Scam Exposed: R. Paul Wilson on the Put and Take Trickery
In the world of gambling and street games, the Put & Take scam remains a notorious example of a simple yet ingenious device designed to deceive unsuspecting participants and drain their wallets. This age-old con game, often played with a small spinning top, has been known to make an appearance in various settings, from private poker games to cruise ships, bars, restaurants, and even in the digital surge of Bitcoin.
The Put & Take game, typically resembling a dreidel with varying numbers of sides, appears as a harmless pastime. Each player tosses a dollar into a shared pot, and the top is passed to the first player to spin. If T2 comes up, the player can remove two dollars before passing the top. However, if P2 lands uppermost, the player must add two more dollars to the pot and pass the top to the next player.
In the Put & Take scam, a crooked or weighted top is manipulated so that when spun, it tends to stop predictably on certain outcomes favorable to the scammer. This crooked top gives the scammer an unfair advantage by controlling the result of the spin, fooling others into putting money in with false expectations of fairness.
The scam generally unfolds in a series of steps. A hustler introduces the top into a regular card game, offering it as an additional bet. As the game progresses, the hustler skims money from the pot and proposes playing just with the top once the game is over. A second hustler then enters the scene, playing for "real money" and switching the top to win when spun in the opposite direction. The mark, if he buys the top, is taught to use it and is taken for more money in return.
If TA comes up, the jackpot - take all of the money from the pot - is won. In contrast, PA is a hard hit on the player; they have to add an amount equal to what's already in the pot, doubling the size of the pot. The usual strategy is to win a few games, then play legit for a while, and take more until the scam becomes worthwhile.
The Put & Take Top swindle is an ingenious example of a simple device used to trick a person and make them lose money twice. Though it's unclear if the full scam is being played today, the principles of the Put & Take scam have proven to be adaptable and have found their way into various contexts, reminding us that the spirit of deception remains a constant in the world of gambling and street games.
In the movie The Grifters, a character introduces a cheated spinning top to a group of strangers to start a game, providing a cinematic illustration of this timeless swindle. If you're interested in detailed accounts or historical examples of Put & Take scams with crooked tops, more targeted search or specialist sources on gambling fraud would be required.
In the realm of entertainment, the Put & Take Top scam can be spotted in movies like The Grifters, serving as a stark reminder of the deception that persists in gambling and street games. Unsuspecting readers might stumble upon it in various written content, such as books or blog posts, that discuss folklore related to gambling fraud.
