The Real Hustle
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The Real Hustle is a BBC Three television series made by Objective Productions demonstrating confidence and magic tricks and distraction scams performed on members of the public by presenters, Alexis Conran, Paul Wilson and Jessica-Jane Clement. The show is narrated by Dean Lennox Kelly.
The show highlights ways in which money can be extracted, with a view to educating the viewer in how to avoid becoming a victim. Various terminology is explained, and the marks are fully informed of the cons/scams straight afterwards and repaid any money they'd lost. The show is a spin-off documentary of the BBC drama series Hustle.
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[edit] Example scams
- Fake customs officers trick a car of young men into giving up the alcohol they have brought into the country.
- The Hendon Mob are beaten at poker by the introduction of a cold deck of cards and some expert card shuffling.
- People are sold a magic trick believing it can remove black dye from paper they believe to be cancelled banknotes.
- A deposit is taken on a car multiple times from different people who turn up to buy it.
- A computer keyboard is replaced with one containing a key logger and bank details are obtained
- A skimmer device is placed on a cashpoint with a pinhole camera inside it records the information on the user's cards magnetic strip along with their pin; the data is then put on the magnetic strip of an e-top up card which is used to withdraw money from the victim's account
- People have their mobile phones bluesnarfed. Once the device has been taken control of the hustlers phone a premium number which they have set up
- The team pose as car clampers and clamp unsuspecting victims' vehicles. They arrange a release fee with the victims which is at a much lower rate than paying the fine officially and pocket the money for themselves.
[edit] Series 1
[edit] Episode 1
The team perform the classic monte scam at the beach, bag a £600 necklace from a jewellery shop, carry out a proposition bet in a pub using three pints and three shots as well as the keylogger scam, revealing the art of the pickpocket using mustard dip and the flat rental scam.
[edit] Episode 2
Scams include overcharging for worthless packages, a proposition bet involving a shot of whisky and a shot of water, selling forged lottery tickets, stealing a laptop from an airport, the window tap and conning aspiring popstars into handing over £500 to produce a tacky demo tape.
[edit] Episode 3
The team reveal how fake customs officers are committing daylight robbery by stripping unwitting travellers of their supposedly contraband possessions. Other scams include a pool proposition bet, the jam auction, a fairground scam, the art of the pickpocket with "mind my bag" and the wifi scam.
[edit] Episode 4
The team continue their swindling spree by tricking a barman into paying a reward for a supposedly valuable ring using "the honeytrap" in the ring reward rip-off. Then they con punters at a car-boot sale into buying worthless scraps of paper, perform a proposition bet in a cafe, show the postman scam in the art of the pickpocket and deceive three professional poker players.
[edit] Episode 5
A team of professional con artists demonstrate more scams, including how to sell a hire car over and over again. They also show the process involved in duplicating bank cards, the ease with which counterfeit notes can be used and how `blue-jacking' phones brings dividends.
[edit] Episode 6
Alex Conran, Paul Wilson and Jessica-Jane Clement demonstrate more scams practised by professional swindlers. They claim compensation for damaged goods after orchestrating an accident, use other people's phones to call premium-rate lines, and make unsuspecting drivers pay for false parking tickets.
[edit] Episode 7
Alex Conran, Paul Wilson and Jessica-Jane Clement demonstrate more scams practised by professional swindlers. They obtain credit cards in a victim's name just from items found in rubbish bins, and confuse shopkeepers into giving them too much change.
[edit] Episode 8
Show eight is the last in the first series and features the Psychic Scam, which shows how a hustler can cheat you with fake psychic powers, a demonstration of rigged dice game, a sneaky bar bet, a pool hustle and a romp through the rules of the real hustle - what we have learned throughout the series.
[edit] Series 2
[edit] Episode 1
First in the new series sees the team conning a delivery man into giving them his goods, making sure a couple of people in a cafe overhear a phone conversation about an expensive plate, a bar proposition bet involving not touching a drink and getting someone to buy a car before making off with the car and the cash!
[edit] Episode 2
This week's proposition bet involves the circumference of a beer glass being longer than its height. Stealing a victim's bag and then obtaining her PIN number via a fake customer service line. Stealing unattended purses with a hollow dummy bag.
[edit] Episode 3
How to steal someone's car by pretending to be a valet parking service, pretending to have an injured leg so as to steal watches, another proposition bet where you lift a shot glass using two coins, a shop selling hugely marked up beauty products, and a waitress skimming credit cards.
[edit] Episode 4
Using distraction techniques to access car boots; getting free drinks by inviting marks to copy you; how a fake phone shop on a busy high street can con you out of your money; bogus security guards picking pockets instead of searching them, and a restaurant scam that guarantees a very cheap meal.
[edit] Episode 5
How to steal a car with a clever bit of role playing and how a mock auction can con members of the public into buying cheap goods.
[edit] Episode 6
How to con members of the public into giving away credit card details via a fake charity scratch card.
[edit] Episode 7
Laptop memory upgrade con, picking pockets in a cafe, best of three coin toss con, hacking wireless network and selling cheap knives with an infomercial.
[edit] Episode 8
Paul, Alex and Jess set up an exclusive fashion store, but what their customers don't realise is that their vintage purchases are just worthless second hand clothes. Alex works his charms as a fake waiter and Paul dupes another punter into buying him a free drink. One woman learns never to let bogus workmen into her house and the Hustlers expose an ATM scam that could leave your bank account empty.
[edit] Episode 9
This episode uncovers a car clamping scam that could leave you £50 out-of-pocket. The hustlers show us how simple it is to sell non-organic produce as organic with a marked up price, and Paul shows us how easy it is to con the public out of their cash in an origami scam that leaves you with a worthless £10 note.
[edit] Episode 10
Alex and Paul set up a market stall that sells fake showbiz memorabilia and dodgy autographs, while Jess sells non-existent bus tour vouchers to unsuspecting tourists. Plus, three ways you could be short-changed after buying something.
[edit] Quote
- At the end of each show: "If it sounds too good to be true... it probably is"
[edit] Criticism
The show has been criticized for unintentionally giving potential hustlers ideas for cons, which they can practice on members of the public who may not have seen the show.
The show states that "all the people in this show have been hustled for real." However, critics say that all the cons seem to work too "flawlessly". Consider that the footage is shown in different angles with an exceptional view, and the images rarely come from small hidden cameras. Some people who were the 'marks' reported that they were told what to do, they saw cameras were around them and they did several takes before the shot was so perfect.
Adding extra weight to the above - there's a girl in a red jacket who is targeted as the mark in the Vintage RIP shop hustle. However, this girl appears as an extra in several TV shows and is also a regular on Russel Brand's Big Brother programme.
There are several continuity errors where passers by disappear from the frame indicating more than one take.
