History Main / OneBornEveryMinute

One of our characters -- usually the one known for buffoonish naivete, such as the CountryMouse, FishOutOfWater, or just someone TooDumbToLive -- befriends a [[ConMan con artist]], who promptly [[TheCon sets them up to be ripped off]].

One of two things happen:

* The victim's friends rally together to set up an even ''bigger'' [[CounterZany reverse-con]] to turn the tables on the con-artist.
* At the last minute, the con man is touched by the victim's faith in humanity and forswears his evil ways.

The second variant is often used to show the victim as CloserToEarth, his faith in the simple goodness of people trumping the cynicism of his friends.

(Sometimes, they do ''both'', with the counter-con being revealed at the last minute, only to bemuse the con man, who recants anyway.)
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!!Examples:

[[AC: AnimeAndManga]]
* Played with in ''Manga/LiarGame''. Nao's first opponent in the eponymous tournament of conmen is a former teacher of hers who she trusts implicitly. [[ForegoneConclusion He swindles her out of her stake almost immediately.]] In order to get it back, she recruits the aid of Akiyama, a notorious conman fresh out of prison [[JustLikeRobinHood for defrauding a corporation whose]] [[{{Ponzi}} pyramid scheme]] [[DrivenToSuicide ultimately drove his mother to suicide.]]

[[AC: Film]]
* In ''Film/TheGreatOutdoors'', the main characther's brother-in-law cons the main character out of a lot of money, but then has a change of heart.
%%* ''Film/TheLadyEve'': Jean describes her love for Charles like "the ax needs the turkey."
* ''Film/TheSting'' reverses the trope--the conmen are the good guys.

[[AC: Live Action Television]]
* The first version was done in ''Series/{{Cheers}}'' (episode "Pick a Con, Any Con,") ''Series/GoodTimes'', ''Series/SavedByTheBell'', and ''Series/KidsIncorporated''.
* The second version was done by ''Series/PerfectStrangers'' (with Balki's [[EvilTwin sinister identical cousin]] as the con man), and ''Series/NightCourt''.
* ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' had an episode ("Charlie's Buddy") in which the con man felt guilty and chose not to take anything from Rose, but he didn't confess to her or give indication that he was giving up his con life.
* A twist on the second version was done on ''Series/TheDickVanDykeShow,'' with Buddy's brother Blackie hustling Rob at pool and then tearing up the check in front of Buddy to prove he'd gone legit.
* Serena on ''Series/GossipGirl'' in season two.
* ''Series/{{Hustle}}'', being a show about con artists, has done a number of variations on this, with team members conning one another for fun, conning less honourable crooks, BEING conned by better players of the game... all at once, sometimes...
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episodes "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances", Rose becomes enamoured by a Time Traveler who saves her life. He also happens to have a very dangerous ship on him, that he'll be willing to give up for a generous price. It turns out that the man is actually a rogue [[TimePolice Time Agent]] whose taken the name Captain Jack Harkness, thinks that Rose and the Doctor are Time Agents themselves, and has positioned the ship to be destroyed once they've paid. The episodes go into type 2, with a twist; the Doctor is ''not'' someone you want to cross, and when it turns out the ship is actually dangerous, Jack is horribly guilty and offers a HeroicSacrifice. (The Doctor rescued him, and Jack ended up heading his own spinoff series ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''.)
* Used in ''Series/VeronicaMars'', but instead of out-conning the conmen, V just steals their hard drives and holds them ransom for the cash they swindled her client out of, plus her fee for recovering it.
* The documentary series, ''Scam City'' has the host travel to several cities and expose the [[TheCon various scams]] that local [[ConMan con-artist]] pull on tourists, and how to keep ones' money as safe as possible from people who earn a living by adopting this trope as a personal philosophy.

[[AC: Video Games]]
* Gary in ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}, although he didn't keep up his little charade for very long seeing as he had no reason to.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', [[LoonyFan Conrad Verner]] gets set up by a skeezy weapons dealer on Illium to harass the owner of the local bar (she told him they were dealing Red Sand, which was not only a false accusations but in fact not even a crime). When [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] intervenes, the con-artist makes the mistake of [[WhatAnIdiot assuming Shepard is as gullible as Conrad]], making it easy for Shepard to set ''her'' up in turn.

[[AC: Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' did this the first version, with the con artist a carny played by the late Jim Varney.
* Happens in ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' at least once when Peggy sadly learns that her online Ph.D program is a scam.
* A Creator/DrSeuss special has the Sneetches, who are conned by traveling entrepreneur Sylvester [=MacMonkey=] [=McBean=] into alternatively putting star-shaped marks on their bellies and taking them off again. [=McBean=] never repents, and in fact leaves quite enriched by the day's business, but the Sneetches at the end do learn a lesson about what amounts to FantasticRacism.
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* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', [[LoonyFan Conrad Verner]] gets set up by a skeezy weapons dealer on Illium to harass the owner of the local bar. When [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] intervenes, the con-artist makes the mistake of [[WhatAnIdiot assuming Shepard is as gullible as Conrad]], making it easy for Shepard to set ''her'' up in turn.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episodes "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances", Rose becomes enamoured by a Time Traveler who saves his life. He also happens to have a very dangerous ship on him, that he'll be willing to give up for a generous price. It turns out that the man is actually a rogue [[TimePolice Time Agent]] whose taken the name Captain Jack Harkness, thinks that Rose and the Doctor are Time Agents themselves, and has positioned the ship to be destroyed once they've paid. The episodes go into type 2, with a twist; the Doctor is ''not'' someone you want to cross, and when it turns out the ship is actually dangerous, Jack is horribly guilty and offers a HeroicSacrifice. (The Doctor rescued him, and Jack ended up heading his own spinoff series ''Series/{{Torchwood}}''.)

