Grift: Pigeon Drop

The pigeon drop is simple, complicated, illogical, and makes perfect sense all at the same time. In one variation, a person approaches to tell you they found money and don’t know what to do with it. As you discuss the possibilities, they hint at splitting the profit with you. You are giving them advice, after all.

Eventually, the con will seek counsel from an authority figure, who will advise allowing time for someone to claim the cash. Until then, one person, an attorney, or a joint account can hold the cash. Swindlers then convince you to put up cash as a good faith deposit for the larger sum later. With visions of shopping sprees and paid-off bills, you comply.

In a more dramatic variation shown in the movie The Sting, a scammer poses as an injured person who needs to get a large sum of cash somewhere quickly. Another person assists them along with you, but they can’t run the errand. The poor victim begs you to make the delivery. As a sign of good faith, you leave something valuable with them, and the helper demonstrates the best way to conceal the money using your money. Afterward, you scurry off to deliver the cash, but once you unwrap the package, you discover only bits of paper. If a stranger offering you large amounts of cash sounds too good to be true, it probably is.