ok here's the deal.......

The fraud

The scam starts with the fraudster strolling into a shop or caf�. We'll assume the latter. The con man is well spoken, personable and generally well presented. Casting his eyes over the cakes the fraudster orders a coffee and a flapjack to go. This, the cashier informs him comes to $1.80. With the con man paying with a ten-dollar note, the cashier gives him change to the value of $8.20 which he adds the to mass of change in his hand. The fraudster pauses for a moment and comments to the cashier "You know, I sure do have a lot of one-dollar bills here. Do you think you could give me back my ten-dollar note for ten one-dollar notes?" The cashier, who is never averse to the till having plenty of change, is only too happy to oblige. She removes the ten-dollar note from the till and in return the con man gives her ten one-dollar bills and begins to walk away.

As the cashier counts the one-dollar bills she realises that the fraudster has in fact given her nine one-dollar bills and one ten-dollar bill. She calls back the fraudster who has slowly been making his way to the door. She explains that he has given her too much; nine one-dollar bills and one ten-dollar bill. The con man is quick to reply "Goodness. I must have placed a ten instead of a one in there, so I've given you nineteen dollars haven't I?" The cashier replies in the affirmative and the fraudster continues "If I give you another one that makes twenty and you can just give me a twenty dollar-bill. By the way, how do I get to the Public Library?" The cashier puts away the twenty dollars and hands the con man a twenty-dollar bill. She goes onto explain that the Library is just at the end of the street on the right. The con man thanks her for this advice and apologises for the mix-up. He leaves the shop ten dollars richer.

Explanation

Did you catch that? Most people would have done exactly what the cashier did; and it should be easier to see what's wrong here in print than if it happened in the husstle of a busy shop. For those of you still confused at just how the fraudster has made ten dollars, here is a quick explanation, viewing the whole operation in terms of balancing the till.

Firstly the coffee and flapjack are bought. Assuming for the purposes of this explanation that the fraudster has got his money's worth from this purchase and the shop has made only a negligible profit. All is even.

Now the fraudster requests that his ten-dollar note be removed from the till to perform another transaction. Now the till is ten dollars down. In exchange for this the fraudster gives the cashier (and thus the till) twenty dollars firstly as nineteen dollars and then the balancing one. The till is now up by ten dollars. BUT removed from the till in exchange for the mixed twenty dollars is a fresh twenty-dollar note. Now the till is ten dollars down. The fraudster profits at the shop's expense.

It is important to consider the wording and timing used by the fraudster. He misleads by saying "can you give me my ten back" when in fact this ten now belongs to the shop. He also says "How much have I given you? Nineteen dollars?" when in fact ten of those dollars belong to the shop. The con man leads the conversation and in fact controls every transaction. He also confuses the cashier by asking her for directions at a vital point in the fraud. The con man is prepared to take his time walking over to the door, perhaps taking a bite out of his flapjack, while the cashier counts his nineteen dollars. He is also prepared, should the cashier fail to point his 'mistake' to say, "I'm sorry, I seem to be down here. Did I give you more than I should have?" Should a sharp-minded cashier point out the error in the transaction, the fraudster is ready to admit his mistake; that in fact he should only be given ten dollars in change. You will note also that this scam works best with dollar bills which are similar in appearance and of the same size. It will work if the ten value note is folded between the one value notes, if the notes are handed over in a messy bundle or if the notes are of a new issue and are therefore unfamiliar.

see i'm gooooood!

of course what if the person at the register doesnt realize or doesnt care that you have given them a ten.

thats why you walk slowly out and if they don't notice just say em excuse me i think i gave you a ten by mistake

then again you could get a job and stop stealing petty change. Why dont you just take it from a stray purse?

Or you could just knock something off the counter onto the cashiers side while s/he's got the till open, then grab everything and run.