Episode 9 The Real Hustle

This is The Real Hustle: New Recruits.

The Hustlers are back. This time, they've brought in two new faces

to help them with their scams.

New recruits Polly and Jazz

join original hustlers Paul, Jess and Alex.

Working together as a team, they'll carry out scams that are more cunning and devious than ever.

On tonight's show:

Jazz is a little lost...

Are you expecting a parcel today?

Polly shakes on it...

Deal, deal, deal, deal.

And Justin and Colin pick someone's lucky number.

The big cheese in the room is...

It's ticket number three!

The Hustlers have invited celebrity friends to help them with their scams.

They'll be thrown in at the deep end.

No training and no practice.

Just straight in.

Today's celebrity guest hustlers

are TV presenters and interior decorating experts Justin and Colin.

It's a beautiful part of Scotland, an absolutely glorious house which I want to own.

You feel instantly to the manor born, don't you?

There should be an intelligent ruse behind all this.

The nice thing about the programme is it's not nasty.

That's why we want to be involved. It's very clever.

What's exciting about this is that theoretically, we can help people that are watching

avoid this type of scam, whatever it is.

I like your way of looking at it.

We're not scamming, it's a public service we're doing today!

They're about to find out what's expected of them today

from the lord of the manor.

-Hello, welcome.

-Good to see you.

-How are you? Step in.

-Do you like what I've done with my place?

-Looks great!

-Maybe one head too many!

-One too many?

-You're looking very lord of the manor!

-Well, that's why we're here.

-Today, the three of us will be country gentlemen.

-Good stuff.

We are going to put someone in a tricky situation

and we'll offer them something difficult to refuse!

Let me show you around and we'll start scamming! Come on.

It's up the grand stairway to find out more in...

There's a gathering happening at this country estate today.

This is the mark.

She's been invited to attend, but hasn't been told what the occasion is.

Hi. Are you here for the meeting?

-Which one's Kennedy?

-Me.

-Do you want to just follow me?

Jess takes the mark and her friend upstairs for the meeting.

Take a seat just here.

Everyone's here now, so thanks for your patience.

I'll go and get Ian and he can explain everything for you. OK?

Here comes Alex to explain to the gathered crowd what's going on.

Ah, there's everybody.

Hello. Welcome. Thank you for coming.

Before we start, can I ask anybody whose name is Kennedy to put their hand up.

As you can see, many of you have the last name of Kennedy. There's a particular reason for that.

One of you may be able to help me here in this room.

All I need is a bit more detail about yourselves.

I don't want to get something for nothing, so we've laid on this raffle here.

So everybody will leave with something.

Thank you for giving up your time. Have a nice, enjoyable afternoon.

I'll leave you with that.

So the lord of the manor is looking for someone with a specific personal background.

Everyone is asked to fill in a form with their family history.

Fill in as much detail as you can. That's brilliant.

It's an unusual situation, but they'll all get a nice reward from Alex's raffle.

-OK?

-Thank you very much.

-You're welcome.

But Jess doesn't put the mark's ticket in the bowl. She hides it underneath.

For our raffle draw, we've got our neighbours who'll be hosting it for us today.

Come on through!

This is where Justin and Colin come in.

-Good luck, everyone!

-There's some great prizes there.

They pose as neighbouring landowners who've agreed to host the raffle.

A big Sony flat-screen television there.

Jess needs to pass Justin the raffle bowl,

without anyone seeing the concealed stub underneath.

Colin's job is to distract the audience at the crucial moment.

-Ready to start the prize raffle?

-Ready.

-And there it goes.

-Who's the lucky winner?

You look a bit lucky to me, as well!

Now for the raffle. The prizes are pretty impressive.

The first prize is the two-week five-star holiday in Barbados.

Nine. Zero-nine.

Congratulations!

The second prize is a 200cc scooter plus accessories.

-Fantastic.

-You look like an Italian panna nero.

Number two.

But the next prize doesn't sound quite as exciting.

The third prize is the cheese-making weekend for two in Shropshire.

That might not sound exciting, but it's a real procedure to make good cheese.

It's now down to the guest hustlers to make sure the mark wins the booby prize.

Justin slips out the concealed stub from under the vase and hands it to Colin.

The big cheese in the room is...

ticket number three.

-We have a winner.

-Well done!

-Shropshire is lovely.

-It's gorgeous.

-Do you like cheese?

-The raffle continues.

-A two-week, five-star holiday to New York.

