PIGEON DROP ALIVE AND WELL

  When I first made Detective, in the early 60's, the first con game I ever worked was the Pigeon Drop. In the news this week, is a sad story confirming that the ancient scam still works. Hard to believe, but true.

An octogenarian was victim to con game weasels, being relieved of a couple thousand dollars she could ill afford to lose. The poor lady is still working at WalMart to get by.

The game, always has the same elements; a wallet or whatever, supposedly full of money, found in your presence, and "earnest money" being put up until the money can be divided. The mark, or pigeon, gets to keep the money in their custody, finally realizing they've been stuck with an empty wallet.
Of course, it relies on the pigeon being greedy or, as above, desperate for money. If, when the money was supposedly "found", a call was made to the police there would be no scam. But the con artists are fast-talkers and experience great success with the game. And have for over 100 years since it migrated over from France.
Yep, makes you wonder how anyone could fall for such a stunt. Course, when I was a juvenile delinquent in Charleston, WVa, we used to tie a string on an old wallet, leave it on the sidewalk and hide in the bushes. When someone bent over to get the wallet, we'd yank it back and run like thieves, laughing like maniacs. We were amazed then, too, at how often it worked.