Episode 8 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 for the whole lot.

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

And now,

they're back for an 11th series.

Alex, Jess, and Paul.

With new recruits Polly and Jazz.

Their job, to expose the tricks of the criminal's trade

so that you don't get scammed.

On tonight's show, guest hustler

Lucien Laviscount's on an antiques Hunt.

Paul's prop bet is all in the balance.

-Is this yours?

-Ah!

And Polly leaves her mark

kicking himself for doing a good deed.

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.

Today's guest hustler is Corrie and Celeb Big Brother star...

actor Lucien Laviscount.

I woke up this morning, I'm in a new city, I'm so nervous,

I'm a sheep in a field full of lions.

I think you've just got to be ballsy.

I think you've just got to have big cajones, really.

The people that do this in the real world, I've a lot of time for them,

because it's a crazy way to make money, and it's kind of cool as well.

I'm a hustler. It's got a nice little tag to it.

Hello.

Lucien's been told to meet sexy swindler Jess

for his hustle briefing.

I've got a question for you. Do you own a pair of handcuffs,

by any chance?

Yes.

-Have you got them with you?

-I can't say... No, I don't.

Well, that's just no good. That's just no good, because today, you're going to be scamming someone

and by the end of the day, they're going to be desperate to buy

a pair of handcuffs from you, and they're going to pay a lot of money for them.

-Handcuffs?

-Yes.

-Come with me. I'll tell you more about it.

-All right, OK.

So, Lucien's going to be working off the cuff in The Feud.

The hustlers love dabbling in the antiques world,

so today, they've come to an upmarket Georgian gallery in Edinburgh,

a rambling four-storey warehouse stuffed full of expensive treasures.

You could easily get lost in this place. It's massive.

And that's exactly why the hustlers have chosen it, as the staff

won't notice them going about their business.

Paul's looking dapper.

He's playing the role of historical artefacts expert Rob Marx,

a local dealer who often uses this place to do some freelance business.

Lucien is posing as the owner's son, a rookie dealer learning the ropes.

Can you tell me about the history of this?

Looks like Jess and Polly are here to buy,

but they're actually just testing Lucien to see

if he can pull off his role by thinking on his feet.

-The first black diver, deep sea diver, actually wore this.

-Really?

Yeah, yeah. And the reason why we've got it up here,

is because October is Black History Month.

-Oh, really?

-Yeah, so we just got it for the month.

These guys are also here to buy.

They notice Lucien talking to the girls and assume he works here.

Time for some improv.

Sorry. How are you guys?

This guy's carrying £2,000 in cash, making him the mark.

Rob, who is one of the distributors here, he's downstairs.

He'll be able to give you a hand. Do you know much about the piece? Or...?

-It's two grand?

-Well, come down. Come down and meet Rob.

So the mark is keen to buy a Victorian picture viewer,

but he's got absolutely no idea what one looks like,

and neither does Lucien.

-You've been down here before?

-No, no. It's the first time.

-First time?

He offers help in the form of expert dealer Rob Marx,

who's set up office on the floor below.

It's my dad's place, so he's had it for about...

Hearing Lucien and the mark approaching,

Paul and Alex spring into action to stage a little scene for them.

We won't do business together.

You want to buy them, find the person I'll sell them to,

and buy them off them. You're not buying them off me.

Rob Marx seems to be having a very heated argument with someone.

Listen, I'm sorry. Say hi to your dad, and my apologies for this.

That someone is Alex, playing Paul's old business partner

and now archrival Ian Steel.

-I'll get out of your way...

-Actually, Rob, these gentlemen

-were interested in the Victorian picture viewer.

-Ah, how can I help?

This chap doesn't sound like he's from these parts,

but the hustlers are equal opportunity scammers.

They'll take anyone's money.

If you have that one, then get it.

I don't think it's been sold.

I'll have a look. I'll be two minutes.

Lucien heads off to hunt for a viewer,

while Paul gives the mark the benefit of his expert knowledge.

Before there was television, people would get around and show pictures.

The heat's on. He texts the other hustlers to help hunt for the picture viewer.

Jess searches the web to find an image.

After all, that's what the Internet's for.

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack,

and the hustlers don't have much time.

This place is an Aladdin's Cave. If you didn't know what you were doing, you'd never find anything in here.

Paul's stalling the mark with his very best small talk,

while the others are scouring every inch of the warehouse for the viewer.

