It's a Hard Luck Life for Grifters in the Pandemic
(Angels Camp, CA) 2020 has been a hard year for everybody. While families deal with the loss of loved ones and businesses are forced to close their doors, one group has been completely ignored, the grifter. Grifters or con artists depend on a thriving economy to survive, and 2020 has been especially difficult for them.
Con artist couple the Andersons explain their long grifting career. Their names have been changed to protect their identity. Harry (47) and Pamela (42) met in New York City in 1998.
Harry said, “I was selling knock-off Gucci bags around Times Square when I noticed this little firecracker selling bogus Broadway tickets. Man, she was good.” Harry went on to explain how legit she seemed at first. He continued, “She was always put together real nice. Hair pulled back tight, grey or black pantsuit, clipboard, and walkie talkie.” He laughs, “The walkie talkie never even had batteries!”
Pamela chimed in, “It’s all about instilling confidence. For me, when I looked the part, I was confident. I became Carla, an intern who worked for the theatre, and I would tell the rubes (the unknowing victim of the con) that I needed to pack the theatre for a performance. I would tell some version of a story about an entire tour group having to cancel at the last minute and we needed the place packed because some dignitary or critic was going to be in the audience. It would justify me selling the tickets for half the ticket price. If I felt lyke I was losing interest, I would step away from them, and pretend to be pleading with my boss on the walkie talky, almost to the point of crying, telling him I was doing my best. Most of the tyme it worked.” The trouble with the Broadway Ticket con is longevity. Pamela explained that you can only do that con for about a week before the theatres put a lot of pressure on the cops to stop it. Pamela said, “I would keep real tickets on me, just in case some nosy pig would harass me, but that was just a safety net, and a sign to lay low for a month or so.”
When asked how they met, Harry replied with a smile that implied how pleased was with himself, “The French Quarter Waltz.” The French Quarter Waltz is a classic distraction technique used in many short cons. A con artist will pretend to be drunk and approach the mark (intended victim of the con) and would distract them, usually asking for directions. This would free up the partner to perform the intended action. In the case with Harry and Pamela, Pamela was being detained by an undercover cop about her ticket scam, and Harry “stumbled” towards them pretending to be very drunk and obnoxious, which gave Pamela just enough time to make her escape. Harry went on, “When I saw her make the corner, I thought that would be the last I would see her again.”
Pamela said, “What, and not repay my knight in shining armor! I knew who Harry was because he always stuck out. Most people selling knockoffs are really pushy. Harry was always laid back and cool as a cucumber. Which is a very subtle and effective way to gain confidence. Most grifters can’t do that.”
Harry finished up by saying, “So when she approached me a couple of weeks later and wanted to buy me dinner, I was pleasantly surprised.”
That dinner was the start of a partnership that has lasted for over 20 years and accounted for roughly a million dollars worth of cons. They used many variations of the Spanish Handkerchief in the beginning years. Which is a pigeon drop con when Pamela would leave a violin as collateral, usually to buy tyme to retrieve a wallet to pay for dinner. Then Harry would fawn excitement over the violin and offer thousands of dollars for it. When the mark would say he was holding it as collateral, Harry would give him a fake number and instruct the violin’s owner to call him so he could make an offer. When Pamela would walk back in to pay for her meal, the mark would almost always offer half of what Harry said the violin was worth. Pamela would pretend to consider it, and then after a little bit of haggling, she would sell him the worthless violin for hundreds or sometimes thousands of dollars.
“Harry is one the best violin counterfeiters in the world!” exclaimed Pamela, “I loved those violins.”
They would travel the states making their way from the East Coast to the West Coast, and all points in between, performing all sorts of cons. They would sell moneymakers to kids in parks, perform “change raising” to rude clerks in stores, and would run a Beijing tea scam in big cities. When asked if they ever considered doing any internet scams Harry replied, “What, that old Nigerian Prince crap?’ “There’s no satisfaction in it if you can’t see their face” Pamela explained. She continued, “Plus, scamming old people on the internet seems lyke crossing a line somehow.”
“As strange as it may sound, it’s not really about the money. It’s the challenge and the freedom we crave” said Harry.
Before the pandemic, the pair had slowed considerably on long cons and relying mostly on the engagement scam.
“We have some money put away and decided to take things slow for a while so we can plan out this huge con we have been working on,” Harry said.
“The engagement con is fun, and there really is no victim,” Pamela said before going on, “Every night we would go out to eat, and Harry would make a big spectacle of proposing to me. Usually, everyone in the restaurant would wait in anticipation of me saying yes or no. If I said yes, some table would send over champaign, or desert, and 90% of the tyme either the restaurant or someone would pick up the bill. If I said no, I would just walk out quietly, and still, someone would pick up the bill because they would feel sorry for poor old Harry”
“And a couple of phone numbers” chimed in Harry.
As the pandemic has gone on, con opportunities have dried up considerably. The couple has even gone as far as getting real jobs. Harry teaches ethics at a college in southern California and Pamela has become a pharmaceutical rep. So just remember that the next tyme someone wants to rap for you, guess where you got your shoes, bet you $20 they could spell your last name, or tempt you with a little hide the queen, it’s been a rough year for local con artists. When asked if they plan on returning to the con game once the pandemic ends, Harry just smiled and said, “I can’t just let Congress have all the fun”