How To Lose Your Money

There are all sorts of easy ways to lose your money. Casinos spring to mind as the most obvious method. Let's see...then there are horse races and any form of lotto.

But in this day and age, there are many more creative ways to lose your hard-earned cash. For example, you could set up a business deal with a Nigerian, or you can enter your PIN on a scam banking internet site. There are now many wonderful ways to lighten your wallet. But those are so impersonal. I mean, you never meet the trickster behind the scam and they really lack the personal touch. Take a look at this guy, Frank Abagnale (if that is his real name). He masqueraded for years as a pilot, a doctor and a professor. Now there is a guy who isn't afraid to put his face to his work. Okay, admittedly he was on the run for many years for defrauding banks and whatnot. He ended up doing prison time. But that's not the point. The point is that now he is now a best-selling author and runs a financial fraud consultancy. He's a celebrity and a businessman!

There was once an episode of Cheers where Woody gets swindled out of some money when trying to give a guy change for $10. The swindler made it so complicated that Woody couldn't keep up and he ended up forking out far more than change for $10. What the swindler was saying sounded right, but somehow the math didn't add up.

I found this example of a similar type of con on the internet:

A woman goes into a jewellers' shop and buys a gold ring for £100 (which she pays for in crisp, £20 notes). As she is leaving the shop, she pauses, and then goes back to the counter. I've decided I don't want this £100 ring - I want that £200 ring instead, she says. The jeweller takes back the £100 ring and gives her the £200 one. That will be another £100 then, madam. At which point the customer stamps her foot and says: I don't owe you anything. Earlier on I gave you £100 in cash for the ring. And now I've just handed over the ring as well, which is worth £100. So I've given you £200, and you have given me a £200 ring in return, so we are quits. And with that, she walks out of the shop, leaving the jeweller scratching his head.

There is something romantic about a good con. In fact, there are a number of books about the "great con-men of the past". Why? Because even though what they are doing is tantamount to stealing, cheating, lying and fernangleling their way into your pocket, they are doing it with style and finnesse. How admirable.