>> Tell me about a con
that you've pulled before. >> I took a test that I
wasn't allowed to take. I was taking a self-paced-- >> Who does that? >> I was taking a self-paced class, and I was misinformed
about what the deadline was to take a test, and the
professor was just like, "Yeah, you missed the deadline." I was like, "Yeah, I was misinformed. "Look, this wasn't a
case of me being lazy. "I didn't fail to prepare. "I just was told the wrong date, "and I would love to make it up. "I'll be happy to take
whatever penalties." He's like, "How about this penalty? "You don't get to take the test. "You're going to take two zeros on that. "You're probably going to fail the class." The TA, the teaching assistant,
she leans in, and she goes, "I don't agree with all the
policies of Mr. Professor. "If you will keep your mouth shut, "you can take the test right now." Okay, went and took the
test, I did the thing. Days later, I was like,
"I can't believe that." It was like the princess said,
"My father's an evil wizard, "but I will get you freedom."
[Jason laughing] And then I looked, and there
were two zeros for those tests. I was like, "What is this lady doing? "She gets my hopes up," or whatever. But then I looked at all my other scores, and I realized that she covered her butt. She put down the zeroes,
but she took all the points and elevated all my
other scores. [laughing] So academic fraud. >> You had a co-conspirator on the inside. >> Yes, and it was magic, it was magic! >> On the level of cons,
and danger, and exciting, the planning that goes
into a con, that one sucks. [Brian laughing] >> You're not wrong, but
I did pass anthropology, so take that. [Jason laughing] [chill jazz music] >> ROBOTIC VOICE: Five con men who you should probably know about. >> So we're talking about five people who took con artistry
to crazy new heights. For the uninitiated, we have new articles every single weekday at themodernrogue.com. This is one of our favorites
written by Luis Prada. What did you think? >> I think the first one is something near and dear to our hearts. >> I think it's factually something I may have committed to at some point. >> ROBOTIC VOICE:
Subject one, Nik Russian, the fake reality producer. >> Basically, you've got a guy with the rad name of Nik Russian. >> Which why would you trust
anyone named Nik Russian? >> [laughing] He doesn't even
spell it the normal Nick. It's N-I-K. Never trust the N-I-Ks. >> Yeah, I'm picturing a
guy in an expensive suit with a face that looks
like a giant head of ham, and he's probably got guns and tattoos. >> [laughing] And he walks in, he's like, "I got a reality show pitch for you. "I'm Nik Russian." [imitates gun firing]
Wait, he's Yosemite Sam? >> No, no, he's much more charming. He's like, "I have reality
show, you like it." >> It will be disastrous-- >> Jason and Brian: For you to not. [Jason and Brian laughing] >> It would be disastrous. >> So this guy, this
took place in England, where somebody took out an ad saying, "Hey, I'm doing a
reality show competition. "You could win 100,000 pounds, who's in?" They got thousands of email responses and eventually whittled it down to what, like, 30 participants? >> 30 participants and three teams. The goal was to make a million
pounds within one year, and you win 100,000 pounds? >> I'm telling you, it's a brilliant scam. >> It's so stupid, it just might work. >> Well, and this is the brilliant part, is that it took place in the
realm of reality television, where that's exactly the kind of plan I would expect to see, right? >> Yes, exactly, people
just jump on the opportunity to be on reality TV. I call it the Honey Boo Boo effect. It's like, "[gasps]
We're going to be on TV?" >> I call it the
hacking-the-system effect. >> Eh.
