Алая шарлатандық: "Құс ұстау" немесе "Шили шарфы"

Confidence trick

The pigeon drop or Spanish handkerchief or Chilean handkerchief is a confidence trick in which a mark, or "pigeon", is persuaded to give up a sum of money in order to secure the rights to a larger sum of money, or more valuable object. One of the con artists will typically claim to have found the money or valuable on the ground just before talking to the mark, or will even leave it on the ground and pretend to happen upon it at the same time as the mark, hence the term "drop."

Typically the scam involves two or three con artists working as a team. One will arrange to "find" a valuable item along with the mark in a public place, such as by leaving it on the ground for the mark to find or approaching them with it in hand. An accomplice will pass by and enter the conversation. One of the con artists will pose as someone knowledgeable and trustworthy, such as a lawyer, banker, or businessperson. They will say that they can facilitate the trio cashing in on the item legitimately, suggesting that they split the proceeds three ways. However, they will ask that each member of the group put up some money first, such as to prove financial solvency as a legal requirement or to demonstrate that they can be trusted with the item during the process. Sometimes they will consult a third accomplice to pose as their boss, a disconnected official, etc., and have them state the requirement to put up money instead. The unauthoritative con artist will show enthusiasm and hand over cash, encouraging the mark to do the same. The con artists will then find some excuse to leave with the mark's money. They may pretend to leave the valuable with a third party such as a bank in the process, or they may leave the valuable in the hands of the mark. If they leave it with the mark, the mark will either discover that the valuable is worthless, or that the con artists have swapped it at some point with a worthless decoy. Even if the con artists pretend to enter banks or stores in the course of the con, they typically avoid doing so in practice to stay away from surveillance cameras.

This con strings together a series of coincidences that each reinforce the apparent legitimacy of the situation: finding the item, meeting the first and then second con artist, discovering that one of the con artists can "help," and possibly getting the simulated confirmation of legitimacy from an apparently distant and official third party. If the mark believes that any one of these is an organic occurrence, it strongly suggests they all are, and it then becomes almost impossible for them to question the scam. Furthermore, the presence of another supposed bystander, the "non authority" con artist who also puts forward money, exploits the willingness of people to trust a partner who exposes themselves to the same risks, and to believe what they think the people around them believe. On top of all of this, the mark does not exchange money for nothing but rather for something they believe is worth more, reassuring them.

A variant called the "fawney rig" or "ring drop" dates to at least the 1780s in England but has continued to crop up around the world as recently as the 2010s. In this basic version of the pigeon drop, a lone con artist pretends to find a ring on the sidewalk in view of the mark, possibly in a purse with a jeweler's receipt proving that it is made of gold, set with real diamonds, etc. They then approach the mark and typically offer to sell it to them for what sounds like an excellent price, saying they lack the time or inclination to find a more suitable dealer. If the mark takes the bait, they will discover that the ring is made of cheap brass, its jewels if any are fake, and any notes accompanying it are forged, and that they have in fact paid far more than its true value. The "fawney" in the name of this trick, probably from the Irish fáinne for "ring," is likely the source of the modern English word "phoney." In the late 1980s in New York City, a version of this scam known as the "Spanish Lotto" became popular, where con artists would prey on Hispanic marks using a supposed winning lottery ticket. The con artist to approach the mark with the ticket would pretend to be an illegal immigrant with minimal English skills who was unable to cash the ticket due to their immigration status and was seeking a Spanish speaking lawyer for help. Their accomplice would pose as such a lawyer; they would walk past in formal clothes and the first accomplice would flag them down. The "lawyer" would go to a pay phone and call a third accomplice posing as a lottery official. They would confirm that the ticket was winning, but state that if the bearer was not an American citizen, they could only cash in the ticket if two citizens accompanied them and showed large sums of cash to prove that they had no reason to rob the bearer. The "immigrant" would offer both the "lawyer" and the mark large rewards from their ticket winnings if the two of them would serve as the citizens to help them collect. After having the "lawyer" and mark pool cash in an envelope along with the ticket, the "immigrant" would hand it to the mark for safe keeping, and then find an excuse to depart from the mark temporarily with the "lawyer" and escape. The mark would find that the ticket was worthless and the envelope had been swapped for one filled with pieces of regular paper, such as bank deposit slips. NYC police estimated in 1991 that there were over a dozen teams plying this scam in the city.

The 2003 film Matchstick Men opens with two of the main characters performing a pigeon drop, posing as IRS agents. The 1987 film House of Games contains a pigeon drop in the second act. In 1983, Season 10 of The Jeffersons began with a three episode arc about a pigeon drop scam. The Better Call Saul episode Hero features a scene where Jimmy McGill and his friend, Marco Pasternak, use a pigeon drop to scam a mark out of a wallet. Jimmy leaves a bar with a new acquaintance, Stevie. In an alley, they discover a barely conscious drunk man next to a wallet full of cash. Stevie takes the cash and Jimmy takes the man's Rolex watch. Jimmy estimates the Rolex to be worth more than the wallet, leading Stevie to trade the found money plus additional cash of his own for the watch. After Stevie runs away with the watch, a cheap counterfeit, Jimmy and the "unconscious" man, now revealed to be his partner, return to Jimmy's residence to split the proceeds of their scam. In season five, episode two of The Golden Girls, "Cheaters," the characters of Blanche and Sophia are victims of a pigeon drop scam. A man approaches them in a shopping mall asking them if they dropped a wallet he just found that has a lot of money in it. He persuades them (with the help of what appears to be another random person in the mall) to contribute $2,000 of their own money to open a joint bank account where they will keep the found money and eventually split it if it remains unclaimed by the owner. When Sophia later explains to Rose how she and Blanche were scammed out of the $2,000, Rose tells her, "You two were victims of the oldest confidence game going: the pigeon drop." "The Sting", the 1974 Oscar winner for Best Picture, begins when two conmen (Robert Redford and Robert Earl Jones), run the pigeon drop on a mark. Only to discover later that the mark was a bagman for the Mafia. Jones' character is murdered by the mob in revenge, setting the dramatic tension for the film.