Best scam you ever heard of?

ElWalrus

Winty wrote: »

Sorry Bristol Zoo story was funny but a hoax never happened

http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/Urban-myth-Bristol-Zoo-parking-attendant/story-11266383-detail/story.html

Funny, I was on holidays before in the States on a bit of a road trip down the east coast. There was about 20 of us travelling in two mini-vans. When we were passing through Atlanta decided to park up the vans for a look around and there was a slightly scruffy man wearing a hi-vis jacket at the front collecting $10 for parking. The first van was full of Danish and Sweedish exchange students and happily paid the ten bucks.

The van I was in was driven by an American dude and he smelt a rat and went to the car park management. They called the cops. Next thing I see is him being led away in handcuffs claiming he was a war vet who had fallen on hard times. Felt kind sorry for the guy. Crafty though!

nozzferrahhtoo

pitythefool wrote: »

Dont think homeopathy is covered under any insurance plan, might be wrong and like you amazed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_and_prevalence_of_homeopathy

"Some homeopathic treatment is covered by the national insurance of several European countries, including France, some parts of the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Luxembourg."

worse:

"In Austria, public insurance requires scientific proof of effectiveness in order to reimburse medical treatments, but exceptions are made for homeopathy."

There is more of course but that is enough to convince you it is out there I feel.

A2LUE42

keithob wrote: »

is this story true ... ??

No, It is not true. It was actually in the papers the other day.

dinneenp

The greatest trick/scam the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist

BizzyC

dinneenp wrote: »

The greatest trick/scam the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist

Thankfully we have the flying spaghetti monster around to sort him out.

Deise Vu

ElWalrus wrote: »

Funny, I was on holidays before in the States on a bit of a road trip down the east coast. There was about 20 of us travelling in two mini-vans. When we were passing through Atlanta decided to park up the vans for a look around and there was a slightly scruffy man wearing a hi-vis jacket at the front collecting $10 for parking. The first van was full of Danish and Sweedish exchange students and happily paid the ten bucks.

The van I was in was driven by an American dude and he smelt a rat and went to the car park management. They called the cops. Next thing I see is him being led away in handcuffs claiming he was a war vet who had fallen on hard times. Felt kind sorry for the guy. Crafty though!

At the World Cup in '94 myself and a group of friends (who included a Garda Detective) arriived in JFK. We had already decided we were getting a Gray Line bus into town and duly followed the signs to the bus stops past at least a hundred signs warning travellers of the dangers of illegal hustlers offering taxis. ("They are un-insured and you may be robbed or worse....")

We duly arrived at the bus stop and within minutes were approached by a guy in a hi-vis with a clipboard. "You guys waiting for a bus? .... follow me". We followed the guy likes lambs even though it was rapidly dawning on us that there wasn't much point in having an official bus stop and then parking the bus in the short-term car park. Being Irish we were worried but still pressed on! The last I saw of Mr Clipboard, he was taking cash from the driver and high-5ing to beat the band.

We arrived safely but had to walk a distance as we jumped off at the first place the guy stopped. A dodgy start to the best holiday I have ever had, butnow I never underestimate the power of a man in hi-vis with a clipboard.

Spook_ie

ElWalrus wrote: »

Funny, I was on holidays before in the States on a bit of a road trip down the east coast. There was about 20 of us travelling in two mini-vans. When we were passing through Atlanta decided to park up the vans for a look around and there was a slightly scruffy man wearing a hi-vis jacket at the front collecting $10 for parking. The first van was full of Danish and Sweedish exchange students and happily paid the ten bucks.

The van I was in was driven by an American dude and he smelt a rat and went to the car park management. They called the cops. Next thing I see is him being led away in handcuffs claiming he was a war vet who had fallen on hard times. Felt kind sorry for the guy. Crafty though!

Yellow Hi Viz and a clip board in action

elgriff

BizzyC wrote: »

Saw a similar thing on Judge Judy of a woman claiming a picture of a phone she sold on ebay was "as described".

She thought she was untouchable and was acting really smug until they pointed out that she had put down the technical specs, weight and dimensions on the ad without specifying they were the specs for the phone and not the item on sale.

