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I recently picked up a book The Telegraph Goes to War and have nearly finished it.
It is an edited copy pf a Telegraph operator's diary with commentary on historical events. The author of the Diary worked for the government, and military, and includes comments about telegraphs and news.
While reading through it, I found the following:
Amusing. There are elements that are similar to those Nigerian spam scams, but the obvious read suggests an "insider trading based on latency in 'common' delivery of market information. On the other hand, it also sounds like an older con represented in movies like, "The Sting."
Summary-TheSting
Whatever it might be, I found it amusing to see such a scam, "invented," (read converted to use the telegraph) so early in the life of the telegraph in the US.
It has one of two common elements found in many successful, old cons that help the con artist to avoid being prosecuted by the law:
1) Attempt to gain the confidence of the victim (mark.)
2) The enticement for the victim provides a barrier for the victim to go to the authorities because of the victims perceived involvement.
This barrier often includes partnering with the victim in the scam which involved breaking the law, or perception of breaking the law. (People don't want to go to the police and admit they joined a scam *and* broke the law in the process, so they cut their losses and walk away.)
Another barrier is embarrassment, where the victim is unwilling to come forward because they don't want to admit being taken advantage of.
With both of the above, a follow-up to such a con can include extortion.
Do you have examples of early adoption of old scams to new media?
It is an edited copy pf a Telegraph operator's diary with commentary on historical events. The author of the Diary worked for the government, and military, and includes comments about telegraphs and news.
While reading through it, I found the following:
Originally posted by url-page
Summary-TheSting
Originally posted by url-thesting
It has one of two common elements found in many successful, old cons that help the con artist to avoid being prosecuted by the law:
1) Attempt to gain the confidence of the victim (mark.)
2) The enticement for the victim provides a barrier for the victim to go to the authorities because of the victims perceived involvement.
This barrier often includes partnering with the victim in the scam which involved breaking the law, or perception of breaking the law. (People don't want to go to the police and admit they joined a scam *and* broke the law in the process, so they cut their losses and walk away.)
Another barrier is embarrassment, where the victim is unwilling to come forward because they don't want to admit being taken advantage of.
With both of the above, a follow-up to such a con can include extortion.
Do you have examples of early adoption of old scams to new media?
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