Three Card Monte

Happy Fraud Friday ladies and gentlemen! Today, we are once again talking about street scams. In particular, Three Card Monte, also known as, Find the Lady or The Shell Game. That's right ladies and gentlemen, we've got another classic! Dating back to the 15th century, this is a confidence game in which the victims, or "marks", are tricked into betting a sum of money on the assumption that they can find the "money card" or Queen among three face-down playing cards. It is very similar to the shell game except, cards are used instead of shells. In its full form, Three-card Monte is an example of a classic "short con" in which a shill pretends to conspire with the mark to cheat the dealer, while in fact doing the reverse. The mark has no chance whatsoever of winning, at any point in the game. In fact, anyone who is observed winning anything in the game can be presumed to be a shill. For a speedy teardown, the con will often set up on a cardboard box or another easy to move surface.

Though an old tactic, this is an often-successful con preying on tourists and new faces. Being a classic, there is a lot of information available as to how to spot and avoid this "game." The psychology of the con is to increase the mark's confidence until they believe they have a special ability to cheat the dealer and win easy money. Everything the Monte mob does is geared towards creating that mindset in the mark. To increase the mark's motivation to bet, they will also employ standard strategies such as having the dealer be slightly abrasive or rude, so there is even more reason to want to take his money.

The simplest way to avoid this con is to simply not play a game of street cards. Leave that to your favorite casino or your buddy's poker night. There is, however, a fascinating history on Three Card Monte that I urge all readers to look into. Really fun stuff, and it's a magic trick you can learn to perform (for fun, we here at School District 3 Federal Credit Union do not endorse or condone fraudulent activities. We do, however, find sleight of hand and magic to be interesting and fun)!

Come back next week for another dose of Fraud Fridays!