I think if you're looking for a collector, it's like gold dust.

Just as Paul's chat is scraping the bottom of the barrel,

Lucien strikes gold.

I thought this was sold!

-The cleaner crew have been in and it was down the back.

-Oh, OK.

Paul's now going to give the mark a sales pitch about an antique

he's never even seen.

Luckily, he seems to know a bit about Victorian picture viewers.

In Victorian times,

when your family died, it became fashionable to take a photograph of the deceased,

so after they were dead, they would take a picture.

You can see this is a... this lady's passed on.

It's a little bit macabre, but very, very, very collectable,

and very interesting.

But it doesn't have any cards.

This card does not belong with this viewer.

This is a completely different piece.

The cards, as a collection, are worth approximately £800.

You put it together with this, this is selling retail for 750.

Say 1,500 for the two together would be, I think, would be a fair price.

You would then be able to sell at auction for anything in the region of 10,000.

Wow! What an amazing deal!

But for this scam to work, Paul's plan all along was to

pretend he had a matching item for whatever the mark had come to buy.

After all, a set is far more valuable than a single item.

There must be a catch.

I would also be willing to give it to you for an even better

price in return for a small trade in services,

if that's of interest to you?

So, that's it.

Paul wants something from the mark in return for this great deal.

He's got a little favour to ask him.

My business partner, who was here earlier,

we don't do business any more.

We have a, not a very great relationship.

You want to buy them, find the person

I'll sell them to, and buy them off them. You're not buying off me.

The only thing I collect is Houdini memorabilia.

I don't know if you're familiar with Houdini?

That's him there, with the only set of handcuffs that he couldn't open.

And it was made by the same person that made these.

Both together, for me, as a collector, would be very good.

Unfortunately, the person who has them is Ian.

So, Paul's a Houdini expert.

He's been collecting memorabilia for years

and he desperately wants to get his mitts on a set of handcuffs that belong to ex-business partner Alex.

The cuffs match a set of leg irons that Paul already owns,

but Alex is point-blank refusing to sell to him.

Paul needs to persuade the mark to buy them for him

and Lucien is the key.

If you're willing to at least put them together with Ian...

-Because he'll sell it to anyone. He just won't sell it to me.

-Yeah.

Lucien eventually agrees to act as a go-between,

but will the mark go for it?

Here's the deal - if you'd be willing to do that for me,

I'll give you the cash, you buy them from him

and then give them back to me.

I'll even give you a small profit. Does that sound fair to you?

Yeah, yeah, of course.

It's on.

The mark has agreed to help Paul buy the Houdini handcuffs

from Alex in return for the viewer, cards, and some cash.

I'm taking a big risk, because I'll give you the cash,

so long as you promise not to take a holiday in the next couple of hours with my money.

So, everyone's happy. It's the deal of a lifetime all-round.

£2,000.

You know, I'm going by instinct. I know when I can trust somebody.

You don't see that every day.

A hustler giving someone two grand out of his own pocket?

What is he playing at?

For now, the deal's on.

But will the mark take off with Paul's cash,

or will he honour his agreement to meet Lucien later to help settle The Feud?

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 tell you what, does anybody have a £20 note?

-Or a £10 note, doesn't really matter, anything you've got.

-I do.

You have to fold it like this, so it's almost like a little Z.

All right?

You have to do exactly what I do.

We're going to hold it in our hands, but you have to hold it in exactly

the way that I hold it, and the last person holding a £20 note

keeps any money that falls on the table or the floor.

-Fair enough?

-Yeah.

-Quite reasonable.

Now, this is what I want you to do. Take your fingers like that.

One pinching this way and the other pinching this way.

And the idea is you have to be able to take your fingers away...

..and then take one away like that.

That one fell, that one fell, and that one fell, which means I get to keep this one.

The secret is just a little bit of extra investment.

All you need is that 10p.

So that sneaky 10p balanced on Paul's thumb weighted his folded note,

earning him three crisp twenties.

That's a whole lot of free drinks.

That's mine, that's mine, that's mine,

and the drinks are definitely on you.

A busy courtyard in a city centre plaza.

This guy's a keen photographer.

He's here to buy a second-hand camera lens from a guy he's arranged to meet.

He's brought cash, so that makes him the mark...

..in The Lost Fob.

-Hi.

-Ian?

-Andrew.

-Yeah.

