I don't know why, but I'm always amazed by a well-executed scam.

There's something especially elegant about the ones that are as simple as they are effective.

Have you heard about the watermelon drop scam?

Okay, so for a while in Japan, the prices of watermelons were really high, and so what

con artists did is they got a hold of some bad watermelons, ones that were worthless.

And they would carry it through a part of town where tourists visit, and they'd intentionally

bump into a tourist and drop the watermelon at the same time, which would burst open on

the ground and make quite a mess.

The con artists would then yell and scream at the tourists saying, don't you know how

much these are worth, and I can't believe you broke it, and the tourist would feel bad,

and then pay for the broken watermelon.

This con has been adapted.

Sometimes you'll see a con artist take a cheap vase and smash it up and put it into a

box or a paper bag, and then intentionally, but accidentally bump into someone and drop

the box, and when they open it, the vase is all in pieces.

The con artist shouts and gripes about this expensive vase of theirs, and that this person

just broke it and needs to pay the money, and it's common for con artists to collect as

much as $100 for these broken vases.

In this episode, we hear stories from a woman who breaks into places and steals for a living,

but she's no con artist.

She's a social engineer.

These are true stories from the dark side of the internet.

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