PLAYERS:
Usually one male or female.
VICTIMS: Clerks, tellers and store owners.
Although there are numerous versions used by suspects in raising the amount of
change they receive, the following is the most common. It is known as the "short
count."
Step #1: Con man
buys a low-priced item, usually something for under one-dollar. He gives the
cashier a ten-dollar bill.
Step #2: When the cashier hands back the change, the con
says, “I really didn’t want all this change, and I’m sure you could use it more
than I could.” He then offers the cashier ten one-dollar bills in exchange for
the a ten-dollar bill he used to make his original purchase.
Step #3:The con must now get the cashier to hand over the
store’s ten-dollar bill. This can be accomplished by holding onto the money
until the clerk offers the ten-dollar bill. The con must now take the
ten-dollar bill while simultaneously handing over the expected exchange money.
What the con will actually hand the cashier is nine one-dollar bills and a
ten-dollar bill, for a total of $19.00. (At this point, the clerk holds ten
dollars that belongs to the store and nine of the con man’s dollars.)
Step #4:When the cashier
notices that the customer (con artist) made a mistake, the con man acts
surprised and thanks her for catching the error. If she fails to catch the
intentional blooper, the con brings it to the cashier’s attention saying that he
might have made a mistake and would she please recount the money.
Once the cashier is aware that she
is now holding $19 instead of $10.00, the con immediately says, “Here,
I’ll add another dollar to the $19 I gave you in exchange for a twenty. The con
hands the clerk a dollar and takes the twenty. He then leaves the store with a
ten dollar profit. (Remember, ten of the dollars in
the cashier’s hand belonged to the store, so what the con actually did was to
give her ten-dollars for a twenty.)
What the scam artists do in this particular con is gracefully
mislead the cashiers by simultaneously carrying out several activities. In the
present case, he made a small purchase, asked for change, made an intentional
mistake, corrected it, and while making small talk cheated the store out of
ten-dollars.
Quantum physics would be easier to understand than this
stuff, you protest. And at first glance, you would be correct in your
assessment. All of this is difficult to grasp after only one reading, but without
the confusion the scam would not work.
Beating such con artists is very easy. All you have
to do is CONDUCT ONE
TRANSACTION AT A TIME.
In other words, finish making chance, and if the customer asks for more chance,
treat it as a separate transaction. Do this and you can't lose.
Shortchanging
Shortchanging is often confused with Change Raising. The big difference with
shortchanging is that it is the store cashier who takes the customers for part of
the change that they are due. Hence the name 'Shortchange." Change raising
involves a con artist who gets the cashier to give back more change then they (the
con artist) are due.
