http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iwe8fxjsq3Q

Great show, saw this on TV today. He uses a lot of great misdirection and other magician's tehniques to show how people can be scammed.

Hey thanks for posting that!

Good show...of course being a magician my mind wandered to some of the background concerns that a show like that has to deal with. The biggest one was selecting the guest, in this case the mark. I mean...It is always possible that when all is said or done the guy could have said, "No I don't believe in the concept behind this show and you cannot use my image on TV!" Then the show is out a lot of time, energy, and production. Face it...that was quite a show they put on. Probably cost the show as much, if not more, staging that con(once you include props, cameras, cameramen, directors, staff ect.) than they cheated the guy out of in the first place!

There is also the chance that the victim's were actors who played along. But nonetheless it was all entertaining and shows how people can or do get scammed. Whether the taping was actually real is not as important as the information exhibited.

So you are saying they are scamming us? I wouldn't put it past them.

That is always a possibility with TV magic but then the actors need to get a full paycheck for a two hour show. Question is, do you pony up the money for a full time actor(as big a role in the episode as Paul's) and risk a possibly recognizable face (many guest actors make the rounds on TV shows and commercials)? Or do you take the chance that you will have to re-shoot the entire scam all over again with another person who perhaps is more willing to be seen on TV? Honestly six of one, have dozen of the other.

You can't tell for sure. Sometimes the scams go a little too smoothly, but also could have been edited. But I think that is all irrelevant as long as the message is conveyed. It was probably real but I don't really care either way.