Episode 4 The Real Hustle

This is the most successful scam show of all time,

a hit in 45 countries around the world.

The Real Hustlers have stolen cars...

It's perfectly safe there.

..burgled houses...

..picked...

..switched and ditched.

A tenner the lot!

They've carried out close to 500 scams and stolen over £1 million.

Now they're back for an 11th series.

With new recruits -

Their job? To expose the tricks of the criminals' trade

so that you don't get scammed.

On tonight's show,

guest hustler Laura Hamilton claims she's innocent.

That's my wages. That's all the money I've got. You can search me.

Polly proves she's tops when it comes to winning prop bets.

And that goes in the middle!

And this guy has a very expensive lunch.

-It's been scammed.

-BLEEP's

-sake!

The hustlers have invited celebrity friends

to see if they can cut it as con artists,

but they'll have no clue what the scam is about

and there are no dress rehearsals, so this is sink or swim.

Tonight's guest hustler is TV presenter

and Dancing On Ice finalist Laura Hamilton.

I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen today.

Currently in a park near a pond. It's pretty wet and windy.

I'm completely in an unknown world here. It's a little bit daunting.

I'm going to give it my best shot to be a good hustler.

Watching the programme, I often feel really sorry for the mark

and think, "That's so cruel. How can the hustlers do that to them?"

The fact I'm going to be doing that myself,

I'm going to feel really evil.

-Hello.

-Hi.

-Good weather for it.

I thought I'd bring the rain with me.

-How are you? I'm Alex.

-Laura. Nice to meet you.

-Are you ready for today?

-I feel really naughty and nervous.

-Meeting in a park?

-Yeah!

-What's going to happen?

-I'll tell you.

Today you're playing two parts. You're going to help somebody

-and then you're going to become a victim.

-OK...

-After you become a victim we're going to make a lot of money.

-Right.

-Come with me.

-Any more?

-I'll tell you the rest! Let's go.

Let's get out of this rain.

So to help the hustlers scam that cash,

Laura's going to have her work cut out in The Honey Trap.

Today the hustlers are operating in an upmarket pub just outside a city centre.

They park up outside a local hotel and get into position.

Hot on the heels of the hustlers are these guys.

They're here to buy a second-hand laptop from a stranger.

This guy's holding the cash and that makes him the mark.

All right, guys? How are you doing?

The stranger in the bar just happens to be Jazz.

You've come to get the laptop, right?

I dropped it this morning and it's given a crack to the screen

so I don't want to give you that because it's broken.

I don't think I can get it to you today.

So the laptop's not available yet. Shame.

What's the mark going to do with the rest of his day and all that money in his pocket?

-Sorry, guys.

-Good luck.

-Cheers, guys.

The mark leaves the bar and walks straight into a bit of a scene.

JESS SOBS

-Sorry, can you help me, please? Sorry. I'm having such a

-BLEEP

-day.

Sorry. Can you help me with my bag?

It's Jess playing the damsel in distress

and she clearly needs a helping hand.

Here comes someone else to the rescue. It's Laura.

Are you OK?

Posing as a staff member of the adjoining hotel,

it's her job to make sure the guys accompany Jess back into the building.

Come inside. Bring her inside. Come on inside.

Job done.

There's a quiet room if you go in there.

Jess keeps up the waterworks

and the boys follow Laura into a quiet function room.

-SOBS:.

-I'm really sorry.

-Everything started falling out my bag.

-Are you OK?

-I've just had a shit day. Sorry, have you got everything?

-Yeah.

-Do you want a glass of water?

-Yes, please.

What else was in there? Was it just these two?

-Can you just help me check that's everything in my bag?

-Yeah.

The mark has no real reason to hang about,

but being a gent he wants to make sure poor Jess is OK.

JESS SOBS

-What happened?

-I'm really sorry.

Before he can leave, here come Alex and Paul.

They're about to make this situation a whole lot more complicated.

She's in here.

Suzie, are you all right?

What are you two doing here?

-Who are these guys?

-This is my boss.

-What are you two doing here?

-What are YOU doing here, Suzie?

These guys obviously mean business.

-What's your name?

-Jane. I'm going to have to go back to work.

-Have a seat.

The mark is trying to work out what he's got himself into.

-What's your name?

-James.

-Stephen.

What's wrong? Why are you upset?

Alex and Paul are playing Jess's bosses.

Sounds like they're not very happy about something.

-Is that my money in that bag?

-I was just taking it to the bank.

-Can I count the money in the bag, please, Suzie?

-Yeah.

-Why are you trying to hide the money?

-I'm not.

We just basically met her outside and picked up...

The mark doesn't know anything about any money.

-Guys, I've got to go back to work.