[Brian laughing] That's fair. [laughing] People still just get excited about, "Oh, my god, I'm going to be a star. "I'm going to make money
for just being myself "because I have this amazing personality, "and I get to show off
how many skills I have, "how resourceful I am." >> This is an important
part of any con game, is that they take advantage
of an inherent human flaw. Often times it's greed
or vanity, in this case, or the fear of being left behind if everybody else is on a thing. That's how people jump into Ponzi schemes. >> People love feeling smart and they love making money for nothing. >> Yes, so, in this case, the
guy had none of the resources. He gets 30 people over,
put them into teams, and also says, "By the
way, you have to take care "of your own accommodations." And so two of the three teams disbanded, like, in the first couple of days, but then the third team sticks
together, and they're like, "No, no, we're going to
make a million pounds, "and then we're going
to win 100,000 pounds "because we made a million pounds." >> And then they started
shooting their own reality show inside the reality show! >> That's their project, is
they're doing a reality show about being on a reality
show, which, again, is exactly what you would
expect in a reality show! >> And, finally, they had had enough. They knew it was a con, and they locked him in the apartment, and called the news, and
started to look into it. Turns out he had no production company, he had no credentials, he had nothing! He just conned all these
people for some weird reason. >> Which also is exactly
what I would expect from reality television. I don't want to break your heart, but his name was not Nik Russian. His real name was, guess. >> Oliver Clothesoff. >> [chuckling] Close,
Keith Anthony Gilliard, or Gillard, Gillard, Gillard. >> I would have stuck
with Nik Russian too. >> Here's what I want to know, is how many actually projects begin with somebody thinking
they're pulling off a con, but, at some point, it just
becomes too good and too real. Because what if they did, what if all three teams
had million-dollar ideas, or million-pound ideas, and
then they just went nuts, and then the next thing you know is he has footage of all this stuff. Like, in their mind, do
you think the con men are holding out the outside possibility that maybe this is a
good idea and pays off? >> Oh, wow, yeah. Like, maybe he can
parlay it into something, but he knows it's the
longest of long shots. What's the different between
a long shot and a con? >> I would say that window of possibility, and, in this case, weirdly, I think there is the window of possibility that he might have had the
right idea and gone somewhere. >> He didn't go to jail. He didn't take anyone's money,
and he didn't hurt anyone, so they said, "Well, there's
nothing to charge him with." >> He just wasted everybody's time. >> Yeah!
>> And I can't even count the number of projects
that were a waste of time, including on our show. >> I may have conned some
people into participating in creative endeavors
that never went anywhere. >> BRIAN: Exactly, exactly. >> We're going to make so much
money off of this short film. >> [laughing] All right,
so what kind of grade do we give Nik Russian? >> I'm going to say it was a disaster and an embarrassing failure,
so [exhales sharply], I don't know, what
scale are we grading on? >> I'm giving him a B plus. >> B plus, really?
>> I think, I think there was, I mean, he spoke the
reality television talk, and did the reality television thing. The only thing he didn't
have was the backing of some big company, but, I don't know. In an alternate universe, I could picture this
actually having pulled off and him being wealthy and
respected, and a visionary for it. >> And he ends up with a functioning, successful television show
about these people making money. >> So, in this case,
this is just a bad artist more than a con artist. >> Okay, yeah, okay, I'm
going to give him a C. >> A C?
>> I'm going to give him a C. >> A C con man. >> Because right now it just ended up with him being horribly embarrassed and probably drummed out of town. >> Yes. >> Right now, I'm really fighting the urge to punch you. You owe me, man, you owe 30 people. >> NARRATOR: Nik refuses to
answer any more questions. >> ROBOTICE VOICE: Subject two. Carlos Kaiser, football trickster. >> All right, let's talk
about Carlos Kaiser. >> What did Carlos Kaiser do? >> Nothing, literally nothing, except for the really pleasant,
make everybody enjoy him, hang out with the football
teams, we call it soccer, and claim to be the
greatest football player in the business. He would pay people in the stands to sing songs about him when
the coaches would walk by, so that everybody knew that Carlos Kaiser was the greatest player in the game. >> But he really had no professional football experience whatsoever? >> He was present as such a
bigger-than-life personality, like the Paul Bunyon of soccer, right? People are singing songs about him. Then he wouldn't have to try out. And then the first practice, he would make sure to get injured, right? Immediately, but then
spend the rest of his time talking, joking, connecting
with the rest of the team, to where people on the team would say, "You know what, even if he never plays, "he's a really important part
of the morale of our team. "He's the spiritual center of our game." >> Like me.
>> Exactly. [laughing] So one time he was about
to be put in the game. Like, they were short on players. They were like, "We
got to throw in Carlos. "I know he's injured, "but hopefully we can see
some of that Carlos magic." And so he walks, [chuckles]
this is the way I imagine it. He's walking out to the field realizing, "Oh, man, they're going to get
me, they're going to get me." Even though I'm imagining
nobody said anything, maybe somebody says, "Hey, Carlos." He's seizing on somebody, he's like, [tense music]
"What did you call me? "What did you say? "What did you say about my mother?" And then he-- >> Jumps into the stands.