Actually, everyone else in this room is in on the scam.

Ticket number four.

The mark has intentionally been given the worst prize to make her feel cheesed off!

That way, she'll really appreciate the offer Alex is about to make her.

-Thank you so much.

-Our pleasure.

-Thank you.

Thank you. Now, is there a Clare Kennedy here? Who's Clare?

Clare.

Hi. I was wondering if we could have a word next door.

You might be able to help us out here.

The rest of you, enjoy your afternoon. I'll leave you with these three mad people.

I'll be sure to come and mingle a bit later on.

Thank you for your time.

-Come with me.

-You guys must be really high.

The mark follows him through into another room, where she meets Paul, playing Alex's lawyer.

Thank you so much for giving up your time. I hope I've reciprocated that with a cheese tour.

But I bought this property and land about a year ago.

I've bought this whole thing and I'm developing it.

I'm pouring money into the infrastructure.

It happens that you, because of your background, can help me with this.

So Alex is currently the owner of this house and land.

But he wants the title of baron which goes with it.

I'll be down if I don't get everything which comes with it

which is the title as well.

So this means a lot to me.

In order to claim his title of baron, Alex needs the mark's help.

His lawyer Paul explains.

He requires signatories, people who have titles,

to agree to his application to a title.

Because of that, we just need someone who can sign a form on his behalf

and approve his application.

It's like trying to get a membership to a club. It's as simple as that.

And you have to be seconded sometimes by people who already hold a membership.

It's really as simple as that.

What we need someone to do is to essentially take on a title that exists

on the land near here.

So the hustlers need the signature of a lord. Or lady.

And because of her family name, this mark could claim the title of Lady of Tuke, the local area.

Our consultants told us you have a 90 per cent chance.

Everyone else is 40%, 50%.

As long as we can track you back far enough,

we can use you as a signatory. We need someone who can claim that title,

sign a piece of paper and claim a consultant fee.

That's all we ask you to do.

He'll pay you £10,000.

I will.

She just needs to become a lady, sign Alex's baron application

and earn a whopping £10,000 as a fee.

But first, she needs to own a piece of local land. That's where Justin and Colin come in.

The wonderful Clare. Soon to be called Lady Clare!

We own about 180, 184 acres.

We've decided to give away a small portion that doesn't detract from our policies.

-It's a good situation for all of us.

-It's still a valuable piece of land in that it's titled.

I'm going to basically sell you their land

so that land belongs to you.

The minimum fee for the parcel of land is £2,000.

Which you pay to Colin and Justin.

I will then issue you with the title and a certificate

and at that moment you will sign something for him

and he will then pay you.

She'll have to fork out two grand. But she'll get ten in return.

And she'll be a proper blue-blooded lady.

We need people to act quickly.

So if you're willing to act quickly, there's a cheque for £10,000 with your name on it.

Shall we give you a bit of time to think about it?

The mark isn't sure, so Paul, Justin and Colin offer to take her to look at the land.

Use one of our cars outside.

OK. Let me get the keys from your room.

It's a ten-minute drive up a winding road.

And it's not the most attractive plot of land in the area.

It's really inaccessible. You must understand you're not buying development land.

It's literally just going to be a piece of you in Scotland.

But that's it.

What I have to do is, I have to ask you

would you be willing to consider it and complete today?

How do you feel about it?

She's still not convinced. Sensing that the mark is slipping away from them,

Paul offers to sweeten the deal.

What if we paid you cash tonight?

We have to legally witness a transaction.

She'll get her reward in cash tonight.

I want to organise a driver. One of Ian's guys is available.

The mark goes off to think about the offer.

Paul arranges for her to be taken to a nearby bank

just in case she decides to withdraw some money.

-Your ladyship!

-Well done!

When hustlers go out, they don't bring money. They bring prop bets.

The proposition bet only has one rule,

and that's that the hustler always wins.

Polly is out on the town with some new friends

and she knows hustlers never buy their own drinks.

I've got a challenge for you.

It's using these three straws.

The challenge is you have to pick them up

just using this one straw.

You can't do anything to the straw. You can't bend it or change anything about the straw.

-I can't hook it or anything?

-No. You have to keep it straight.

-Right.

-If you can do it, I'll buy you a drink.

-If you can't do it, you have to buy me a drink.

-OK.

Deal, deal, deal, deal?

Yeah?

So there's one straw propping up two joined straws.

