I was relating a story today back to when I was working at my father’s store about 20 years ago and a guy came in and I fell for a fast change con and ended up losing about $40. Lots of fast talking and moving the money back and forth and I thought I was so damn start, I couldn’t fall for it.
But, say a police officer had been there to witness it and arrested the guy? What would that person been charged with (if anything considering the amount of money). The event took place in California.
I would suspect larceny.
Can anyone further explain, in detail, how this scam works? It happened to a friend of mine about 7 years ago while working at a fast food joint and despite his and other people’s repeated attempts to explain it to me I still can’t comprehend how someone could fall for it.
I’ve sort of suppressed my memories of it because I was ashamed I fell for it, but it basically comes down to somebody talking very quickly and asking for change for bills of different denominations. Eventually you end up giving the bad guy change for the same bill twice.
“Can you break a $20”
“Sure”
“Can I have it in ones?”
“OK”
(Counts out 20 ones, you take $20)
“On second thought, could I have two tens?”
(You give the guy two tens and he gives you back some ones.)
“But there are only ten ones here?”
“Yeah, but I just wanted change for a ten.”
Something like that.
It’s usually much more complicated.
I watched a guy do it at the movie theater I worked at years ago, right in front of my eyes, to the girl working the register next to me. He was in the middle of an incredibly long line during an insanely busy night and we were all frazzled. There were about four exchanges of money, starting with a $50, and I think he made it out with around $90 and a free drink. I don’t remember how it actually went, but it was like, he would get the change, keep it, ask for change for the $20 from the change, keep that change plus slide the $20 back to himself because he had changed his mind and actually only wanted change for the $10, etc. etc… All done so swiftly and expertly that the poor cashier didn’t know what had hit her. It also dawned on me belatedly, even though I had witnessed the whole thing. By the time the two of us had conferred and realized he’d stolen a boatload of money, the guy was long gone.
Take heart that people who do such things for a “living” will all end up being stabbed to death by their mothers with a broken cocktail glass. :eek:
Had this happen to me also. Conversation went along the lines of what everyone else had already stated but a little spin. He bought a one dollar scratch off and paid for it with a $20. Then he wanted change for a the 10 I gave back to him. But he insisted that I keep the cash all on the counter. That’s when I got suspicious.
Great reference.
And now for a different movie: This scam was demonstrated to great effect in “Paper Moon”. But I don’t remember the exact moves. Even if I did the Mods would probably ban me for describing how to commit a crime.
A related question:
Do the police really care about catching such criminals? I would imagine that it would be very difficult to build a case against someone involved in this.
John Cusack attempts to pull off this con in The Grifters, or at least a close approximation of what you are describing. He gets a sock in the jaw for his efforts. That may be the extent of the justice most of these people get.
Not quite. In that scene, Cusack holds out a $20 bill and orders a drink, and when the bartender turns to make the drink, Cusack switches the $20 for a $10 held in the same position. But the bartender catches the switch and slugs him.
Not the same as the fast change scam discussed above.
I’ve watched Paper Moon several times, and never figured out that scam. Good thing I’m not a cashier.
(Am I the only one who first thought, on seeing “fast change scam” that it had to do with someone changing clothes quickly?)
Is this why many stores say they don’t give change? Or is that just because they don’t want to have to open the register or part with coins or small bills they may need later in the day?
It really is amazing what you can make people fall for with a little confidence on your side. If you sound like you know what you’re talking about, people will believe almost anything you tell them.
Yes and yes. A dishonest cashier will find it easier to work out of a register that doesn’t require a sale to open the drawer. Quick change scams need to have people making change out of a big bunch of cash.
Stores also don’t want to have a lot of money in the drawer in case of robbery or fire. Plus, if a store has a large “float” or “bank” (amount of money that’s kept in the store to open with in the morning), that money isn’t getting deposited in the bank account, and isn’t earning interest. Since most businesses are trying to make money, they want to try to maximize earnings wherever they can.
I’ve worked in a few different cash-handling positions. I didn’t like having a customer pull out a $100 for a small purchase on me and clean me out of change, because that meant that I couldn’t give change to the next 10 or 20 people who wanted to pay their $15 purchase with a twenty…I’d already given all my tens and fives and singles to the person who bought something worth $5 and paid with the hundred. I don’t use fifties or hundreds myself unless I’m planning on paying a large sum, and in that case, I’d rather pay by check or use plastic, so I’ll have a record of it.
I remember watching Frank Abagnale (“Catch Me If You Can”) demonstrate this con on Johnny Carson’s Tonight Show in the seventies. He had Carson play the role of a bank teller. Abagnale would ask for change for a twenty and end up with thirty every time, and he was so smooth and so accomplished that it was impossible to tell just when Carson lost his ten. Carson had him do it again and still you couldn’t tell just when he lost money to Abagnale. It was amazing.
However, lest he trigger an epidemic of quick change attempts, he advised that the scam could be easily foiled by having the teller (or anyone in the position of giving change) always take the money first, then count out the amount to be returned.
I would have thought that a fast-change swindler could be charged with fraud - they are asking you for change and taking your money under false pretences.
Is this the sort of thing that would have been handled by the legendary Bunco Squad?
I’ve heard about working it in the other direction, too. A guy walked into an Arby’s when my friend was working the late shift, and he said he had come from a poker game where he came away with a pile of small bills. He started exchanging piles of ones and fives for bigger bills. He went through four straight-up exchanges, then he tried a fast one, running a snappy patter all the while. My friend was on to him from the start, and he stopped him right there. “Okay, nice try.” The sharp guy gave a sheepish smile and left.
When I was a cashier years ago I had this scam pulled on me. I didn’t know what had happened until another cashier asked me if a certain man asked for change. When I said yes, she got worried. Apparently he pulled this scam before and they were wondering if he would come back. The police were called, he was caught on videotape doing it. I was then asked to fill out a report and was told he’d be charged with theft.
Correct; it’s also IIRC a baseball bat to the gut, not a sock in the jaw.
(I also thought this)
Turns out being a cashier is harder than it sounds! I hadn’t even heard of these scams, but it’s easy to see how one could be fooled by one.