ABSTRACT
In the 1800s, a famous magician and showman, P. T. Barnum, wrote a book about scams, called The Humbugs of the World. In it, he talks about frauds in existence at that time: fake lotteries, psychic and clairvoyant scams, miracle cures and financial scams. All of these frauds are still in operation today, cleverly adapted to fit current news and events to appear new, which suggests they are here to stay. Some frauds are also evolving and becoming more frequent or sophisticated, such as mortgage and identity frauds, which now frequently use synthetic identities to make detection harder. This chapter covers some common and enduring scams and touches on whom they target, how they persuade and how they may vary in narrative.