>> Jumps in, and just starts pummeling people, gets himself ejected from the game so he doesn't have to play. >> I think we can learn from this. I want to do something like this. I want people to go, "Yeah,
you know, Jason Murphy, "I ran into him at the mall,
and he was just shopping, "and then a mariachi band showed up "and just serenading him. "So I don't know what's
going on with him." >> His career is already
shockingly close to what I perceive mine to be. [Jason and Brian laughing] Well, I mean, he says he's,
I know he's a great magician because he's constantly talking about what a great magician he is. >> Yeah, yeah, I think
what's great about this is that Carlos didn't get
charged with anything. He didn't commit any crimes, so he just walked away scot-free. >> Yeah, this is another weird one. Is it a con to just
overstate your talents? Because I feel like a lot of
people, including us, do that. >> Here's the thing though,
he probably did get paid. >> Oh, sure, yeah, he
was hired onto the team. He got taken care of. I mean, obviously he
was doing it for money, and fame, and power, and all that stuff. What kind of grade do you give him? >> I am going to give him an A. >> Whoa!
>> I think this is a great con. He got some money out of it,
[electricity buzzing] he got some notoriety, just by convincing people he
was really good at a sport. That's brilliant! >> A classic con, though, takes advantage of other
people's weaknesses, and I guess, in this regard, that he just took advantage of people not wanting to miss out. I don't know-- >> Part of cons is being
really charming, though, and that was what he did. >> That is true, that is true. I'm going to give him a C plus, a C plus. I liked Nik Russian better. [Jason laughing] >> ROBOTIC VOICE: Subject three, George C. Parker owned
nothing but sold everything. >> Okay, you know the old adage about, "Hey, I've got a bridge to sell you," or something like that.
>> Sure. >> To tell people that you
think that they're a mark, that they're really gullible. That's actually a real story. >> Yeah, I spent two days in New York meeting with experts on this exact story. Two days doing research and interviews. I walked the Brooklyn Bridge and all that. George C. Parker is the person who made that story the
legend that it is today. And there's various accounts of whether he sold the
Brooklyn Bridge a few times or some people say twice a
week for 20 years or whatever. Eventually, immigrants
were handed out pamphlets that would warn people, hey, you can't by monuments,
you can't buy stuff, because he didn't just
sell the Brooklyn Bridge, he sold the Statue of
Liberty, he sold Times Square. He sold everything! >> How do you buy something
like Times Square? >> So, first of all, you have a team. It's not just one person
who walks up and says, "Hey, I own that, well,
let me sell it to you," because that would trigger
all kind of alarm bells. Instead, he has a team of people working on the boat ferrying people in, and they're not targeting
the bulk of people. They targeting the wealthiest 1%. You know, the 1% of the 1%. Folks who are coming in with
pride and New World money. The sailors would drop
hints about a wealthy person who owned that bridge, who's
a really interest character. You should meet him, I
can arrange for a meeting. So they would set up a
meeting, and they would talk, and, again, part of being
a good confidence man is having that charisma, that energy, getting people excited about it. And then he would casually mention, like, "Oh, yeah, I own that,
I own that, I own that. "Oh, and then there's the bridge. "You know, to be honest, "I've been thinking about
getting rid of the bridge." And they're like, "Why?" And you're like, "Well,
there's upkeep and stuff." "I mean, there's huge revenue potential. "I could put tolls on the bridge, "but I don't know if
people would like that, "but whoever does it will
make a lot of money." And then they wait for
it to be their idea. They're like, "Well, let me
buy the bridge from you," and he would figure out
what their budget is and then sell them the bridge with the fake deed and all that stuff, and it usually wasn't until
they showed up to put signs, maybe they renamed the
bridge, because, again, vanity, or they would put in toll
booths, again, greed, that the police would show up. They're like, "What are you doing? "Knock it off, c'mon." [Jason laughing]
And, of course, the police saw this time
and time, and time again, and then the police were being like, "Yeah, no, you can't buy the bridge." And they're like, "Well, go get the guy." And it's like, "Eh, I don't know." [Jason laughing] To me, the most amazing part of the story is that he was arrested
three times for fraud, but one of those times, he escaped in the middle of his trial by reaching over, picking
up a sheriff's hats, and just marching right out. >> Oh, my god. >> Basically just walking
with the confidence, like, you know, "Yes,
of course, I'm a police. "Hello, I police. "How are you policing? "We are police people." >> I'm not going to say that
we should venerate this guy, but he might be in the
Modern Rogue Pantheon. >> Oh, my god, he spent
the rest of his life at Sing Sing prison, where
allegedly he was super popular, where all he did as just regale everybody, including the prison guards,
with tales of his exploits. [electricity buzzing]
This dude is an A plus con man superstar. [electricity buzzing]
>> Yeah, even though he got caught, I'm going to
say A plus, that's great. I use to pull this scam on [electricity buzzing]
Ultima Online with my friends. >> What?