-Just sit there for a second.

Alex makes sure Laura stays put

as he counts out the money from Jess's bag.

Please, what is going on? I haven't got a clue what's going on.

Nor does he.

We are £1,570 short.

OK? Can I look through the rest of your bag, please?

There's over £1,500 missing from the bar's moneybag

and Alex suspects Jess's light fingers.

-I don't understand what's going on!

-Calm down.

Suzie, I need to look in your bag, sweetheart.

If the rest of the money is here then something's not right.

-It's not.

-Take her over there and give her a handkerchief or something.

-Come with me.

-I don't understand.

-Calm down.

-I don't understand what's happening.

Alex takes Jess away to find out where the missing money is.

They picked everything up out of my bag and everything was in there.

-Wait a minute.

-What are you saying? The rest of the money is where?

-You picked everything up.

-That's news to him.

-I dropped everything.

-So they've got it?

-So they've got your money?

-Did you pick everything up?

-We didn't...

£1,570 short.

-Hold on.

-I've never seen that girl in my life.

-Have a seat.

Where do you live?

-You don't know her at all?

-I've never seen her in my life.

I'm on my break and I've got to get back to work.

What's that money there?

It suddenly dawns on the mark that he does have a big wad of cash in his pocket,

the £1,500 for the laptop. He decides to come clean.

-Have you got money on you?

-Yeah.

-Have a word with my colleague?

On that bombshell, Alex takes Laura out of the way,

leaving Paul to ramp up the pressure.

How much money have you got on you?

So you just happen to be here?

-That's a lot of money.

-I know.

-You just happen to be...

Yes! That just happens to be there.

It all sounds a bit too much of a coincidence.

I know you say you don't have it but we need to get to the bottom of this.

Right now hotel worker Laura is being given

a going-over by Alex in the hallway.

That's 1,500.

And this guy's got an awful lot of explaining to do about that cash.

That's exactly the amount of money that is missing.

That's a hell of a coincidence.

He's left wondering what on earth he's got himself into.

And how he will ever get back out.

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

The proposition bet has only one rule,

and that's that the hustler always wins.

Polly is out on the town

but tonight she isn't going to buy a single drink.

Instead she's going to make her friends buy them for her.

Who wants to bet with me? Yeah?

OK, if you lose, you have to buy everyone a round of drinks.

If you win, I'll buy everyone one. Here I have three bottle tops.

The bet is I want you to get this one in the middle of these two, OK?

There's a couple of rules.

This one you can move, touch, do whatever you like with that one.

This one you can't move, it has to stay there.

-And this one you can't touch. Do you want to give it a whirl?

-Sure.

So this top needs to go in here

but they can't move this one and they can't touch that one. Eh?

-I can move this one?

-Yes, you can touch or move it.

Get it in between.

That's good but it has to be in between like this.

-Actually in between?

-Yeah.

That's quite good but this one moved.

-I give up.

-Give up?

-Yeah.

So three, I can move and touch this one.

This one I can touch but not move. That one I can't touch.

And that goes in the middle!

So Polly holds this one, knocks it with that one,

and moves the bottle top into the resulting gap.

Simple, sort of.

-This time I will have a glass of wine.

-Brilliant.

-Lovely.

It's a soggy weekday morning

and this couple is sheltering from the rain in a cosy caff.

The guy's got his mobile phone on the table

and although there isn't a hustler in sight,

that makes him the mark

in SMS SOS.

The mark has just received a text from a mate called Jamie.

Jamie has filled up with petrol and left his wallet at home.

Looks like he needs some help.

Jamie?

Jamie? He must not be able to hear me.

He tries to ring him.

No answer but another text.

And another.

-Have you got cash on you?

-No.

They're going to send someone over to the cafe.

I don't have any cash on me.

Check my wallet. I think I've got 12 quid in cash.

Oh, dear.

I've only got 12 quid on me.

So his mate needs some cash to pay for a petrol bill

but the mark hasn't got enough on him.

It's out into the rain to find a cashpoint

and back into the dry as quickly as possible.

-Did you get the money?

-Yes.

Just in time for someone else's entrance.

It's a petrol station attendant sent to pick up the cash

and he looks a lot like Jazz.

-It's to pay for the petrol for...

-Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, perfect.

Let me just get the receipt for you. It's for 50. There you go, mate.

50 quid for his mate's tank of petrol.

Perfect. Nice one. Thanks, pal.

Jazz heads off with the cash and the mark feels

like he's done a good deed.

But somehow, this guy having a quiet lunch

has really been scammed out of his money.

Earlier that morning,

a clumsy customer knocked his mobile phone onto the floor.

It was Alex, who'd been sitting right behind the mark at the bar.

