A confidence trick, also known as confidence game, is also called as con or scam, is defined as a deliberate attempt to deceive a person or group of persons (termed as “mark”) which aims towards financial gain or other benefits.

While confidence tricks come in many forms, they all come down to one thing – money. If a person or group of persons approaches you to raise some money for a strange cause, commonly accompanied by a huge cash reward, do not offer them any cash.

Some of the more usual stories concern a ticket that won the lottery or money that has been located. A bank examiner may even contact you claiming to be an investigator from a certain bank or other authorities seeking your assistance in catching a corrupt employee. Other stories may include persons pleading for some money to ride a train to visit a sick relative in a distant hospital.

The con or scam artist uses more than one accomplice known as shills in order to convince the mark by bluffing as a believer of the con. In a regular con, the mark is persuaded to think that they will get money in a fraudulent manner by deceiving a third party, and is surprised to see that because of a discrepancy in carrying out the scam they ended up losing money; in more common scenarios, the term con refers to any deception wherein the victim falls into the trap of losing money by wrong guarantees of rewards.

Majority of confidence tricks take advantage of the greed and treachery of their victims. Most of the time, the mark tries to outwit the con artist, realizing that the mark has been controlled into the con at the onset. This is a common practice in confidence tricks that there is a cliché among cheat artists that “you can’t deceive a sincere man.”

But, some tricks rely on the sincerity of the victim. In a usual scam, as an element of a seemingly legal transaction, the victim receives a useless check, which is deposited by the victims. The victim is then persuaded to advance the cost of the check to the con artist as money, which they may do prior to finding out the check bounced. Another current situation sees the victim hired as a “financial agent” to solicit “business credits”. Paper checks are not always used: funds may undergo electronic transfer from another victim.

Sometimes, con men are dependent on unconscious persons who put their trust on so-called get-rich-quick schemes, like “unbelievable” investments. It may require years for the bigger community to find out that such “investment” schemes are untrue, and usually there is nothing left for them, as most people have already exhausted their earnings in something which they placed their confidence.