Episode 7 The Real Hustle

'This is the most successful scam show ever -

'a hit in 45 countries around the world.'

'The Real Hustlers have stolen cars,...

It's safe there.

'..burgled houses,...

'..picked,...

'..switched...

'..and ditched.'

A tenner for the lot.

'They've carried out close to 500 scams

'and stolen over £1 million.'

'And 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 -

'Hollyoaks star Marcus Patrick digs being a guest Hustler.'

It's a box.

Oh, my God!

'Alex does some paperwork to win some drinks.'

You've got to balance this piece of newspaper

on one hand.

'And Jess and Alex leave this guy

'speechless and penniless.'

'The Hustlers have invited celebrity friends

'to try out as con artists.'

'They won't know what the scam is about and there are no rehearsals.'

'So this is sink or swim.'

'Today's guest Hustler is Hollyoaks star

'and 71 Degrees North champion actor Marcus Patrick.'

When you're acting, there's usually other people around, also acting.

Some of the stuff I see on the show,

it beggars belief that it goes on.

I want to find out what it is so I can relax

and think about what I'm doing. So please tell me!

'To put him out of his misery, Marcus goes to a garden centre

'for his Hustle briefing.'

Morning. Welcome to the Real Hustle garden.

We stole all of this, naturally.

-Nice and spacious.

-Today we're going to take part

in a bit of piracy. You like pirates?

-Love 'em.

-And what do pirates like?

-Treasure.

-And what do they do with treasure?

-They...

-Bury it.

-They bury it, of course!

Usually with a map. This is an old scam we're pulling today.

Real old-school stuff. One of the main principles

is that you will have to do

-a little bit of forced labour.

-Meaning?

-Meaning...

-Ohh...

-Was this in the contract?

-This actually was.

-Check the small print.

-OK.

-You'll need that.

-Come on, I'll show you the place.

-We're off.

'So Marcus is going to have to dig deep

'to convince the mark in... The Buried Treasure.'

'A large house on a suburban road.'

'Some workmen pull up outside and go about their business.'

'It's Paul, Jazz and Marcus,

'suited and booted to do a bit of digging.'

There we go.

'They've told the house owner they're investigating water leaks,

'but shouldn't need to bother them

'unless there's a problem.'

-Do you wanna start round the edge first?

-Yeah, start round the edge.

'Marcus's first role is to be in charge

'of the metal detector.'

-DETECTOR BUZZES

-Do that bit again.

'And he's already got a reading.'

-What's that? Stop.

-What have you got?

Oh.

-Every time round here.

-Don't do anything

until I've spoken to the owner, please.

'They can't just dig up the lawn without letting the owner know,

'so Paul goes to get permission.'

Sorry to trouble you...

'This lady is the owner, making her the mark.'

You do have something in your lawn,

but not where the pipe should be.

-Have you got anything under there?

-No. SHE LAUGHS

It's quite a dense object.

Erm...

-We probably should have a look. Do you mind...

-No.

'The metal detecting has shown that there's an object under the lawn.'

'But it's the wrong shape

'for a pipe.'

-Do you mind if they...

-No.

-All right, take the top off and go down.

It can't be a pipe, it's too wide.

-Are you sure?

-Yeah.

The pipe's supposed to run

through the back here. There might be an old tributary.

Do you want to see what this is? If it's a pound coin,

I'd be surprised, it's too big.

'Paul leads her downstairs

'to investigate.'

If it's not a pipe, just leave it.

Yeah, I can definitely feel something there.

I cut it in a nice square

so I can just fill it back up for you.

Yeah, it's a box.

Oh, my God! It's exciting!

It's not always like this!

Watch it's not a bomb or anything crazy.

THEY LAUGH

-Very good point.

-I'm not being daft,

they found an old World War II bomb...

-'That's definitely no water pipe.'

-It's like a deposit box.

-My God!

Oh, here you go.

SHE GASPS

'The Hustlers have discovered a rusty old box.'

This has been wet for a long time. Would you hold onto that?

Yeah, sure.

'The mark's intrigued and wants to examine the contents.'

That's very wet.

-Wow, what is that?

-What is that?

Is it a picture?

No, it's a letter.

It's quite incredible. Oh, it's somebody's old medal!

-Oh, wow!

-Let's touch it very, very carefully,

-you can see the water's...

-Don't touch it, then.

Oh, my God, that's so gorgeous.

-Let me take this...

-Carefully.

-Let me put this in there.

-That's crazy.

Fill that back in and give me a minute.

'Paul heads to the back of the garden to get a closer look.'

Let's have a look.

-This is coming apart.

-Very fragile.

Wow, that's quite emotional. That's somebody's letter - "Lewis Saul,

"Princes Street, Edinburgh."

Oh, it's unbelievable. What a gorgeous find.

-What's that?

-Oh, wow,

it's a wee map for hidden treasure.

'The box also contains a map of the mark's garden,

'showing the lawn and trees with pointers to a further possible haul

'of treasure - but how did it get there?'

'Earlier that week, Paul had recced a number of gardens in the area.'

'Finding no-one at home, he surveyed this back garden

'and took notes on layout and key features.'

'In the Den,

'Jazz and Polly filled an old box with a fake letter,

'a black-and-white photograph of a couple, some trinkets

'and most importantly, a map with an X marking the spot

'of more treasure in another area of the garden.'

"Hello?" Hi, my name's Daisy,

I'm calling from TRH Surveyors.

'Polly then made a call from a water-engineering company

'to check when the owner would be out.'

"No, there won't be anybody in tomorrow." We can contact you another time.

-"Thank you. Bye." Bye. Cool.

-All good?

'Coast clear, Paul and Alex return to the house,

'sneaked around the back and buried the box beneath the lawn.'

'Foreman Paul made sure Alex did all the hard work.'

BLEEP

Let me have a look at this.

-This is a map...

-I'm going to put it on here, right...

Aye, please do.

'The mark takes the sodden box

'and its contents inside to dry out.'

Does that map relate to these trees?

He's written "To my darling, keep you can

"and all this."

Right, let me... I'll be right back.

'Paul signals to Marcus and Jazz

'that the next phase can begin.'

-You boys find anything else?

-There's something here.

'Soon, more beeping from Marcus's metal detector

'has the mark's attention.'

-Find anything else, boys?

-There is actually.

-Whoo-hoo-hoo!

-Careful, now!

It's bigger than that one.

-It goes from here...

-What do you think?

-It's deeper.

'This is it - the big moment

'the Hustlers have been building towards.'

'The metal detector goes off the scale. Something else is down there

'and it seems much, much bigger than the first find.'

There's something over here. It's four or five times as big

-and it's deeper.

-My goodness.

-What do you wanna do?

-Don't dig that up.

Don't dig anything else up. They are pointing at a tree in the map.

There's an arrow pointing to a tree in the map.

'The map in the box has an X

'marking that exact spot in the mark's garden -

'funny that.'

'So she's got the metal box with a map promising further treasure -

'is this the find of a lifetime?'

'Maybe not.'

Our company's found things like this before.

They tend to just take these things.

The reason I know about this...

For example, there was a box of gold coins found about eight years ago

and the council kept all of it.

'Paul's worried the council will claim the loot,

'meaning the mark will lose out.'

If there's a connection between that box and that box

and they take that one, I'm not sure if that means they take that also.

'Jazz helpfully points out

'that any treasure dug up by workmen must, by law,

'be reported to the local authorities.'

-I should report it tonight.

-That's fine.

-But I won't take it away.

I'm just concerned that you'll lose whatever this is.

I just don't want to see them dig up your garden and keep your stuff.

'So the mark might not get to keep the treasure trove after all.'

'What was promising to be a great day is now about to turn sour.'

'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.'

I've got a proposition bet for you.

I'm going to use something. I've got a piece of newspaper here.

You've got to balance this piece of newspaper

upright, like this,

on one hand.

And you've got to keep it up there for, let's say, five seconds.

But you can't roll it up and you can't fold it

into a stiff piece of paper. Do you want to have a go?

'To win a drink, Alex bets that his new friends

'can't balance a page of newspaper on their hands from corner to corner

'without folding or rolling it up.'

-Slightly sceptical.

-OK, OK, OK. All right.

OK. Any other ideas?

-Like this?

-OK, try whatever you want.

You can't hold the top, can you?

You can't. Do you want me to let go now?

-No.

-OK.

Almost. You've got to keep it up there for five seconds,

at least. OK?

Paul? You can hold it like that if you want.

Why not? Why not?

That's how Paul reads!

-THEY LAUGH

-Right.

OK, for a round of drinks...

There you go.

One hand. Five seconds.

I think I've done five seconds now.

Whoa!

'Alex proves it's easy when you know how.'

'He doesn't need to fold it.'

'He snaps the page along its length

'to form a strong spine.'

'The newspaper then stands straight up on his hand for five seconds.'

'A relaxed bar in the West End of Glasgow.'

'But this smart couple aren't on a date.'

'It's Alex and Jess and it looks like these guys

'are here to meet them, but not for drinks.'

'They've been told that Alex is selling cheap tablet computers

'and they're here to buy.'

-Have a seat.

-'This makes them the marks

'in The Splitter.'

So it was one iPad?

-Are you each gonna buy one?

-You want another one?

'Alex opens the box so the marks can see that what they've come to buy

'is the real deal.'

'But Alex and Jess already know

'they want two.'

'They've deliberately only brought one. This is the key to the scam.'

OK. I can...

-You've got a car here, have you?

-Yeah.

We can go down to the lockup and pick another one up. Is that OK?

But you need to pay for them now because then we can release them.

'Alex is happy to get another one

'from their lockup and the first mark agrees to drive him there.'

'But Alex wants the money first.'

'The mark hands over hundreds of pounds.'

'Alex quickly counts the cash.'

'After all, there are lots of con artists around!'

-Perfect.

-Brilliant, thank you.

-Back in the envelope.

-Edward, do you want...

You've got the car, you said.

Er, let's go.

-'Alex and the first mark go to the lockup.'

-You won't be long?

No, five minutes.

'The second mark stays put with Jess, the original iPad

'and all that cash

'as Alex's chauffeur takes him to his car.'

'And off they go.'

'Meanwhile, Jess and the other mark are making a little small talk.'

Oh, you do security? Whereabouts?

Oh, are you a bouncer?

I remember I kicked a bouncer when I was about 18.

-PHONE PINGS

-'The mark's just received a text.'

Sorry? You OK?

Oh, has it?

Are you gonna go out and give it a... boy thing?

'That text isn't completely accurate.'

'It was from the first mark's phone, but not from the mark himself.'

'Just a few streets away,

'Alex made up an excuse about having to collect the lockup keys

'from a mate in another pub.'

We're here early and I left my mobile with Suzy.

Have you got your mobile?

I'll let him know we're here.

'Alex borrowed the mark's phone to text his mate about the keys,

'but what he was really doing was texting the other mark.'

'Back at the first bar, this guy heads outside to help his pal.'

I'll just go in. I'll be two secs.

'Alex hands back the phone and then does a runner through the pub

'into a parked car and he's gone.'

'And suddenly, Jess also seems to have somewhere else to be.'

'Alex is taking ages and the first mark is getting restless.'

'Outside the first pub, there's no sign of the broken-down car.'

'Fed up waiting for Alex,

eventually, the first mark calls his mate.'

'Jess has disappeared along with the iPad and the cash.'

'The poor mark is so gobsmacked,

'he's lost the power of speech.'

'And it soon starts to dawn on both of them

'something's gone seriously wrong.'

'Alex meets Jess at a prearranged rendezvous point

'and their getaway is complete.'

Got the money? Got the iPad? Splendid.

When we separated, that's when the confusion began. I couldn't see him,

he can't see me. He thought I was round the corner

when I was a couple of miles

-down the road.

-Planned it quite well.

Got the separation thing bang on.

Taking sweets from a baby really.

Divide and conquer is a classic battle technique

and works just as well for scammers.

By separating the marks, we create confusion

and give ourselves time to get away

before they realise they've been scammed.

The only thing you should buy in a pub

is a pint and a packet of peanuts.

You buy electronics from a retailer or a trusted reseller.

Otherwise, you're begging to be ripped off.

'Earlier today, the Hustlers posed as water-board contractors

'investigating leaky pipes and dug up an old metal box

'in this mark's back garden.'

Oh, it's exciting!

It's not always like this!

'The box contained some vintage trinkets, a letter and an old map

'promising more treasure buried elsewhere in the garden.'

'Excited at the prospect of getting to keep the booty,

'the mark was soon let down

'by Paul's insistence on having to report it to the authorities.'

I just don't want to see them dig up your garden and keep your stuff.

'Paul's worried that if the council step in,

'they'll claim the loot,

'meaning the mark will lose out. Maybe he's got a solution.'

I'm gonna make a quick phone call.

'He now pretends

'to be asking a lawyer friend for advice.'

'After all, he really just wants to help the mark out.'

Hi. I think you remember me, this is Robert Marks.

'Paul's talking loud enough

'for the mark to hear him - he seems keen for her to be able

'to keep the box and not report it.'

It's like a pirate film. There's a map

and there's a bunch of trees here, some are gone now,

but there might be

something else. Um, but... Yeah. OK.

What Ian has told me is that you should keep everything in the box...

I'm not touching anything.

..so it's all in one place and to put something of yours in the box

that's of equal value

-because they can't take it away from you.

-Right.

'Paul's found a legal loophole

'to stop the council taking the box.'

'If the mark places something

'of high value in the box, she has a legal right to keep it

'as it's now storage for her valuables.'

'That means the council can't touch it and, crucially,

'they won't get their hands on that map leading to the bigger treasure.'

I have to take a photograph of it to show to my boss.

Um...

Can I take a photo

of it all in the box? I might get into trouble for taking it all out.

No, don't throw it back in the box. Just say I've done it.

I have to insist actually.

-I know how these things go.