>> Yes. >> Ultima Online?
>> You remember Harv? Harv figured it out. It was in the early days of Ultima Online, an MMO video game that launched in 1996. It was one of the first MMOs. We would walk up to a boat
that would be docked somewhere, and we would stand next to it, and people would go,
"Hey, is this your boat?" Well, yes it is. [Brian laughing]
In fact, I'll sell it to you. And we would just hand them a book because you could write
anything in the books. >> I remember you real-time
would swap money for objects, and so there would be a book or a scroll that would say Deed to
Boat, Deed of Ownership. >> JASON: That we wrote in the book. >> Yes, okay, and the way Harv told me is, like, you guys had pages
and pages of instruction on how to drive your boat, use arrows, down, up, left,
and do all this stuff. And then by page seven, when you had enough time
to be long gone, it says, "By the way, you can't buy
boats in Ultima Online." [Brian and Jason laughing]
>> Yes, yes! Harv figured that out, and then we just did it
over and over, and over. >> [laughs] All right, I give you an A plus, sir.
[electricity buzzing] >> Yay, virtual money. [electricity buzzing]
I still have all that cash in a nice place in Britannia. [Brian laughing] >> ROBOTIC VOICE:
Subject four, Jon Spano, rich in character. >> All right, talk to me about Jon Spano. Spano or Spano? >> Spano.
>> Spano. >> Spanyo.
>> Spange, there's no en-yay, that's Spange. >> He nearly bought the New
York Islanders, a hockey team, which buying a sports team is one of the more extravagant things you can spend money on because it's a lot. >> Dude, this is already
I'm thinking in terms of the great Pantheon of Con. It's like, well, this takes
advantage of vanity and pride. Like, this is one of those
things everybody wants, although he was the con man. So explain to me how he did this. >> Well, he basically just
told everyone he was rich, and he convinced everyone it was rich, and when you're rich, people are really okay
with giving you more money. So he was able to get an $80 million loan, which he said was easier than
getting a loan for his car. >> Well, yeah, because
you get a loan from a car, somebody wants to double check your stuff. If you just infiltrate a set of friends who are all super rich, and $80 million is like
chump change to them, then why would they, you know, it's like, "No, he's clearly rich. "We went vacationing last week." >> And, technically, he
owned team for a while even though the transaction
wasn't 100% complete. The problem was that whenever
you buy a sports team, everyone locally, all the sports fans, are going to be paying close attention. So the news started digging into him, and he made one crucial mistake. He sent a fax from his home fax rather than from some business place. >> Pretending to be, oh, so, okay. Wow, what a small detail. But I have to imagine, once
a certain level of scrutiny, if it wasn't that one fax, it would have been any number of a million other things, right? Like, once you get enough eyeballs on you, this is why I am always paranoid and always lived my life like
the whole world is watching because I just assume they are. [laughing] >> Yeah, yeah, and I think that's becoming more and more clear. Now a lot of these cons, you really couldn't get away with in the age of the internet. Like now, I think Jon Spano would have a really difficult time because anyone could find out, oh, that guy's just some shlub. He works at Domino's, you know, or something like that.
>> Right, right. >> So, yeah, there's really
so much more visibility. You can't really do much in the shadows, or, at least, you have to
completely change your method. >> This is also classic
con man modus operandi, where by plugging himself
in with a group of elites and availing himself of their largesse, I give him an A plus for ambition. For execution, I'm not
going to dig him too hard because if it wasn't that mistake, it would have been something else. I don't know, this seems like a solid B.
[electricity buzzing] >> I think so.
