante ( January 1944), also posed as Chief White Elk, was an American-Indian con man and actor known for his confidence tricks such as duping local businessmen, admiring world class leaders and women by posing American war hero and distance runner, including Tom Longboat. He also used to involve the lovers in substance abuse. He carried his first con at an apparent age of 14. Sometimes, he collected money by delivering public speeches at religious places and civil societies such as local churches and organizations without revealed his real name.

In recent years, Pattaya has served as a hideaway for foreigners with connections to organized crime in their home countries, and dozens have been murdered in gang-related disputes. People who visit the Pattaya area may encounter petty crime, usually limited to pickpocketing and confidence tricks, particularly in and around major tourist areas such as Jomtien and Pattaya Beaches and on the "baht buses". A special Tourist Police division has been established to aid tourists who are victims of crime. The 2009 British eight- episode TV documentary Big Trouble in Tourist Thailand described crimes involving tourists in Pattaya.

The Secret Cabaret was a magic-based television programme that ran for two series, of six episodes each, on Channel 4 in the UK during the early 1990s. It was conceived and fronted by British magician Simon Drake and was praised for giving a new and shocking twist to the presentation of illusions.In the end titles for the show Drake received the credit "Conceived and Original Material". In addition to various magicians the show featured sideshow acts and presentations by experts on fraud and confidence tricks, all interspersed with vintage archive footage of freak shows and daredevil stunts.

Male and Female: The Classic Study of the Sexes (1949) Quill (HarperCollins) 1998 edition: Irrational behaviors of individuals include taking offense or becoming angry about a situation that has not yet occurred, expressing emotions exaggeratedly (such as crying hysterically), maintaining unrealistic expectations, engaging in irresponsible conduct such as problem intoxication, disorganization, and falling victim to confidence tricks. People with a mental illness like schizophrenia may exhibit irrational paranoia. These more contemporary normative conceptions of what constitutes a manifestation of irrationality are difficult to demonstrate empirically because it is not clear by whose standards we are to judge the behavior rational or irrational.

During the first five years of his seven-year sentence, the three men communicate their thoughts on confidence tricks and chess moves via messages hidden inside library books, such as The Mathematics of Quantum Mechanics. The chess expert and the con man plan to leave their cells simultaneously, and promise to take Jake with them. But when they disappear from their cells, they leave Jake behind to serve the remaining two years of his sentence. When Jake is released, he finds that all of his possessions and money have been taken by the two men with whom he had shared everything.

In 1977, Karen Wolek (Kathryn Breech), fiancée to Llanview Hospital chief of staff Dr. Larry Wolek (Michael Storm), is planning for her impending nuptials when ex-boyfriend Marco Dane arrives in Llanview. Fearful that Larry would not marry her if he were to learn about the confidence tricks and embezzlement schemes she participated in with Marco before her arrival in town, she agitated at Marco's presence. Karen and Larry marry without Marco divulging Karen's secret past, while Marco planned to blackmail her into another business venture instead. In search for employment, Dorian Lord (Claire Malis) hires Marco as a personal assistant, briefly engaging in a romantic affair with him.

A British TV series, which ran for one season of 17 episodes from 1967 to 1968. In it, a British secret agent who has recently resigned his position is abducted by unknown forces and taken to a mysterious, idyllic village in an undisclosed location, which is seemingly populated entirely by other former agents of various international intelligence agencies. There, he is designated "Number Six", and a succession of interrogators, known collectively as "Number Two", attempt to extract the reason for his resignation from him via a variety of methods, including 24-hour surveillance, torture, double agents, mind control, hallucinogens, hypnosis, gaslighting, and a series of elaborate confidence tricks.

Uilenspiegel himself is caught out, having incautiously expressed in public the opinion that masses said for the dead benefit no one but the clergy paid for saying them. Due to his youth he gets off with a relatively light punishment - he is sentenced to three years' exile and must get a pardon from the Pope in Rome. Thereupon, he embarks on a meandering route through the Low Countries and the German Holy Roman Empire, perpetrating his tricks and practical jokes wherever he goes. Sometimes he indulges in elaborate confidence tricks, for example getting Jewish and Gentile merchants in Hamburg to pay him considerable sums for supposed magical amulets which are in fact made of animal excrement.

Luan Da returned to his group and reported that he had seen his immortal master and that they were to report back to the emperor. Angered by Luan Da's deceit, the spy rushed back to the capital before the mystic to inform Emperor Wu. The emperor, incensed at Luan Da's confidence tricks, decided to play along when the mystic returned to see what lies he would tell.Zhang 2006 When Luan Da returned, he told the emperor of his falsified meeting with the immortals; however, he sensed that the emperor did not believe him. Before long, the emperor broke out in a rage, ordering Luan Da to tell what he had actually done.