He made sure that the phone smashed right under the couple's table,

with pieces flying everywhere.

I'm looking for another piece that might have...

-Sorry. A piece of phone.

-Oh, OK.

No, I think that'll be the end of that one.

You won't be making calls on that again.

Sorry, I couldn't ask you for a quick favour?

Could I borrow your phone just to let somebody know that they can't contact me?

It's just another mobile. Is that all right?

-Absolutely.

-Thank you. Sorry.

-No problem.

-Thanks.

The mark then let Alex use his phone to let a colleague know

where to find him.

-Do you mind if I send a quick text message? Thank you.

-No problem at all.

Unable to reach him, Alex then asked to send a text instead.

I think I've done it. I've deleted it so you don't have to have any...

-Oh, don't worry.

-Thank you.

-OK.

-Thanks.

Alex then returned the mark's phone

and headed upstairs to wait for his business partner.

So what really happened?

I couldn't ask you...? To borrow your phone...?

When he got hold of the mark's phone,

he actually called his own perfectly intact phone in his pocket

in order to find out the mark's phone number...

Do you mind if I send a quick text message?

-They might be on the train. Thank you.

-No problem at all.

..and instead of texting, he looked up a recent call,

in this case, the mark's mate, Jamie.

Then he deleted Jamie's phone number and replaced it with his own phone number.

-I think I have done it. I've deleted it, so you don't have to have any...

-Oh, don't worry.

From this point on, he could sit upstairs texting the mark

from his phone, and it would look as if it was coming from Jamie.

And the mark's fate was sealed.

Once Jazz had collected the money, Alex made his exit.

Slowly, the light bulb comes on in the mark's head.

WOMAN SPEAKS, INDISTINCT

..15, 20 minutes.

What's Jamie's number?

HE SIGHS

I've just been scammed. The guy that picked my phone up,

he changed Jamie's number. That's why he didn't pick the phone up.

BLEEP!

The guy's unlucky, dropped his phone, it's smashed.

He's in trouble, needs to borrow someone's phone.

I didn't think anything of it at all.

I saw him dart out of the cafe just after,

and that was when I thought something suspicious happened.

I got my girlfriend to check her phone number

and compare it with the number in my phone. It was different,

and that was when I thought, "Oh, something's not right here."

You hear about it but it's not something

you think will happen to yourself,

so I was quite shocked and angry and upset about it.

This is a devious little scam.

The mark believes he's helping other people out -

first Alex with his broken phone and then his mate,

who's stuck at a petrol station.

Never give anyone access to your Smartphone.

If there is an emergency, dial the number yourself

and watch as they use the phone.

More importantly, if someone contacts you looking for money

or assistance, and you can't speak to them directly,

there's a good chance someone is hiding behind their identity.

We store our lives on our smart phones. They're not just telephones.

We very often have banking details,

personal information on there that's really important,

and you need to protect that

and look after that information and keep it close to you.

The best advice is never to let a stranger

have access to your phone in that way.

Dial a number for them by all means

but don't hand over control of your life to a stranger.

Are you OK?

Earlier today, TV presenter Laura Hamilton helped Jess

put this mark in a very sticky situation.

-SOBBING:

-I don't understand what's going on...

-Suzie, I need to look at your bag, sweetheart.

Jess stands accused of stealing bar takings from bosses Alex and Paul

and has pointed the finger at the mark.

-Where's the money?

-I don't know.

Though he's totally innocent,

he's actually carrying a very incriminating £1,500.

-That's a lot of money.

-I know.

And he thinks he's in deep, deep trouble

in The Honey Trap, part two.

-Just have a seat for me, will you?

-Laura comes back into the room.

Give me a second, will you?

-This is Paul's cue to leave.

-Suzie, please just stay there.

It's Laura's big moment.

Guys, look, I don't know what's going on but whatever they say,

just do, because I'm, like...

SHE SIGHS

Yeah, I don't think we want to kind of mess with them. I'm just like...

Right now, Laura is alone with the mark and his mate.

She's been sent in to convince him that the hustlers mean business.

And the mark isn't arguing.

All right. I need to count this.

Yeah, that's fine.

-I'm sorry to...

-Here.

-No, it's fine...

-..but this money does not belong to Suzie. It belongs to...

-Yeah, yeah.

The guys return and Alex makes a big show

of counting the mark's cash.

He's convinced it's the cash that Jess has stolen from them.

The mark can't believe what's happening.

That's 1,500. Plus the 70 from you. That's 1,570.

That's exactly the amount of money that is missing.

-It's a hell of a coincidence, isn't it?

-I know it is...

How are they going to resolve this terrible situation?