To win a drink, Polly's friends need to lift all three of them

using a fourth straw.

It's a tricky one!

-Good luck!

-OK. I'll go for the simple one first.

-Yeah.

Good attempt. Right, that's really good.

-Try again.

-Any ideas?

-You could try like sucking.

You could do!

-Suck it really hard.

-Go on, give it a whirl.

That was pretty good.

-So do you give up?

-I do.

-If I can pick these three straws up with one straw, you'll buy me a drink.

-I will.

OK. I'll show you.

Wheee!

Polly collapses the straws, causing them all to rest on the one she's holding.

Then she just lifts and the whole structure is interlocked.

Now she just needs a drink for all those straws.

Mine's a Martini! Off you go.

Fantastic!

A leafy suburb on a quiet week-day morning.

Could this be Jazz, moonlighting as a courier?

-Are you expecting a parcel today at all?

-No, unless my wife's ordered something.

I've only got a postcode so I have to knock on all the doors.

He's trying to deliver a package.

-Mr Ahmed?

-No.

-How do you spell McCartney?

Is that J-E-A-N?

Unfortunately, he's having trouble reading the address label.

It's not this place. I'll try the other one.

Does anyone else live in the house?

It's one of these. Thank you. Have a nice day.

This is Robbing the Hood.

A little later in the day, Polly and Jess arrive in a taxi.

They look like they're just back from an exotic holiday.

We'll be right back.

The hustlers jump out of the cab and head to a nearby house.

I'll ring the doorbell.

Hi, there. Sorry to disturb you.

We're staying with Kieran. We're just back off holiday. He's not in.

He's meant to pay for our cab for us. We've only got Thai baht on us.

He's told us to knock on a neighbour's door to see if we can borrow some money.

He's back in 20 minutes. We're really stuck and the driver's getting mad!

He does look like the miserable type!

Can you help? It's 30 quid for the taxi and Kieran's back in 20 minutes. He'll come straight round.

So the girls are staying with a friend who was going to pay for their taxi.

But he isn't in.

Will this neighbour help them out of this sticky situation?

-It's Kieran.

-Just round the corner.

-From 116.

I don't know if I've got 30 quid on me. I'll see what I've got.

Thank you.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you.

The mark goes inside to see how much cash she has in the house.

I've only got a fiver. Is that any good to you?

Five pounds. That won't cover much of a taxi ride.

-Maybe.

-A fiver.

We'll try that and see if he'll lay off a little bit.

Let's see what he does.

-The hustlers take what they can get.

-Thank you very much.

-We've got a fiver for you, sir.

-Let's go.

Their next mark is just a quick drive round the corner.

-Go to the next house.

-Next one, Paul!

It may take longer than we thought!

This scam only works because the girls were able to give the name of a real neighbour.

So how exactly did they do that?

It was thanks to Jazz and his phishing expedition this morning.

OK. Let me check.

He just needed the first name of someone living on the street and their house number.

Sorry, mate. I'll try another one.

Once he'd got the information,

he walked round the corner and passed the details on to the other hustlers in the cab.

It's Kieran BLEEP and Jean BLEEP.

His name's Johnnie BLEEP.

Good luck.

It took just a few names from each street

to be able to knock on as many doors in the area as possible.

Who could possibly say no to these damsels in distress?

Sorry to bother you.

He called and said to go round to one of his neighbours.

We owe him 30!

This guy goes to check if he's got any cash in the car.

Could I take the £2 and bring it round later?

Two quid!

That'll barely buy the cabbie a cup of tea!

Thank you, anyway.

Each hit only takes a couple of minutes.

In the morning's hustling, the figures soon add up.

Some of the hustlers' marks are a little more generous.

Hi, sorry to interrupt your day.

We're staying at 109 with Karen, round the corner, and Derek.

We've just come back from Thailand and they were meant to pay for our cab.

Can we borrow it? Is that all right?

Thank you!

30. Sorry. Thank you so much.

The mark actually hands over £40, even though the hustlers only asked for 30!

Now, that's more like it!

It's back to the cab and onwards.

Don't forget the meter's on!

They had their holiday hats on. They were staying with Calum next door.

The taxi's involved, obviously.

I know they were going away from me, but I just trust everybody.

I think they asked for 30, and me being me, gave them 40!

This happened to a friend of ours who knew nothing about it till their neighbour came for their money.

It really illustrates the power of a name

and why you should be careful who you give your name to.

It's simple to protect yourself from this type of scam.