-You can't insist

because you're now in my house.

-It's different when you're outside.

-You could get me in trouble.

Och, no! It was me who found the box and brought it up here.

'Despite offering to help, the mark seems unconvinced

'and is getting more frustrated

'with Mr Jobsworth and his endless nit-picking.'

I know it's a pain in the neck,

but if I don't do that...

See, well, I mean... Unfortunately,

that won't wash with my boss.

Well, I'll speak to your boss.

I'm a little lost, to be honest -

he's told me to put something of value in there and say it's yours.

I need a photograph of it though.

-Do it, then.

-What can you put in there of value?

All right.

Can we bring it out? Then I haven't shown it in your house. I'm sorry.

It's bureaucracy gone mad is what it is.

'The mark needs to put the wet and muddy items back into the box

'so Paul can take a photo.'

'To make the find hers, she has to put in

'an item of value of her own, along with the historical artefacts.'

Do you want to put anything of value in,

-like some cash...

-No, just my watch is fine, not a problem.

It's very wet in there.

'The mark puts her watch in the box.'

'It's a nice one, but that's not what Paul's after.'

'He wants cash. Unless she starts to play ball,

'the whole scam will have been a complete waste of time.'

Are you sure you want me holding onto your watch? It's getting dirty.

I need to hurry you, I've got things to do.

'She takes her watch back. She's losing patience -

'this scam's about to be going nowhere.'

'Paul goes in for the kill.'

'He says that if she doesn't place an item

'of great personal value in the box,

'she'll lose out on any further treasure buried in her back garden.'

The last haul was worth about 200,000.

They lost all of that and I felt that was very bad.

-I could put money in it.

-'Finally - Paul's suggestion

'of another recent find being worth over £200,000

'seems to have grabbed her attention.'

So long as your money stays in there, nobody can take it off you.

'By putting cash in the box and having it photographed

'in situ, she'll be able to claim it as hers.'

Do you want to do that now? Can I have the box

and I'll do it the way it was before you put in whatever it is

you wanna put in there?

I'm guessing the more it is, the less they can argue. Is that OK?

I will, I promise.

'Paul takes the delicate items and puts them back in the box.'

'And the mark has come up with the goods.'

'That's £1,000.'

Oh, my goodness. That's a lot of cash.

-Jay, do you have a camera? This one's rubbish.

-Oh, here.

'Jazz brings his phone up to take the picture of the cash

in the box of treasure.'

-My hands are a bit dirty.

-That's all right. Thank you.

That's clearly yours.

'Paul folds the muddy cloth around the cash and other contents

-'and hands the box to Jazz.'

-I want another photograph

of it on the lawn and then we're done.

-Do you want to come?

-We've checked everywhere here now.

-What's your dog's name?

-Stella.

-That's a nice name.

-Come on, Stell.

'They then head down to the garden

'to take the important final photo -

'a shot of the box in the exact spot

'where it was dug up.'

See, it doesn't come out, I don't think, any further than that.

Right, do you boys wanna get the markers, please?

I got all wet.

The most important thing is I leave it how I found it and it's up to you

what you do with it.

Can you just do me one big, big favour? Don't tell anybody

-that we know about that.

-No, I won't say anything about that.

Is that it done? You've done it, then.

'So the mark's happy. She thinks she has a box of treasure just dug up

'out of her lawn. She also thinks

'there's more loot buried there.'

'And she also thinks her cash is safe inside the box.'

'Wrong.'

'Here's what really happened.'

'The muddy cloth containing the cash was switched by Jazz

'as the mark headed over to Marcus to gloat over the new find,

'as Paul pretended

'to take a photo of the cash

'in the box.'

'Of course, there's nothing buried

'under those trees - Alex made sure

'the metal detector would go off by hammering some nails in

'when he buried the metal box.'

She's quite spirited

and there were points where I thought "This isn't happening".

Paul went back a third time and I thought "Is he serious?"

He tapped on the window as if he hadn't finished yet.

Doing this sort of thing for real is too nerve-racking.

You've got to have real bottle.

It's devious. You're constantly conning people

and that's no way to go through life, so, no,

I'm not gonna go into criminality

and I'm not gonna sell my granny for a fiver after this. Honest!

The mark didn't seem to have much to lose.

What's the harm in putting some money in a box

that she then gets to hold onto?

Plus she wanted to get rid of that annoying council official.

We need to be real here -

what's the likelihood of buried treasure being in your garden?

If officials start asking you to dig up your garden

or come into your home,

you have to ask for identification.

If they're genuine, they'll produce it.

If you've got any doubt, ring the organisation they work for -

the water board, police force, whoever -

but check them out thoroughly

and don't allow them to start digging up your garden.

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

'go to...'

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