>> Yeah, right? >> He got really far, and, technically, he owned the [electricity buzzing]
New York Islanders for weeks! >> Plus, here's the other part, this could have been one of the things. Let's say the loan went through, let's say nobody every caught onto it, let's say thew Islanders went
on to win the championship. He could be a legit,
super-famous rich person, and he would be the only one who was like, "Yeah, no, I didn't have any of the money. "Everything was a lie. "But it doesn't matter, we're winners!" >> Yeah, and, honestly, that seems to be how capitalism in America works. >> [laughing] Okay, I'm
going to upgrade him to a B+. >> I think so, I think that's pretty good. >> ROBOTIC VOICE: Subject five, Count Victor Lustig, comically
smooth, the one hand only. >> All right, this one sounds
like an urban legend, right? Did you hear about the guy
who sold the Eiffel Tower? >> You're talking about Victor Lustig, who is the person who inspired
George C. Parker because he, George C Parker thought, "Well, I can see the
Brooklyn Bridge," or the-- >> Statue of Liberty. >> I was going to say the
America Lady. [laughing] ["The Star-Spangled Banner"]
>> [laughing] The America lady. >> BRIAN: [laughing] He's
got a bigger problem. >> That's good. [audio scratching]
That's good, that's good. >> But Victor--
>> I love it when you forget things
[Brian laughing] that you just have no business forgetting. >> America lady. [laughing] >> That would be you, you saying America lady is like me saying, yeah, your co-host on Modern Rogue. "Oh, yeah, magician dude. [Brian laughing] "Magician guy, spiky magician." [Brian laughing] America lady.
[Brian laughing] >> Before he sold the Eiffel Tower, Victor Lustig was already
a prolific con man. One of his favorite scams
was to sell a cash machine, something that would print, allegedly, perfect copies of counterfeit bills. So instead of actually
have a counterfeit hundred, it would be a real hundred, but he would just crank it all out, and then sell them for
$46,000, up to $46,000, of 1920's money, which
is $600,000 nowadays. >> And he did a couple of those. >> Oh, sure.
>> Yeah, and yet he was able to convince a scrap metal
company to buy the Eiffel Tower. >> That's the crazy part,
is that, number one, yes, selling the Eiffel Tower is crazy, but the fact that you would
sell it for parts, for scrap, and that somebody's just like, "Yes, I will dismantle this
[laughs] and take it home." >> Yeah, and they thought
they were going to make a mint by saying, "Hey, we're going
to sell you all of this cutlery "that's made from metal
from the Eiffel Tower." It's like, people love that crap. >> And, of course, we have one of the classic elements of a con man, is so many of the con
artist stories go unreported because they're so deeply embarrassing to the parties who were there. So as a result, they don't report them to the authorities. It's like, okay, well, it sucks that I spent $70,000 to a scam artist, but what are you going to do? Take out a press release
to tell the whole world? No, you're just going to
quietly grin and bear it. >> Yeah, these are all of the ones that they have heard about, that people have found out about. These aren't the ones that people were completely successful
with their cons, and everyone just kind of slumped in the corner.
>> Oh, that's right. There's probably five even
better versions of these that got away with it,
and that we'll never know. All right, so what
grade do we give Victor? >> Based on what we know, I'm going to give him an A.
[electricity buzzing] >> Yeah, he wasn't as
prolific as George C. Parker, so I don't think I can tie his A plus, [electricity buzzing]
but he was a pioneer, [electricity buzzing]
so I'm good with an A. That works for me as well. >> I like it. He even convinced his mark to bribe him so that Victor gave him the best deal and gave him exclusive right
to buy the Eiffel Tower. >> Oh, wait a minute, so before even selling the
Eiffel Tower, he did a pre-sale. He's like, "Why don't
you slip me some cash, "and then you can slip me more cash." >> Exactly.
>> That's pretty good. >> Brilliant, let's get him on the show. >> Okay, sure.
>> He still around? >> Where's the Ouija board? I got this, wait, we can
pull out the changeling. [Jason laughing]
He shows up here, he start summoning the spirit. [Jason laughing] [machinery humming] [audio crackling] >> He's using all of that.
[Brian laughing] You know him! [laughing] >> America lady. [laughing] >> And that's how he sold it. He's like, "You want to
buy the America lady?"