Never give money to anyone who shows up on your doorstep, no matter what story they give you.

Just send them on their way and close the door.

Earlier today, TV presenters Justin and Colin helped persuade a mark

that her background allows her to claim the title of lady.

We've decided to give away a small portion that doesn't detract from our policies.

She would simply need to buy a small plot of land owned by the guest hustlers.

The parcel of land is £2,000.

Her title would allow her to sign a legal document for Alex to claim another title.

Baron of the estate.

For which he's willing to pay her a £10,000 fee.

If you can act quickly, there's a cheque for £10,000 with your name on it.

In...

The hustlers have provided a car to take the mark and her friend

to the local town centre. Just in case she needs to go to the bank!

She returns to the estate. But has she decided to go for the deal?

And more importantly, does she have the money?

How are you?

-Have a seat again.

-Have a seat.

They reassemble in Alex's drawing room.

The mark still doesn't look too sure.

-The good news is you have the cash here.

-Yes, I do.

-Sorry to drop that on you.

-That's fine. We keep enough cash to go round.

Time for the big question.

So are you happy to complete?

Great. OK. So this is what we're going to do.

-First, we need to count your money, unfortunately.

-I have an envelope somewhere.

And there's the money.

The mark hands over £2,000 in cash for a tiny piece of land.

I'll do this up here.

Do I take my commission out of this?

Paul counts out the cash. You can never be too careful.

It all goes into an envelope.

Which Alex then hands to Justin. After all, it's his land.

Stick that in your pocket.

Colin signs over the property deeds.

Job done. Justin and Colin are about to head off

and leave the mark to finish off her deal with Alex.

But Justin is worried about carrying around all that money.

I don't fancy walking into Stirling with all this.

-I'll put it in the safe.

-I'll give you this back, if that's OK.

Alex takes the envelope back.

If that's OK with you.

-Are you going to leave that?

-I don't fancy carrying that around all day.

Leave it. I'll put it in the safe.

ALL TALK AT ONCE

But now for the important business of the day.

Put your name here. Sign here. Then print again right there.

This lady has just become the Lady of Tuke.

-Do you want us to bring a few more bottles back?

-Bring a case!

I'll bring a couple of bottles.

I'll see these gentlemen off.

-See you shortly. Take care.

-Excellent, Your Ladyship!

-Well done.

You now own this piece of land, which is good.

You are now the Lady of Tuke.

Now that she's entitled to sponsor Alex's own bid for a title,

he keeps up his end of the bargain by paying her the fee.

£10,000. Only he's a little bit short!

OK. I've got to get five more from the safe for you. It's not going anywhere.

Alex goes off to his safe for more money, leaving Paul to countersign the title deed.

Thing is, I don't want to do it with this pen.

Do you have a nice pen, a fountain pen or anything?

Let me run to the office and get one.

Paul goes to get some more appropriate stationery - but he won't be coming back!

This is the getaway!

Everyone else is already on their way out

and into the cars.

Before the mark realises what's happening, the hustlers have gone.

But what about the money that's still lying on the seat?

Here's what the mark didn't see.

Justin wasn't really worried about carrying around the money.

The hustlers made a big show of giving him the envelope of cash

so he could write something on the front of it.

That was because they'd prepared an identical-looking envelope moments earlier.

-Write something on this envelope.

-Money for land?

-Yeah.

The cash went into Justin's pocket.

But it was the duplicate envelope that came back out.

And that's full of worthless newspaper.

So is the mark's ten grand fee. It's rolls of newspaper wrapped in £20 notes.

It's all as phoney as that piece of land,

which she doesn't own, and her title of lady, which was invented by the hustlers.

Before long, the mark realises something isn't right.

And then the penny drops when she's told the place was only hired for the day.

By the time they get outside, the hustlers are nowhere to be seen.

It's been an interesting little journey

to see how easy it would be to take advantage of somebody

and to take somebody's money, to scam them.

That is precisely what we demonstrated.

That's the thing. There are people out there who really do hustle.

There are a number of companies that offer to make you a lord or a lady

by buying a piece of land.

In this case, the offer seems too good to be true.

Not only does the mark receive a title, but are also offered a sum of money for their troubles.

If you're going to enter into a transaction to acquire a piece of land,

use a solicitor, use somebody who'll protect you and look after your rights

and tell you if what you're doing is the right and sensible thing to do.

Don't part with money to help someone who's probably a complete stranger.

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