History Main / TheCon

** George C. Parker infamously "sold" landmarks such as the original Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grant's Tomb, and the Statue of Liberty, going so far as to set up fake offices and forge documents "proving" he had the rights to do so. He was most well known for "selling" the crossing rights to the Brooklyn Bridge multiple times, to the point that the police had to chase away his victims whenever they tried to establish toll booths on the bridge. "If you believe that, I've got a bridge to sell you" is a phrase often attributed to Parker's cons that implies someone is gullible.

* ''Vegas Stakes'': During your games at any of the casinos, you are periodically visited by strangers who may be genuinely in need and helpful, but some of the RandomEncounters are scams that cause you to lose money instead. Thus, part of the gameplay is choosing the genuine people in need if you so desire as this can lead to windfalls like from luck lottery tickets.

* ''Vegas Stakes'': During your games at any of the casinos, you are periodically visited by strangers who may be genuinely in need and helpful, but some of the RandomEncounters are scams that cause you to lose money instead. Thus, part of the gameplay is choosing the genuine people in need if you so desire as this can lead to windfalls like from luck lotto tickets.

** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Lustig Victor Lustig]], AKA "The Man Who Sold The Eiffel Tower Twice". Lustig's scheme was somewhat more nuanced than most landmark sales: in 1925, the Eiffel Tower was falling into disrepair due to rising maintenance costs leading to speculation that it would simply be demolished. Lustig set up a meeting with scrap metal dealers claiming to be a French government official in charge of finding an "honest businessman" who would help them demolish the tower for scrap, though it had to be done in secret to avoid public outcry. Lustig then selected who he perceived as the most gullible of the bunch, André Poisson, later met with him privately, and not so subtly asked him for a bribe to secure the deal for him. Poisson paid the bribe and the funds for the tower and Lustig immediately fled the country. Months later, Lustig could still find no mention of the fraud in the press, leading him to believe neither Poisson nor the other businessmen informed the authorities out of embarrassment. So Lustig went back to Paris and pulled off the scheme ''again'' only for his new marks to call the police, forcing him to go on the run once more.

** In ''WesternAnimation/TheDucksters'', Porky Pig is a game show contestant who is offered such prizes as the Rocky Mountains, the La Brea Tar Pits, and the Rock of Gibraltar.

* A major part of the plot of the Creator/TimDorsey novel ''Triggerfish Twist''. A real estate dealer owns most of the houses on Triggerfish Lane, and is trying to buy up the rest so he can level all the houses on the street and build more expensive homes there he can sell at a profit. This plot involves deliberately stocking his rental houses with the most unruly tenants imaginable in an effort to drive their neighbors away.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* MassiveMultiplayerScam: Engineered situations and several people are used in an elaborated con.

* ''Film/{{Superman}}'' -- Lex Luthor's plot to buy up all the cheap land in the desert bordering California before blowing up the fault line and turning that desert into beach front real estate.

* In ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'' Tim's dad Jack falls for a con which involves some crooks going around claiming to be contractors looking to repair damage after the big quake but requiring a heavy deposit since things are so hectic. Tim manages to get the money back as Robin and tells his dad they came back and said they were too busy while getting the con artists arrested. It foreshadows Jack losing the family fortune not long after.

* The rigged carnival balloon game scam (usually done with half-full balloons and dulled darts IRL) is {{Subverted}} in ''VideoGame/WestOfLoathing.'' The clown running the mimigame in the "Barnaby Bob's Carnival" area tells you that the balloons are under-inflated and the pistol is undercharged. When your charachter asks if that means he gets no business, he responds that explaining how he rigged it makes people want to play it ''more,'' because if they win, they'll be the guy who beat the admittedly-rigged game.