Confidence tricks exploit typical human characteristics such as greed, dishonesty, vanity, opportunism, lust, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility, desperation, and naïvety. As such, there is no consistent profile of a confidence trick victim; the common factor is simply that the victim relies on the good faith of the con artist. Victims of investment scams tend to show an incautious level of greed and gullibility, and many con artists target the elderly, but even alert and educated people may be taken in by other forms of a confidence trick.Crimes-of-persuasion.com Fraud Victim Advice / Assistance for Consumer Scams and Investment Frauds Researchers Huang and Orbach argue: Accomplices, also known as shills, help manipulate the mark into accepting the perpetrator's plan.

Thereafter Moses visits recently-widowed women, pretending to have previously sold expensive, personalized Bibles to their deceased husbands, and the widows pay him for the Bibles inscribed with their names. Addie joins the scam, pretending she is his daughter, and exhibits a talent for confidence tricks, cheating a cotton candy vendor out of a large sum of money. As time passes, Moses and Addie become a formidable team. One night, Addie and "Moze" (as Addie addresses him) stop at a local carnival, where Moze becomes enthralled with an "exotic dancer" named Miss Trixie Delight and leaves Addie at a photo booth to have her photograph taken alone (of herself sitting on a crescent moon, to suggest the film's title).

The scammer will typically attempt to get the victim to allow remote access to their computer. After remote access is gained, the scammer relies on confidence tricks, typically involving utilities built into Windows and other software, in order to gain the victim's trust to pay for the supposed "support" services. The scammer will often then steal the victim's credit card account information or persuade the victim to log into their online banking account to receive a promised refund, only to steal more money, claiming that a secure server is connected and that the scammer cannot see the details. Many schemes involve convincing the victim to purchase expensive gift cards and then to divulge the card information to the scammer.

General Gregor MacGregor (24 December 1786 – 4 December 1845) was a Scottish soldier, adventurer, and confidence trickster who attempted from 1821 to 1837 to draw British and French investors and settlers to "Poyais", a fictional Central American territory that he claimed to rule as "Cazique". Hundreds invested their savings in supposed Poyaisian government bonds and land certificates, while about 250 emigrated to MacGregor's invented country in 1822–23 to find only an untouched jungle; more than half of them died. MacGregor's Poyais scheme has been called one of the most brazen confidence tricks in history. From the Clan Gregor, MacGregor was an officer in the British Army from 1803 to 1810; he served in the Peninsular War.

Financial crime is crime committed against property, involving the unlawful conversion of the ownership of property (belonging to one person) to one's own personal use and benefit. Financial crimes may involve fraud (cheque fraud, credit card fraud, mortgage fraud, medical fraud, corporate fraud, securities fraud (including insider trading), bank fraud, insurance fraud, market manipulation, payment (point of sale) fraud, health care fraud); theft; scams or confidence tricks; tax evasion; bribery; sedition; embezzlement; identity theft; money laundering; and forgery and counterfeiting, including the production of Counterfeit money and consumer goods. Financial crimes may involve additional criminal acts, such as computer crime and elder abuse, even violent crimes such as robbery, armed robbery or murder. Financial crimes may be carried out by individuals, corporations, or by organized crime groups.

Crasy the phony doctor is approached by Crack, a boy pimp in the service of a young woman calling herself Mistress Tryman. Tryman is a fallen woman who masquerades as a wealthy young widow, just come to town from Cornwall; she is instantly the target of fortune hunters, and has found a residence in the house of Mr. Linsey-Wolsey. A woman in her position can use a doctor as a confidant; and Crasy quickly joins with Tryman and Crack, three allies in confidence tricks and chicanery. Linsey-Wolsey plans to marry Tryman himself, and lays out money in pursuit of that goal; but his neighbour Pyannet Sneakup barges in to disrupt things, with a goal of winning the supposedly wealthy widow for her son Toby.

Wiseman's research has been featured on over 150 television programmes, including Horizon, Equinox and World in Action. He is regularly heard on BBC Radio 4, including appearances on Start the Week, Midweek and the Today programme. Wiseman also makes numerous appearances on some British television shows; in The Real Hustle he explains the psychology behind many of the scams and confidence tricks; in Mind Games he's a regular team captain of a panel game of puzzles, anagrams and conundrums; and in People Watchers, a hidden-camera show examining human behaviour. Besides being interviewed in several of these television programmes, he was a creative consultant in an episode of Your Bleeped Up Brain and a researcher of the documentary Unlawful Killing.

