FRAUD WATCH

THREE CARD MONTE

For the last 100 years, and more, Three-card monte has been the premier street con. It's being played every day on the streets of every major city in North America, primarily in the U.S. In New York City, it is almost impossible to walk on the main thoroughfares of the downtown core at lunchtime without coming across a half-dozen games.

It's a simple game and probably worth investing a few dollars in, for the education, and lessons learned, by watching the game being played by the pros.

It's a simple game really, and very profitable in large crowds, which is why it's always played downtown and during the noon-hour. The results are so predictable, the sucker never wins. Ever. All the "monte-man" needs is three cards, a table, and a couple of shills.

The three cards are a red queen, and a couple of black aces. The general idea is to "find the red lady".

The dealer, often an elderly man who acts confused, rotates the cards face down rapidly, and places them on the table. The dealer offers, to anyone in the crowd of onlookers to put up money and guess which of the three cards, placed face down is the "red lady". An easy game. The bet is often $20, $30, or $40. This is where the shills come in. They're necessary to encourage the crowd, I mean really, how many people would bet $40, while walking down the street, on a game where your chances of losing are 2 to 1. It has to be a sure thing, right? So to persuade the passersby that it is a sure thing, the shills work together either following each other one by one, or as a duo, showing the crowd that game after game can be won easily. The dealer expresses great dismay, and acts confused, not understanding how he can be losing so much money.

The pigeon, who is watching the game, is being set up, unknowingly. The bunco shills are playing him, not the game, even though they don't know who he is yet. One of the cards, the red queen has a corner bent up. Shill #1 bets on it repeatedly, and wins. Shill #2 bets on other cards, never the one with the bent up corner, and repeatedly turns up a black ace, and loses.

Now the victim, who is watching, decides he is a little bit smarter than the average member of the population and knows how to win. Which is obviously, by choosing the card with the bent up corner.

If necessary, the winning shill will turn to someone, saying that he has to return to his job, and will gladly whisper his secret technique, the "bent corner" with maybe a knowing nod or wink, and departs with a big handful of winnings. The egg steps up, and confidently lays down his money and finds the bent corner card is a loser.

The not-so-bright dealer has very adeptly, skillfully, masterfully bent the corner on the red card down to level, and surprise, surprise, bent a corner of a losing black card up.

There are many variations of this game, and in a way is part of the many "games" played in real life.

Remember, be skeptical of sure things, be aware, read this column and don't get taken.

Nolan Young is a private investigator and a fraud consultant and can be reached at" nolan@accglobal.net.