Jon Stewart - The Fast and Furious Mexico grift

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-june-21-2011/the-fast-and-the-furious---mexico-grift

The Psychology of grifting
http://neuronarrative.wordpress.com/2008/11/24/the-psychology-of-grifting/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confidence_trick
Excerpt:

Confidence trick

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"Con games" redirects here. For the film, see Con Games (film).

"Scam" redirects here. For other uses, see Scam (disambiguation).

For the short story by John Wyndham, see Jizzle.

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A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group by gaining their confidence. A confidence artist is an individual working alone or in concert with others who exploits characteristics of the human psyche such as greed, both dishonesty and honesty, vanity, compassion, credulity, irresponsibility, naïveté, and the thought of trying to get something of value for nothing or for something far less valuable.

Contents [hide] 1 Terminology 2 History 3 Vulnerability to confidence tricks 4 Real-life con artists 5 Fictional con artists 6 Popular culture 7 See also 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links

[edit] Terminology

The confidence trick is also known as a con game, con, scam, grift, hustle, bunko, swindle, flim flam, gaffle or bamboozle. The intended victim(s) are known as marks. The perpetrator of a confidence trick is often referred to as a confidence man/woman, con man/woman, con artist or grifter. When accomplices are employed, they are known as shills.
In David Mamet's film House of Games, the main con artist gives a slightly different description of the "confidence game." He explains that, in a typical swindle, the con man gives the mark his own confidence, encouraging the mark to in turn trust him. The con artist thus poses as a trustworthy person seeking another trustworthy person.

[edit] History

The first known usage of the term "confidence man" in English was in 1849. It was used by American press during the United States trial of William Thompson. Thompson chatted with strangers until he asked if they had the confidence to lend him their watches, whereupon he would walk off with the watch. He was captured when a victim recognized him on the street.^[1]