Since the item received didn't match those specs she had to give all the money made back.
Shame Judy never sends people to prison...

se conman

The GOOD boys ordered 3 high-sided roll off skips from a local scrap metal dealer. They rang him up to say the first skip was ready for collection (He pays cash on collection) When the dealer got back to his yard he found that the skip was full of his other 2 skips.(cut up)

jasonmcco

event wrote: »

why didnt he just refuse them a tab then ?

And lose out on a grand?

SHOVELLER

Deise Vu wrote: »

At the World Cup in '94 myself and a group of friends (who included a Garda Detective) arriived in JFK. We had already decided we were getting a Gray Line bus into town and duly followed the signs to the bus stops past at least a hundred signs warning travellers of the dangers of illegal hustlers offering taxis. ("They are un-insured and you may be robbed or worse....")

We duly arrived at the bus stop and within minutes were approached by a guy in a hi-vis with a clipboard. "You guys waiting for a bus? .... follow me". We followed the guy likes lambs even though it was rapidly dawning on us that there wasn't much point in having an official bus stop and then parking the bus in the short-term car park. Being Irish we were worried but still pressed on! The last I saw of Mr Clipboard, he was taking cash from the driver and high-5ing to beat the band.

We arrived safely but had to walk a distance as we jumped off at the first place the guy stopped. A dodgy start to the best holiday I have ever had, butnow I never underestimate the power of a man in hi-vis with a clipboard.

Remember that alright. First ever time in the States and walking out into the heat and all the hustlers! All change there now.

shed head

back in the day when adult toys/films etc were advertised in magazines - one such company took orders then sent back people a refund cheque, because the item was "unfortunately" out of stock. The cheque had some mad name on it like "Sex toys ltd" or something. The idea being people would be too embarrassed to cash them, back in the day!

ElWalrus

shed head wrote: »

back in the day when adult toys/films etc were advertised in magazines - one such company took orders then sent back people a refund cheque, because the item was "unfortunately" out of stock. The cheque had some mad name on it like "Sex toys ltd" or something. The idea being people would be too embarrassed to cash them, back in the day!

The company you mail the cheques to didn't happen to be "Bobby's Bits", did it?

krissovo

In a busy bar/club while waiting for a drink wave a 50 euro note, making a small gesture waving the 50 at the bar staff helps. Order your drinks and at the last minute switch it for smaller note. Sometimes you get change for 50.


An old one I did when i lived in Germany:
Old english 5p coins were the same as 1 german mark and I used to buy all my fags from street vending machines, used to cost 15p a packet.
.

jake is right

krissovo wrote: »

An old one I did when i lived in Germany:
Old english 5p coins were the same as 1 german mark and I used to buy all my fags from street vending machines, used to cost 15p a packet.
.

I did likewise, and while so doing one day met some French tourists who were using 20 centime coins which were only worth about 2p !

bitemybanger

I'm surprised insurance scams haven't got a mention yet.
They take the least thought for some of the largest payouts.

the purple tin

When Supertramp first toured America they weren't very well known, so rather than play to almost empty theatres they would run a competition on the local radio stations where "the first ten callers will win tickets to Supertramp".
Every single person who called in would then be told they were in the first ten and get free tickets. The venues were filled and they built up a big fanbase too.

pitythefool

the purple tin wrote: »

When Supertramp first toured America they weren't very well known, so rather than play to almost empty theatres they would run a competition on the local radio stations where "the first ten callers will win tickets to Supertramp".
Every single person who called in would then be told they were in the first ten and get free tickets. The venues were filled and they built up a big fanbase too.

Gives me an idea, watch out for free tickets to a new band called ......

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Not a scam, as it's technically perfectly legal:

Anyway, story goes thus: Back in pre-internt days, a company advertised a stash of gay-porn DVDs in various mags and recived about 200 orders at 25 quid a pop.

Needless to say, the DVDs didn't exist. In order to hide this, the company deliberately went out of business and promptly refunded all money in cheques.

Specifically personally-designed cheques with an imprint of two men beding over and spreading their ass-cheeks in an obscene manner in the background, not many of which were ever cashed...

Ghandee

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Not a scam, as it's technically perfectly legal:

Anyway, story goes thus: Back in pre-internt days, a company advertised a stash of gay-porn DVDs in various mags and recived about 200 orders at 25 quid a pop.

Needless to say, the DVDs didn't exist. In order to hide this, the company deliberately went out of business and promptly refunded all money in cheques.