* The documentary series, ''Scam City'' has the host travel to several cities and expose the various scams that local con-artist pull on tourists, and how to keep ones' money as safe as possible from people who earn a living by adopting this trope as a personal philosophy.

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<<|{{Plots}}|>>

* The second version was done by ''Series/PerfectStrangers'' (with Balki's [[EvilTwin sinister identical cousin]] as the con man), and ''NightCourt''.

<<|{{Plots}}|>>

* Played with in ''LiarGame''. Nao's first opponent in the eponymous tournament of conmen is a former teacher of hers who she trusts implicitly. [[ForegoneConclusion He swindles her out of her stake almost immediately.]] In order to get it back, she recruits the aid of Akiyama, a notorious conman fresh out of prison [[JustLikeRobinHood for defrauding a corporation whose]] [[{{Ponzi}} pyramid scheme]] [[DrivenToSuicide ultimately drove his mother to suicide.]]

* In ''The Great Outdoors'', the main characther's brother-in-law cons the main character out of a lot of money, but then has a change of heart.
* TheSting reverses the trope--the conmen are the good guys.

* The first version was done in ''{{Cheers}}'' (episode "Pick a Con, Any Con,") ''GoodTimes'', ''Series/SavedByTheBell'', and ''KidsIncorporated''.
* The second version was done by ''PerfectStrangers'' (with Balki's [[EvilTwin sinister identical cousin]] as the con man), and ''NightCourt''.
* ''TheGoldenGirls'' had an episode ("Charlie's Buddy") in which the con man felt guilty and chose not to take anything from Rose, but he didn't confess to her or give indication that he was giving up his con life.
* A twist on the second version was done on ''TheDickVanDykeShow,'' with Buddy's brother Blackie hustling Rob at pool and then tearing up the check in front of Buddy to prove he'd gone legit.
* Serena on ''GossipGirl'' in season two.
* ''{{Hustle}}'', being a show about con artists, has done a number of variations on this, with team members conning one another for fun, conning less honourable crooks, BEING conned by better players of the game... all at once, sometimes...

* Used in VeronicaMars, but instead of out-conning the conmen, V just steals their hard drives and holds them ransom for the cash they swindled her client out of, plus her fee for recovering it.

* In ''VideoGame/{{MassEffect2}}'', [[LoonyFan Conrad Verner]] gets set up by a skeezy weapons dealer on Illium to harass the owner of the local bar. When [[PlayerCharacter Shepard]] intervenes, the con-artist makes the mistake of [[WhatAnIdiot assuming Shepard is as gullible as Conrad]], making it easy for Shepard to set ''her'' up in turn.

* Happens in ''KingOfTheHill'' at least once when Peggy sadly learns that her online Ph.D program is a scam.
* A DrSeuss special has the Sneetches, who are conned by traveling entrepreneur Sylvester [=MacMonkey=] [=McBean=] into alternatively putting star-shaped marks on their bellies and taking them off again. [=McBean=] never repents, and in fact leaves quite enriched by the day's business, but the Sneetches at the end do learn a lesson about what amounts to FantasticRacism.

* The first version was done in ''{{Cheers}}'' (episode "Pick a Con, Any Con,") ''GoodTimes'', ''SavedByTheBell'', and ''KidsIncorporated''.
** I think ''KidsIncorporated'' did BOTH versions.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episodes "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances", Rose becomes enamoured by a Time Traveler who saves his life. He also happens to have a very dangerous ship on him, that he'll be willing to give up for a generous price. It turns out that the man is actually a rogue [[TimePolice Time Agent]] whose taken the name Captain Jack Harkness, thinks that Rose and the Doctor are Time Agents themselves, and has positioned the ship to be destroyed once they've paid. The episodes go into type 2, with a twist; the Doctor is ''not'' someone you want to cross, and when it turns out the ship is actually dangerous, Jack is horribly guilty and offers a HeroicSacrifice. (It obviously wasn't completed, since same character is now head of his own show, ''{{Torchwood}}''.)

* A DrSeuss special has the Sneetches, who are conned by traveling entrepreneur Sylvester MacMonkey McBean into alternatively putting star-shaped marks on their bellies and taking them off again. McBean never repents, and in fact leaves quite enriched by the day's business, but the Sneetches at the end do learn a lesson about what amounts to FantasticRacism.

* A DrSeuess special has the Sneetches, who are conned by traveling entrepreneur Sylvester MacMonkey McBean into alternatively putting star-shaped marks on their bellies and taking them off again. McBean never repents, and in fact leaves quite enriched by the day's business, but the Sneetches at the end do learn a lesson about what amounts to FantasticRacism.