First 3 cards monte using shell-like rubber caught live on my mobile. Location: Gerrard Street, China Town of London. Time: 06.00pm, Date: 26th Dec 2007. According to the cops, the operator is Romanian and so were the 3 accomplices which I clearly shown on the video (2 guys and 1 lady). 3 shells with only one has white mark which is the money shell if you guess it right after some throwings.Basically this scam involves:1) Luring ( real throw, no cheating, easy guess and accomplices won the pot)2) Execute fake throw (switch the obvious winning shell)3)Fake give away (disguise the white-shell with black-shell by sleight of hand which I am not going to reveal it)4)Hooking (by this moment, most on-looker would be convinced that the black-shell has the white mark and started betting on it. Usually they will bet small, but at this precise moment, operator or accomplices will prompt the sucker to bet every penny he/she's got on their wallet by literally grabbing their cash to place on the table and due to the shock and rush of adrenaline, the critical faculty of the brains would usually shut down and let the scoundrels have their way, and as soon as the bet is placed, the operator would reveal the sucker got their guess wrong. And the whole process wouldn't last more than 10 seconds.5)If no bet was placed, the operator would execute another different sleight of hand to undo his previous fake throw to reveal the obvious outcome which will manage to convince any skeptical on-looker their guess could have won them big bucks. Then it would start the loop of luring again.6) If any smart-ass guess it correctly and reveal the correct shell, don't expect the operator to pay out because the "muscle man" would step in and man-handle the smart-ass or the operator would twist the rules and refuse to pay out.Usually scam won't last more than 15 minutes. But unfortunately this chap was nicked 1 minute after I shot this video by two plain-cloth cops on the charge of unlicenced gaming not by "scam or deceiving public". As far as them cops are concerned, they reckoned the scam was "fair" due to the lack of their knowledge of the real operation of the scam which i am explaining now. In fact they were only bothered by the fact that usually this street gaming also coupled with pick pockets of the crowd. Anyway, i think this Romanian chap would be let out in no time anyway due to leniency of the charge in the UK and his EU nationality (no deportation). Anyway I was quite excited to see this scam live again on the street as I used to perform this in my magic show.P/s Please don't assume the scam would only work on stupid or gullible or greedy people because this scam would work on just about any person especially someone who is educated, self-believed and confident. This is one of the oldest scam in the world (~500 years old) and it would continue to work in any part of the world. It's especially common in the crowded places so the next time you see something like in on the street, don't even bothered to go near because your pockets could be gone like a wind before you know it.

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