Boys, I've got to call the police, no matter what happens here.

Yeah, that is fine. That is absolutely fine.

All right. Let me, um...

Have a word with her for me, will you?

-Do you want to tell me now where the money is?

-I told you,

that's it! I haven't got it in my bag! That'll be it, there.

I haven't got it. Look. That'll be it.

-We're missing a lot of money.

-Yeah, but I dropped everything.

They probably just picked it up.

Jess is still claiming that money came from her handbag.

As you've got all this money, I've got to check it - understand?

No, that makes sense.

Looking more nervous by the second, the mark has no choice but to agree

to allow Paul to check the cash.

Just tell me honestly, you did not get this money from her?

100%. That is my wages.

Laura's protesting her innocence too.

-Can you take a photograph of this?

-Yeah.

-I'll take a photo of some of these serial numbers.

-Yeah.

-We've got all the serial numbers back at the office.

There is a way to sort this out.

Alex is going to check the serial numbers of the mark's notes

against ones they've photographed back at the office.

As they already suspected Jess of stealing,

it was a trap they set for her.

Right, keep all the money together just now, if you don't mind.

All the cash - Jess's, Laura's and the mark's, goes into the same bag.

So, what I'll do is...

Why don't you come with me? You stay with the money.

OK? It'll take about ten minutes, and then we'll come back and sort this out.

How does that sound?

-All right.

-So the mark comes to the bar

and Laura watches the cash.

In fact...

-What does she have - 70?

-70.

-All right, why don't YOU come with us?

This is your money. You stay with your money.

No - change of plan. The mark had the most cash,

so it's only fair he stays with the blue money bag.

I didn't take it. They've probably got... That's it on the table there!

As Laura and the other hustlers leave,

Paul has a few reassuring words for the mark.

-Listen...

-Yeah.

-She's done this before.

-She's dropped people right in it.

-Yeah, yeah.

-OK?

Thing is, there's nobody to back it up.

-Yeah, yeah, yeah.

-But we've taken a record of everything she took out.

She went nowhere near the bank and we saw her drop it off.

-Promise me you'll be here in ten minutes.

-Yeah!

All right, we'll be right back.

I want your word on it.

Paul makes the mark shake on it.

The mark breathes a sigh of relief.

Hopefully, this whole mess will be sorted out soon,

and after all, he's been left looking after all the cash.

The mark waits...

..and waits...

..and waits.

There's no sign of the hustlers returning, and the mark

is starting to tear his hair out.

But he's still too scared to touch the money bag.

A full hour of waiting later, the mark has had enough,

and he has a look inside the money bag.

There's the envelope, but it contains precisely £0 sterling.

No.

-How did this happen?

-Here's what he didn't see.

Earlier today, Jazz scouted the area for the laptop deal.

As well as a bar, he wanted a quiet room nearby, just like this one.

He then stashed a blue money bag on the table.

Later on, when Alex counted the mark's cash,

it went into an identical blue bag.

Whilst the mark was stressing out, Alex switched one blue bag

for the other, concealing the one with the cash inside the newspaper.

Why don't you come with me? You stay with the money.

Suzie, come on, in the car.

The hustlers walked out with all the mark's money...

I want your word on it.

..leaving him looking after nothing but a load of worthless newspaper.

But by this time, the hustlers were long gone, along with his £1,500.

Finally, computer salesman Jazz was picked up just around the corner

and the getaway was complete.

I was scared. I thought, "How will anyone believe me about the money?"

I was terrified. I was like, "I'll co-operate fully with these guys,"

and I didn't want to leave, because I thought,

"I'm not having these people after me," and stuff like that.

I think you need to be careful and check your money

and stuff like that.

When the cash was being counted on the table,

I kept looking over at the guys and I could see they were really scared.

My heart was really racing and I was pretty scared, too.

I just felt like I was totally in the situation

and really felt for them. I really think they thought if they don't

give the money over, something was going to happen to them.

I think people that actually do this for work in the real world

quite clearly have no morals.

I mean, the boys were genuinely feeling for Jess.

They wanted to help her, comfort her, pick her bits and pieces up,

and yet... You know, when someone's good-natured

and you play on that... It's a pretty nasty thing to do.

Please don't let this scam put you off helping someone in distress.

There's nothing wrong with a good deed,

but when you're suddenly faced with a demand for cash,

then you should know that all is not as it seems.

If anyone tries to pressure you into handing over your money,

you have the right to walk away or call the police for assistance.

Consider that the entire situation

may have been orchestrated just to separate you from your cash.

The best advice is call the police. You can't know what's going on

in this argument - you can't get beneath the surface.

Let the professionals deal with it.

If you want to know more about how this show is made, go to...

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd