History Main / DelayedWire

* In an episode of ''Series/{{MASH}}'' Hawkeye discovers that Frank has been cheating enlisted men by betting on baseball games, the broadcasts of which are delayed until midday for the sake of the troops but Frank listens to the live broadcasts overnight. Hawkeye breaks into the radio feed (with Radar's help) and broadcasts a bogus game, which Frank then loses big time on.

* Neal and Peter have to pull one in the ''WhiteCollar'' episode "The Dentist of Detroit". Several references to ''The Sting'' are made. It's even an off-track betting tale.

* Done in ''Radio/TheLivesOfHarryLime'' episode "Horse Play"; 20 years before ''TheSting''.

* The immortal "tootsie-frootsie ice cream" scene from ''[[MarxBrothers A Day At The Races]]''.

* An ElleryQueen short story has Ellery investigating a Reverse Pyramid Scheme.

The ConMan and his crew represent that they can give access to advance information available to no one else, for a price. The off-track betting tale from ''TheSting'' was a Delayed Wire gag.

The kinds of information for sale differs; "advance" stock-price movement, "hacked" access to currency fluctuations, a "tip" on zoning regulations that will boost the price of real estate ... you get the picture. A key element of the tale (called the "hook") lies in convincing TheMark that he has a short window of opportunity to cash in, in a situation where he has all the control. Often the mark is steered toward "discovering" the illicit operation in such a way that he feels he can threaten to call in the police.

* In ''Theatre/TheGoldenApple'', Mr. Scylla persuades Ajax to bet the boys' return fares on the Manila hemp market, which his accomplice Mr. Charybdis (otherwise Hector) was pretending to have sold short. Of course, it turns out that hemp really is a bust and Mr. Charybdis has moved on to another commodity.

* The end of ''Film/TradingPlaces''.

* Used in an episode of ''TheRiches'', as are several other types of cons,

* The ReversePyramidScheme is a favorite for scammers when it comes to sports bets. Find a pool of pigeons, send them predictions for big games, then offer to sell your "insider" picks for a game which is sure to have heavy betting. NFL games in the US are a favorite target.

A variant is the Reverse Pyramid Scheme, where a large pool of potential marks are given predictions about events, and only those marks who have received correct predictions are retained. The pool dwindles to a small pool of marks who have received a stunningly accurate series of correct calls and are then offered one last prediction at an obscene price.

* ''TheSting'' has a horse racing variant.

* ''TheGrifters'' uses this as a long con.
* The end of ''TradingPlaces''.
* ''WallStreet'' has Budd Fox tell Gordon Gecko that Blustar Airlines is about to settle a strike and the stock should soar on this news when Gecko is interviewing him for a high-level Wall Street role. Budd is desperate to impress Gecko and passes it off as his research. In reality, this is insider trading, since Budd knows it because his dad is a union rep for the airline. Of course, Gordon then learns the truth - and doesn't care, because trading on inside information and manipulating the financial press are all in Gordon's bag of tricks.

* The ReversePyramidScheme is a favorite for scammers when it comes to sports bets. Find a pool of pigeons, send them predictions for big games, then offer to sell your "insider" picks for a game which is sure to have heavy betting. NFL games are a favorite target.

* Done in the first series finale of ''{{Hustle}}'', which references ''The Sting'', then again in the first episode of fifth season.

* An inversion of this took place in an episode of ''Series/FX:TheSeries'', where Rollie delayed the transmission at the gambling house so he could find out the winner and relay the info to his father (a gambling addict who owed a lot of money), who would then bet on the horse and get out of debt.

Advance stock-price movement, "hacked" access to currency fluctuations, a "tip" on zoning regulations that will boost the price of real estate are all updates of the kinds of information for sale. A key element of the tale (called the "hook") lies in convincing TheMark that he has a short window of opportunity to cash in, in a situation where he has all the control. Often the mark is steered toward "discovering" the illicit operation in such a way that he feels he can threaten to call in the police.

The ConMan and his crew represent that they can give access to advance information available to no one else, for a price. The off-track betting tale from ''TheSting'' was a DelayedWire gag.

** Possessing real information in advance is called insider trading, and is illegal, but often very hard to prove.

* ''MissionImpossible'' episode "The Money Machine" uses 'advance information' about a copper mine and a moved-up government deadline on a loan to reel in the mark.

* An inversion of this took place in an episode of ''F/X: The Series'', where Rollie delayed the transmission at the gambling house so he could find out the winner and relay the info to his father (a gambling addict who owed a lot of money), who would then bet on the horse and get out of debt.
* ''The Dukes Of Hazzard'' had an episode involving a gambling operation like this. The Dukes turn the tables on them by Luke intercepting the phone call with the winner, giving the gambling house fake results and a disguised Daisy (wearing the most unflattering outfit she ever wore on the show) bet on the real winner.

* TruthInTelevision ! Those who can act on changing market conditions first hold an advantage over those who get the word later and allows the first movers to profit from arbitrage. Advances in communications like carrier pigeons, stock tickets and telephones would provide sizable profits to early adopters in the finance industry. Currently companies are battling over who can build the shortest fiber option line between the commodities markets in Chicago and the Stock Exchanges in New York as a time advantage of even a few milliseconds can generate substantial profits.
** Though this is not a scam. It is simply a competitive advantage.

* WallStreet has Budd Fox tell Gordon Gecko that Blustar Airlines is about to settle a strike and the stock should soar on this news when Gecko is interviewing him for a high-level Wall Street role. Budd is desperate to impress Gecko and passes it off as his research. In reality, this is insider trading, since Budd knows it because his dad is a union rep for the airline. Of course, Gordon then learns the truth - and doesn't care, because trading on inside information and manipulating the financial press are all in Gordon's bag of tricks.

* MissionImpossible episode "The Money Machine" uses 'advance information' about a copper mine and a moved-up government deadline on a loan to reel in the mark.

* TurthInTelevision! Those who can act on changing market conditions first hold an advantage over those who get the word later and allows the first movers to profit from arbitrage. Advances in communications like carrier pigeons, stock tickets and telephones would provide sizable profits to early adopters in the finance industry. Currently companies are battling over who can build the shortest fiber option line between the commodities markets in Chicago and the Stock Exchanges in New York as a time advantage of even a few milliseconds can generate substantial profits.

* ''Literature/{{The Count of Monte Cristo}}'' uses an early wire scheme to bankrupt his enemy Danglars - making this one {{Older Than Radio}}.

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