A team of hustlers - Alexis Conran, Paul Wilson and Jessica-Jane Clement, try out some notorious scams on ‘marks’, filmed with hidden cameras. The aim is to reveal how scams work so that the viewer can avoid being ripped off by the same con.
Episode 1
Feb 9, 2006
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.
Episode 2
Feb 16, 2006
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.
Episode 3
Feb 23, 2006
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.
Episode 4
Mar 2, 2006
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.
Episode 5
Mar 9, 2006
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.
Episode 6
Mar 16, 2006
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.
Episode 7
Mar 23, 2006
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.
Episode 8
Mar 30, 2006
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.