Specifically personally-designed cheques with an imprint of two men beding over and spreading their ass-cheeks in an obscene manner in the background, not many of which were ever cashed...

Scam very similar to this in the 90's movie shooting fish.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Ikky Poo2 wrote: »

Not a scam, as it's technically perfectly legal:

Anyway, story goes thus: Back in pre-internt days, a company advertised a stash of gay-porn DVDs in various mags and recived about 200 orders at 25 quid a pop.

Needless to say, the DVDs didn't exist. In order to hide this, the company deliberately went out of business and promptly refunded all money in cheques.

Specifically personally-designed cheques with an imprint of two men beding over and spreading their ass-cheeks in an obscene manner in the background, not many of which were ever cashed...

This is the 4th version of this "scam" in this thread.

pitythefool

Johnny Electricity wrote: »

This is the 4th version of this "scam" in this thread.

It was suggested in lock stock aswell but the didnt have the time

RobbingBandit

Old Portugal coin the 50 escudos was the same shape and size of a £1 punt coin, had me some fun in slot machines and bus fares for a couple of years with that one. The Turkish Lira coins also looked like €1 and €2 coins for a while, not the same weight but it worked in some places for a while, they changed the colour last year I think.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Johnny Electricity wrote: »

This is the 4th version of this "scam" in this thread.

Damnit, I knew I should have read all 220+ posts before posting....!

allanb49

Was told of a guy on graffton st in the late 90s selling gold painted ostrich eggs for £100 to American tourists. Claiming them as lepracaun eggs and if you looked after them they'd hatch and you'd get a pot of gold and 3 wishes

gallag

Start a online sex shop selling lingerie, toys etc at very low prices, people order stuff and pay then you inform them that you cannot fulfill the order and issue a refund check, the check will have a really nasty company name on it like "super size anal plugs" which a lot of people will throw out instead of taking to the bank.
WARNING VERY COMMON SCAM APPARENTLY LOL


Or set up a premium rate number that costs £5 per connection and just walk about the city smartly dressed asking people if you could use their phone as your battery is dead, even offer a quid.

fasttalkerchat

gallag wrote: »

Or set up a premium rate number that costs £5 per connection and just walk about the city smartly dressed asking people if you could use their phone as your battery is dead, even offer a quid.

That one is constantly being done. But don't wear a suit, get a girl to do it!
And its done by sending a text.

Motivator

One of the better scams out there is slow counting in bookie shops. Its a thing of the past nowadays but plenty people still try it on in shops. I saw a couple of travellers at it in a shop in Dublin last week, they caught the young girl behind the counter but she quickly realised what was happening & phoned the guards. A brilliant scam which requires plenty of practice but it sickens me to see people doing it all the same.

Amalgam

Motivator wrote: »

One of the better scams out there is slow counting in bookie shops. Its a thing of the past nowadays but plenty people still try it on in shops. I saw a couple of travellers at it in a shop in Dublin last week, they caught the young girl behind the counter but she quickly realised what was happening & phoned the guards. A brilliant scam which requires plenty of practice but it sickens me to see people doing it all the same.

I had to look that up. Interesting stuff, you'd really have to catch a somewhat green member of staff though.

The Slow Count

This scam only worked on greyhound racing, required nerves of steel, and rarely succeeded more than once in any bookies shop.

The object of this little fiddle was to aquire a legally timed betting slip without parting with any cash until the chosen hound looked like it was unbeatable therefore guaranteeing a profit.

Impossible? Read on friends.

Picture the scene. A busy betting shop, a harassed counter assistant, the bell rings, the hare is running, and the traditional last gasp lunge to the counter by the punting faithful adds to the sense of urgency.

Our intrepid hero, ………erm, Fred, times his sting with atomic clock precision and pushes over his slip just before the traps open and the dogs spring out after the hare. The assistant looks up to see Fred with a healthy wedge of dough which will obviously cover his £100 win wager, and quickly rings up the betting slip through the timing mechanism.

Phase one complete. Fred has a legal bet and all that he has to do to complete the transaction is hand over his loot. There's no danger of that happening yet.

With remarkably timed precision Fred develops a clumsy disposition and drops his money at his feet. A feigned look of pained embarrassment creases his face and a mumbled apology is directed at the long suffering counter assistant as our man stoops to retrieve the cash.

As we all know, greyhound races don’t last long and this is the essence of the scam. Fred delays scooping up the dough just long enough until it looks like his chosen mutt will scarper over the winning line first.

Literally throwing the money through the window he grunts “you count it please”, collects the slip and saunters to the payout window moments later before the staff have a chance to realise they have been stiffed.

What happens if the chosen dog looks like it will lose? That’s easy. Fred scoops up his money and beats a hasty retreat from the premises, often to the sound of anguished yelling from the poor sod behind the counter who now has a valid losing betting slip without the money in the cash register to back it up.

True ? You betcha, but of course I don’t know Fred and I strongly suggest that you never attempt this yourself.

pitythefool

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/16/developer_oursources_job_china/

posted on another boards thread

BBDBB

Order two pizzas to be delivered and then tell the delivery man you are a fiver short, try to act surprised, as though you were sure that the fiver was really in your purse or wallet to sound especially convincing...

padma

BBDBB wrote: »

Order two pizzas to be delivered and then tell the delivery man you are a fiver short, try to act surprised, as though you were sure that the fiver was really in your purse or wallet to sound especially convincing...

Your not scamming the pizza company there, your scamming the driver. If I was that delivery guy I'd just walk away and you'd get no pizzas.

DesperateDan

BBDBB wrote: »

Order two pizzas to be delivered and then tell the delivery man you are a fiver short, try to act surprised, as though you were sure that the fiver was really in your purse or wallet to sound especially convincing...

Yeah if you try that with a Domino's driver that fiver comes out of his pocket. Plus it's a real scumbag thing to do sorry.

BBDBB

*ahem

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056856205


sometimes I forget that other posters dont read as much of AH as I do or share the same twisted sense of humour

pitythefool

pitythefool wrote: »

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/01/16/developer_oursources_job_china/

posted on another boards thread

classic. very enterprising!

MrVestek

HMV Vouchers.

pitythefool

Achilles wrote: »

HMV Vouchers.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/grandad-walks-out-of-hmv-with-computer-games-after-staff-refuse-to-accept-gift-voucher-3354747.html

allanb49

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Sam_betting_coup

The Yellow Sam betting coup was a successful sports betting scam, infamous within Irish and British thoroughbred horse racing.

It happened at Bellewstown on 26 June 1975, and was orchestrated by Barney Curley, a Northern Irish professional gambler and entrepreneur. By taking advantage of an under-handicapped horse and the lack of easy communications between the Bellewstown racing course and off-course bookmakers, Curley made a profit of over IR£300,000 (>€1.7m adjusted for inflation) – one of the largest betting coups in Irish history.

Dozens of Curley's friends, acquaintances, and paid accomplices stood in bookmaker's shops across the country with between £50 and £300 and sealed instructions to be opened upon receiving a call. None of the accomplices knew beforehand which horse had been prepared, or in which race it was to run. Curley called six or seven of his people at 2.50 pm, ten minutes before the race was to start, and instructed them to each call ten to twenty others. In all, Curley invested just over £15,000, his entire savings, in the gamble. Twenty-five minutes before the race was about to start, and fifteen minutes before the bets were to be placed, Benny O'Hanlon, a friend of Curley's in on the plot, walked into the telephone booth and pretended to place a call to a dying aunt in a non-existent hospital. His act was convincing, as the queue behind him waiting to use the telephone sympathetically allowed him to continue talking for half an hour, while off-course bookies desperately trying to lay off their liabilities struggled in vain to contact their counterparts on the course

fasttalkerchat

pitythefool wrote: »

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/grandad-walks-out-of-hmv-with-computer-games-after-staff-refuse-to-accept-gift-voucher-3354747.html

I can't understand the surprise. Surely this is happening at every branch in the UK.

Rabidlamb

Fake name for TV Licence Inspector.
Letter>Letter>Final Warning>Final Final Warning>Draft Summons>Summons>Nobody by that name at this address
Rinse lather & repeat.

Motivator

allanb49 wrote: »

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Sam_betting_coup

I was in his company in Sandown about 5 years ago, an absolutely terrifying man & rough as they come but he was telling a few stories of gambles that he's landed & whilst they weren't as profitable as Yellow Sam, they were probably better because he was able to beat the system that bookies have put in place in recent times. Although rough around the edges, he's great for racing!

Irishcrx

Insurance scams are some of the most common , they are done everyday throughout the country and the consumers end up paying for them. I know at least one guy who has done this probably more than once.

* Wakes up as usual , leaves the house and goes to work.
* Has hired plumber with key to the house (Who obviously is in on this) come in late morning or early afternoon and cut one of the water pipes in the attack o, loosen it whatever he has to do.
*Plumber leaves and locks up.
* House floods completely and is destroyed.
* Guy comes home and calls insurance company claiming severe water damage.
* Gets plumbers report from the guy who did the pipes for him
* Insurance company make large payout - Spends 60-70 percent fixing up the house with all new gear and pockets the rest.

smash

Best one I heard of was the origl one, guy took an ad out in some newspaper in states saying "make thousands over night! To find out how, send $1 and a self addressed envelope to get your info pack" then have his address. He got a massive response and simply replied to everyone with "place an ad in the paper like mine"

Allyall

Rabidlamb wrote: »

Fake name for TV Licence Inspector.
Letter>Letter>Final Warning>Final Final Warning>Draft Summons>Summons>Nobody by that name at this address
Rinse lather & repeat.

Okay, they don't live here, but who does, you? May i see your licence please?

fasttalkerchat

Irishcrx wrote: »

* Gets plumbers report from the guy who did the pipes for him
* Insurance company make large payout - Spends 60-70 percent fixing up the house with all new gear and pockets the rest.

What if the insurance company send out their assessor and he only gets what it costs to fix the damage?

Irishcrx

fasttalkerchat wrote: »

What if the insurance company send out their assessor and he only gets what it costs to fix the damage?

They will and he'll get his assessor to deal with it , one will go low , one will go high balance will be met in the middle , he'll still come out with more money than it takes to repair it.

I've had a water leak before except mine was genuine from a bathroom upstairs and only got at the living room.

Paddy Cow

A friend of mine was on the dole and working a cash in hand job. He got a letter from FAS offering him an internship with a company about 30 miles from where he lived. The company were basically looking for an unpaid receptionist to work for 9 months from 9 to 5 Monday to Friday, under the guise of teaching him really important skills such as answering the phone, filing etc.

My friend didn't want to take up the internship but there was the threat of having his dole cut. He went to his boss, got the boss to advertise an internship, applied for it and was of course accepted. He got paid an extra €50 a week to legally work a cash in hand job!

smileyj1987

Paddy Cow wrote: »

A friend of mine was on the dole and working a cash in hand job. He got a letter from FAS offering him an internship with a company about 30 miles from where he lived. The company were basically looking for an unpaid receptionist to work for 9 months from 9 to 5 Monday to Friday, under the guise of teaching him really important skills such as answering the phone, filing etc.

My friend didn't want to take up the internship but there was the threat of having his dole cut. He went to his boss, got the boss to advertise an internship, applied for it and was of course accepted. He got paid an extra €50 a week to legally work a cash in hand job!

WHAT A HERO !!!!!

fasttalkerchat

The electric meter scams seem to be coming to an end. Police are now escorting meter readers around estates in north and south Armagh. There was a Spotlight documentary about it tonight.

MyPeopleDrankTheSoup

Someone I know has been caught 3 times with this scam.

He's stumbling home from the nightclub in New York and a fear gorm comes up offering cocaine, a bit stupid but my friend never refuses drugs when he's drunk so he says go on sure and hands over $50 after being shown the little bag and feeling it. Gets the bag, goes back to the hotel to open it up and finds crunched up toilet paper! It's crazy how a bag of toiler paper feels like coke to the touch.

So he's in Vegas falling home along the strip and another fear gorm offers him coke. So he hands over $50 again, the bag is handed over but he's a bit perplexed when the seller legs it down the road. So he runs after him and manages to catch up with him but the guy seemed cool so he thought nothing of it. Back to the hotel, toilet paper again.

Then in London about 2 years ago outside the Sheperds Bush Walkabout another fear gorm comes up offering coke. My friend tells him the story of the previous 2 times when he was scammed with toilet paper, the seller says that's shocking but his stuff is great ****. Hands over £30, open it in the jackz, toilet paper again!

I don't know how the London guy kept a straight face when he was told the story but he made an easy £30.