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Scamming Door To Door
I was asked in a radio interview last week what the best way for the public to protect themselves against door to door scammers was. My...
Episode 6 – Kids Today with James Munton
Identity theft speaker James Munton has the unenviable task of teach high school students how to stay safe online. In this episode James...
Episode 5 – Certifiable Genius with Pop Haydn
Magician Pop Haydn is a time traveller, confidence man and snake oil huckster. In this episode Nicholas meets his idol, gets schooled in...
Episode 4 – Pseu-Pseu-Pseudonym with Peter C. Hayward
Erotica author Peter C Hayward writes under four different non de plumes. In this episode Peter explains why he uses fake names and...
Episode 3 – Belly Talkers (with Sarah Jones)
Ventriloquist Sarah Jones knows how to speak without moving her lips. She also knows how to speak about the dark history of throwing your...
Episode 2 – Every Child Wins A Prize (with Glenn Hester)
Police officer Glenn Hester spent 28 years shutting down crooked carnival games. In this episode Glenn teaches Nicholas how to cheat at...
Episode 1 – Lose Yourself (with Lawrence Leung)
In his television series Unbelievable comedian Lawrence Leung set himself the goal of attempting to con a skeptic into believing that...
The day the numbers racket didn’t add up
In the opening act of George C. Hill’s needlessly complex but extraordinarily fun 1973 caper, The Sting, the two heroes are comparing...
“£5 to get in, £500 to get out.” Clip Joints and hate mail
I got some hate mail today. It happens sometimes. Over the years I’ve raised the heckles of carnies, card cheats, Nigerian 419 swindlers...
Playing Fast and Loose
“Play fast and loose with faith? so jest with heaven, Make such unconstant children of ourselves.” -King John (Act 3, Scene 1) In 1595,...
Frank Demara and the power vacuum
On a cold November morning in 1956 a pair of police officers travelled to the small Maine community of North Haven Island to arrest the...
The Wolf In The Breast and Other Made Up Words.
I went to university with Jacob. While I got the hell out after three years with a degree in sociology under my belt, he stayed on,...
Swindling Yourself on to a Melbourne Map
I know a man named Steve (not his real name) who works as a documentary filmmaker (not his real job) in the Melbourne suburb of...
7 Ways to Use Nail Polish Remover to Commit Fraud
Nail polish remover, like Gaffa Tape, WB 40 and the first smile of a newborn unicorn, is magic. The principle ingredient, acetone, will...
Four ways shopkeepers get short change
ACT I: A corner store in small town America. The con artist enters with the easy nonchelence of a man who probably knows how to spell...
Mastering the Ancient Art of the Bar Bet
“If you ever come across a man that has says he can make a jack jump out of a sealed deck of cards and spit cider in your ear, do not bet...
A Call From A Tele-scammer
“Hello, this is Brian from FedEx Australia. Is this Nicholas?” Nice try, mate, I think. If you’re really from a local courier company,...
Ten Swindles You <strike>Won’t</strike> Shouldn’t Believe
Hey, rube! Yeah, you: the slack-jawed yokel with the fistful of dollars and the gullible smile. Think you can’t be scammed? Think again....
Here you'll find resources for teaching and promoting critical thinking, scam protection, and deception education. Many are linked to his school incursions while others are just for fun.
Make sure you subscribe to Nicholas's podcast. Scamapalooza. He interviews psychologists, authors, and researchers about why people are so easy to fool.
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