Nate refuses this offer, and his suspicions are justified when Latimer is revealed to be working with Victor Dubenich (the team's first victim) against the team. Season 5 opens with Nate having moved the team to Portland and setting up shop in a microbrewery (Bridgeport Brew Pub), but the season premiere ends with the revelation that Nate is working with Hardison on a secret project unknown to the others. After a series of extremely intricate confidence tricks, the secret project is revealed and carried off, despite the recurrent Sterling. The season's final episode, broadcast on Christmas Day 2012, also reveals drastic changes in the lives and dynamics of the team, but assures the audience of their continuity: Nate and Sophie plan to marry, leaving the remaining three-person team under the leadership of Parker.

His skills prove to be useful in making the post office popular again, both when he invents the postage stamp in an attempt to raise money (which proves to be highly successful), and when he starts an express post service to neighbouring cities. While staying in the post office Moist begins to experience visions which show him that some of his confidence tricks led to tragedies for those he conned, which result in him having feelings of remorse for the first time. These feelings are heightened when he discovers that Adora Belle's father, Robert Dearheart, was indirectly a victim of one of his cons, and as a result lost ownership of his invention, the Clacks. Moist confesses his past misdeeds to Adora Belle just as the post office is set afire.

Birthplace: Devonport. Age: 42 Hardy's own account of this period is the only currently known source and details how he had jobs as a journalist at the Daily Mail and Daily Chronicle followed by a job at the Ministry of Munitions for two and a half years before being sacked on account of Scotland Yard coming to hear of his criminal record. Hardy married for the third and final time to Annie Parker (1894–1980) in Wolverhampton in 1918 under the name Frank Digby Hardy; the couple had four children. Annie Hardy accompanied her husband to Ireland in 1918 where, under the names A. G. Saville and Frank Harling, he conducted numerous frauds and confidence tricks which led to his arrest and conviction under Justice Gordon in December 1918.

Final Fantasy XI permits one character for the monthly rate, and additional characters for $1.00 per month, whereas most games provide multiple character slots for no additional fee. The use of mules in Eve Online is commonplace for a variety of reasons, one common purpose is to allow players whose main character is involved in piracy to transport and trade the spoils of their piracy in high security trading systems, where the pirate character cannot legally venture. Another common use is as a disposable front for confidence tricks or other scams, that can be disposed of or otherwise deleted once the scam is executed, without tainting the reputation of the main character. In games such as Ultima Online, EverQuest, World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online, mule characters often specialize in 'trade skills'.

Goldstein was a leader in the Bund movement in Poland, and was active in the Warsaw Ghetto Resistance. During the time he spent living in and organizing resistance against the Nazis in the Ghetto, Nazi Germany systematically murdered half a million Jews once resident there. Over a year after the German Army had reduced the Warsaw Ghetto to rubble in liquidating its remaining Jewish occupants, Socialist resister survivors were rounded up by the Soviets and either imprisoned or executed. Throughout the occupation, in spite of numerous confidence tricks by the Nazis and their assistants in the Jewish Gestapo to produce docility in the Ghetto population by labeling the forced removals to Treblinka as mere "work resettlement," Goldstein remained adamant that the Nazis were in fact gradually liquidating the Ghetto's residents.

Con was a television series on Comedy Central in which con artist Skyler Stone revealed the secrets of his profession by performing confidence tricks, scams, and hoaxes of various degrees of complexity on camera. These could range from simply claiming that an order for food was botched, to claiming to be a certain profession, which required training (received through cons). In one episode Stone showed how he received free soft drinks at fast food restaurants by retaining paper cups from various fast food restaurants and then refilling them at soda fountains. Most of his cons revolved around him claiming that he is filming a television show or movie of some sort, and that the product or service he wished to acquire would be advertised in the film or show.

Carew claims to have taken to the road after he ran away from Blundell's School in Tiverton. With friends, he chased a deer through fields causing damage, which caused farmers to complain to the headmaster. Carew ran away and, at an alehouse, fell in with a band of “gypsies”. (These were almost certainly not Romany but vagabonds living off their wits.) Carew travelled widely, at first around Devon and then around England, supporting himself by playing confidence tricks on the wealthy. His first trick involved a “Madam Musgrove”, who asked for his help in discovering treasure she believed was hidden on her land. Carew, consulting “the secrets of his arts” for a fee of 20 guineas, informed her it was under a laurel tree but that she should not seek it until a particular day and hour.

Fake Blue Screen of Death pop-up tricking the victim that their computer has a "system crash" and can no longer operate safely unless they call the toll-free number to "resolve" the issues. Technical support scams typically rely on social engineering. Scammers use a variety of confidence tricks to persuade the victim to install remote desktop software (often by informing the victim that the scammer is connecting the computer to a "secure server"), with which the scammer can then take control of the victim's computer. With this access, the scammer may then launch various Windows components and utilities (such as the Event Viewer), install third-party utilities (such as rogue security software) and perform other tasks in an effort to convince the victim that the computer has critical problems that must be remediated, such as infection with a virus.