-Hi.

-Pleased to meet you.

Sit down, sorry, I'm in a bit of a... Have a seat, have a seat.

I'm going to get the camera lens. It's here, but it's in the office.

I've just had a bit of a mini disaster.

You know, I work in PR and we do film PR and stuff like that, and, erm,

during the course of this day, somehow, somewhere in the meetings,

I seem to have lost a USB stick with all our clients' info on it,

and if I don't find it, I'm going to lose my job.

So... I've been looking for it here,

I've been texting people who I've had meetings with.

I've just been on the phone to the cab companies to see if they've found anything, so, but let me...

-You want to do this another time, then?

-No, it's fine.

The guy selling the lens is Alex. Looks like he's in a bit of a tizzy.

In fact, he's in a total panic.

He's posing as a PR agent and it turns out

he's lost a computer fob with all his famous clients' sensitive details on it.

Listen, do me a favour, if... I've already spoken to the bar,

I said 100 quid to...if anybody finds it and hands it in,

cos I'm going to have to go back and tell my boss that I can't find it,

but listen, I'll be back in ten minutes. Is that OK?

I'm so sorry to bring all this on you,

but if you find it, can you just call me straightaway, please?

Because if I don't have to tell my boss, that would be great.

Cheers, and again, apologies.

Alex heads off to 'fess up to his boss about the lost fob

and also to get the lens.

The mark decides to text a friend while he waits for Alex to return.

-Is this yours?

-Oh! Where did you find that?

-Is it, is it yours?

Well, this guy who I'm meeting just lost a USB stick

and he says he's going to lose his job...

-OK.

-Hang on, well... Where did you find it?

-Literally under my table.

What a stroke of luck.

The girl at the next table seems to have found the lost fob.

But this is no ordinary girl.

It's Polly, and her role in the scam is about to begin.

-Hello?

-Hi, Ian.

Yes, Andrew.

-Hi, can you describe the USB stick to me?

-What, have you found it? Is it there?

The girl at the table next to me has found it,

but she wants me to describe it to her, to make sure it's yours.

-Oh, you're kidding? Oh, well, pass her on.

-I'm going to put you on to him, OK?

-Hello?

-Hi, there. Have you got my USB stick?

Yeah, I've just found it. It's by my bag under my table.

Right, OK. Brilliant. It's a black one with red stuff, it's a flip one.

-Oh, yeah, no. That's definitely yours.

-Oh, brilliant. Oh, listen, thank you so much.

Listen, I said to the guy 100 quid to whoever hands it in.

-£100?

-Yeah, £100, yeah.

The mark is happy for Alex, but shrugs in disbelief at his generous reward.

I'm going to be back in 15 minutes, yeah?

Oh, no. I've got to go, because I've got a train to catch.

Do you want to text me your address and I'll send you the cash?

I don't really want to give you my address, just, you know,

I don't really know you, you know.

No, no. That's all right, it's just, I'm trying to get the money,

I'd love to give you the £100 for being so honest.

Well, £100 would be lovely, yeah, but...

The mark can't believe that this woman is actually

holding out for the cash.

Do you want to pass me back to the guy?

Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. He wants to speak to you.

-Hello?

-Hi, Andrew.

Listen, she's done the right thing and I just want to thank her for it.

I was going to give her 100 quid when I come back.

Can I just ask you for a massive favour?

I'll knock 50 quid of the lens if you could give her 100 quid.

You want me to give her £100 out of the money for the lens?

Yeah, and I'll knock 60 quid off the lens for you.

-Are you sure?

-Absolutely, listen, this girl, right now,

has just saved my job and my family.

She's done the right thing. So...

Alex lays it on thick and offers the mark 60 quid off the lens

if he gives her £100 from the cash he's brought with him to buy the lens.

So, I'll only have to give you 150?

Only 150 when I come back, and you've still got my laptop, yeah?

And I've still got your bag here, yeah.

All right, I'll be there in 15 minutes, no later. Thanks, Andrew.

OK, that's fine, bye.

The Mark is now warming to Alex's generosity.

After all, he's getting a 330 quid lens for 150 quid.

And, of course, he has Alex's laptop as security for the deal.

This guy really is the honest type.

I'll give you £100 of my money on the understanding...

-That he will give it back to you.

-Yeah.

-And there's the cash.

-Nice to meet you.

Polly waves goodbye £100 richer.

And the mark gets his money ready

for when Alex returns in ten minutes

with his bargain priced camera lens.

While he's waiting, he decides to call a friend and tell them

about his good fortune with the film PR guy.

Do you want me to have a look at the laptop to see if I can get any...

get Brad Pitt's phone number?

I should take the memory stick and I should run off.

He must come back. His laptop's there.

He tries calling Alex, but the phone just rings out.

A full 40 minutes later,

the mark checks the laptop bag that Alex left behind,

only to find a useless leaflet and some plastic packaging.

He's been hustled out of 100 quid cash.

And here's how they did it.

When Alex picked up his laptop,

he was really just dropping it into Polly's bag.

He then left his empty computer bag with the mark for safekeeping

and beat a hasty retreat.

Polly then pretended to pick up the lost fob from the floor.

-Is this yours?

-Oh!

I'll knock 60 quid off the lens, if you could give her 100 quid.

OK, that's fine.

She then handed the mark the fob in return for that cash reward.

Polly waves goodbye to the mark, as he waves goodbye to 100 quid.

He's been ripped off and all he's left with is a cheap, empty bag

and a useless fob.

I feel like an idiot.

I feel angry and stupid.

By all means, help somebody if they seem to be having a problem,

but as soon as money is mentioned and you're asked to put your hand in your own pocket,

you should just take a step back and ask yourself what's really going on.

Earlier today, this guy came to an Edinburgh antiques warehouse

to buy a Victorian picture viewer.

You want to buy them, find the person I'll sell them to,

and buy them off them. You're not buying them off me.

But he's ended up acting as middleman in an ongoing

dispute between art dealer Rob Marx and his bitter rival Ian Steel,

who've been fighting for years over a set of leg irons

and handcuffs that once belonged to escape artist Harry Houdini.

As two separate items, you would pay 1,500,

and getting them together for 1,000 is a fantastic price.

In auction, you'd sell it for seven to ten, easily.

-Does that sound fair to you?

-Yeah, yeah, of course.

Paul's agreed to cut him an amazing deal on the picture viewer.

But in return, he's asked the mark to help him get the cuffs from Alex.

He's already given him £2,000 in cash to secure the cuffs

and he's agreed to meet Alex tonight to do the deal

in The Feud part two.

True to his word, the mark turns up bang on time to meet Lucien,

who's agreed to be on hand to broker the deal.

-Thank you. See you soon.

-Pleasure.

Take care.

I'll see you soon. Take it easy. Bye-bye.

The mark recognises the two girls he met earlier at the warehouse.

It's Polly and Jess, and they also seem to have been having

a meeting with Lucien, but are now just on their way out.

-Take a seat. Dive in.

-Thank you.

-How are you, man? Are you all right?

-Good, good.

-You well?

-Yeah.

-Good.

-Well, the situation is, Ian is on his way with the handcuffs.

-All right.

And Rob is stuck in traffic at the moment.

Fine. How are you?

I'm all right. It's been a long, long day.

The mark buys Lucien's explanation.

And right on cue, here comes Alex with the goods.

-Hey!

-How are you?

-I'm good. How are you? You all right?

Hi, I'm George. Nice to meet you.

-George?

-Yeah, George.

-Nice to meet you.

-Thanks for setting this up.

-Not a problem. It's fantastic.

They get straight down to business.

Sorry, don't mind me asking,

but are you in the antiques game, are you...?

That's handy. Neither's Alex.

Now, you mentioned that you gentlemen might be

interested in a pair of Houdini handcuffs.

Yeah, that's right.

Do you want to have, shall I...?

-Yeah.

-Sorry, I don't mean to rush everybody.

-No, no, no.

-I'd love to

spend more time, it's just that I have, I only come up for

a very short period of time, because I'm based out of London, so I've got a meeting

to go to after this.

And there they are.

Harry Houdini's very own handcuffs.

Are you interested?

The price for these that I'm happy to let them go for is 4,000.

There seems to be a misunderstanding here

about the price Paul gave the mark earlier.

One, two, three, four...

£2,000.

-Sorry, but the price is four.

-4,000.

-Yeah. How is that with you?

Do you want me to give you...?

I've got a bit of time, but I'll give you a couple of minutes

so you guys can talk about it.

That's a big problem.

Paul told the mark the cuffs would cost £2,000,

but Alex is now asking for double that.

What's he going to do?

Alex heads outside to give them some time to work the money out.

All I can think of is if we give Rob a call

and see what he says about the situation, yeah?

Lucien calls Paul to let him know the money situation

and check if he's still stuck in traffic.

Hey, buddy, how are you?

The situation is, Ian's saying four for the handcuffs.

-You're kidding?

-How far away are you?

Maybe 20 minutes, but I'm just sitting in traffic right now.

The thing is, he's got to go, he's got a flight to catch,

I'm guessing, back to London, so...

I mean, if you've got two grand on you, Lucien, why don't you

give it to the, throw it in there. I mean, I'll cover it, of course.

I know you'll cover it. I haven't got the two on me now though.

-I know you're 20 minutes away, but...

-You're kidding?

He's in traffic. Do you want to speak to him? Want to talk to him?

-Yeah, of course.

-I'm going to pass you on now, bro. All right?

-All right, OK.

So, Lucien's not got a spare two grand on him.

But maybe the mark can help.

-Let me tell you what I'll do. I'll make you an offer that you can't refuse. OK?

-Yeah.

You've got 4,000 on you right now, including my two, yes?

Right, if you pay for the cuffs, I will give you the 4,000, so you're covered.

You haven't lost a penny.

I will give you the viewer with the cards as a fee

for doing this for me.

So you'll walk away with every penny you brought with you today,

plus the viewer.

Paul has asked the mark

if he can put the two grand he has with him for the viewer,

together with the two grand that Paul gave him earlier.

That'll make up the required four grand to buy the handcuffs from Alex.

And in return for this,

he's offering the mark the viewer for free.

The mark's still not biting, and suggests that they ask Alex

to wait a bit longer until Paul arrives with the cash.

But here's the thing, Paul's not stuck in traffic at all.

In fact, he's parked right outside in the Hustle van with Polly and Jess.

And someone else who looks remarkably like Ian Steel.

It's time for Alex to go back in and nail the deal.

No, no, no, no. I've got to be out of here in the next ten minutes.

But we can negotiate on price, if that's the problem.

That, I can't do. You know, I can meet you at three and a half.

I have to give a phone call. I'm sorry.

No, no. Do so. I've got five, ten minutes.

The mark excuses himself

and goes outside to call a friend for some advice.

If this doesn't work, then the deal is most definitely off.

The mark heads back to the table.

Well, I said we could negotiate.

-This guy drives a hard bargain.

-35 cash now?

-Cash now.

-Fine. Deal.

Finally, the Mark hands over Paul's £2,000, along with £1,500 of his own cash.

Hey!

You're all right?

Here come the girls again.

-This is Georgie.

-Hi, there. I'm Daisy. How are you? Are you all right?

-Nice to meet you.

We just bought this and we forgot our bags.

Seems they left their bag earlier and have come back to get it.

-Is this the one?

-Oh!

-I'll put you in the taxi.

-Oh, fantastic, thank you.

-Lovely to meet you. Take care, bye.

-Bye.

I'm going to give you a book of photographs with the cuffs, but the problem is I've got them in the car,

so I'm just quickly going to get in the car.

I'm going to give you the key as well.

I'm going to be back in one tiny second, yeah?

Alex legs it straightaway,

but the mark can't wait to get a closer look at the antique cuffs.

I don't think Houdini ever wore those.

The mark chases after Alex, but it's too late,

and the mark is left wondering what just happened.

-Oh, hi there, I'm Daisy.

-How are you?

Distracted by Polly and Jess coming back to get their bag,

the mark didn't notice Alex slickly switching the Houdini cuffs box

with an identical one containing the cheap furry ones.

Alex dropped the original box into the girls' bag

and they quickly left with Lucien,

running straight out to meet Paul, who had the Hustle van running.

Then, all Alex had to do was join them. It was that easy.

I'm really angry that somebody that I trusted used me.

I give them £3,500 and they left me here with something like this.

I have just been involved in a crime and, you know what,

put the handcuffs on.

My top tip for anyone out there to not get hustled,

if it sounds too good to be true, usually,

well, it probably is going to be too good to be true.

You don't get nothing in this world for free.

The trick that fraudsters have used

here is that they've tried to

speed up the action,

so you end up making a decision,

an important decision, far too quickly.

Take a deep breath and try and slow down the action.

Making decisions hurriedly about important things

will almost always end in tears.

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