The premise of the series centers on a team of four associates who ran a "simulation" business, solving the problems and needs of their clients by staging simulacros ("simulations", or confidence tricks) aimed at confusing whoever is giving their clients a problem (bosses, criminals, spouses, unscrupulous businessmen, etc.), thus helping the client come on top of the situation. The price the team charges for its services was exactly twice the cost of the simulation, as well as the client's promise to participate in future simulations (this led to characters who appeared in previous episodes re-appearing in later episodes as secondary actors and helpers for the team, giving the show a degree of continuity). The underlying philosophy used by the team was that sometimes what's legal is not fair, and sometimes what's fair is not legal. In the second season of the show, a second Simuladores team was introduced.

Also, anything that can be used as an element of drama can exist in professional wrestling stories: romantic relationships (including love triangles and marriage), racism, classism, nepotism, favoritism, corporate corruption, family bonds, personal histories, grudges, theft, cheating, assault, betrayal, bribery, seduction, stalking, confidence tricks, extortion, blackmail, substance abuse, self-doubt, self- sacrifice; even kidnapping, sexual fetishism, necrophilia, misogyny, rape and death have been portrayed in wrestling. Some promotions have included supernatural elements such as magic, curses, the undead and Satanic imagery (most notably the Undertaker and his Ministry of Darkness, a stable that regularly performed evil rituals and human sacrifice in Satanic-like worship of a hidden power figure). Celebrities would also be involved in storylines. Commentators have become important in communicating the relevance of the characters' actions to the story at hand, filling in past details and pointing out subtle actions that may otherwise go unnoticed.

Organized crime groups seek out corrupt public officials in executive, law enforcement, and judicial roles so that their activities on the black market can avoid, or at least receive early warnings about, investigation and prosecution. Activities of organized crime include loansharking of money at very high interest rates, assassination, blackmailing, bombings, bookmaking and illegal gambling, confidence tricks, copyright infringement, counterfeiting of intellectual property, fencing, kidnapping, prostitution, smuggling, drug trafficking, arms trafficking, oil smuggling, antiquities smuggling, organ trafficking, contract killing, identity document forgery, money laundering, bribery, seduction, electoral fraud, insurance fraud, point shaving, price fixing, illegal taxicab operation, illegal dumping of toxic waste, illegal trading of nuclear materials, military equipment smuggling, nuclear weapons smuggling, passport fraud, providing illegal immigration and cheap labor, people smuggling, trading in endangered species, and trafficking in human beings. Organized crime groups also do a range of business and labor racketeering activities, such as skimming casinos, insider trading, setting up monopolies in industries such as garbage collecting, construction and cement pouring, bid rigging, getting "no-show" and "no-work" jobs, political corruption and bullying.

Jordan quickly produced some initial script drafts, which Featherstone took to the BBC; Gareth Neame, Head of Drama Commissioning, rapidly approved a six-part series. Featherstone assembled a production team that had considerable overlap with the Spooks crew, including Simon Crawford Collins as producer and Matthew Graham as co-writer. In creating the first episodes, Jordan drew inspiration from the long tradition of confidence tricks and heists in Hollywood and television, including The A-Team, The Sting and The Grifters (and in a similar vein, the films and TV series of Mission Impossible). Featherstone remarked that "Ocean's Eleven was on around the time Bharat and I first spoke, and I think it helped to inspire us, but really we took our inspiration from a whole catalogue of movies and books... we wanted to make something that had the energy, verve, style and pure entertainment value of those sorts of films" At the same time, the writers attempted to draw on the success of recent blockbusters such as Ocean's Eleven and Mission: Impossible; speaking in an interview in December 2003, Crawford explained that "[such shows] worked because of the interaction within the group – the plotlines were almost irrelevant".

Jiang Yiju (Bobby Au Yeung) comes from a long line of card sharps and confidence men, however rather than using the skills he has learnt for crime, Jiang Yiju is instead a policeman of the Hong Kong Police Force who, together with a small squad of officers, uses his understanding of confidence tricks and tricksters to catch them. His choice of career however sees him come into conflict with members of his extended family dismayed to see their own tricks used against themselves. Chen Weichen (Monica Chan) is Jiang Yiju's fiancée, wishing to put off marriage, Jiang has a long-standing bet with Chen, that if she can beat him at mahjong she can name the day of their marriage, with the knowledge that with his skills at the game that it would be impossible for her to do so without him throwing the game. However to his dismay Jiang learns after one such game (by examining the discards) that, having been together for so long, Chen has learnt enough of his own card sharping skills to be able to beat him and that it has been her that has been throwing the games in his favour.