One of our favorite classic scams is the "You broke my glasses" scheme, where someone tells an unsuspecting mark that he/she has broken a pair of glasses and must pay. Variations include "You broke my bottle" routine and "you made me drop my insulin shot." Now someone is going to prison for trying to con clueless rubes—according to the Daily News, Naim Jabbar was sentenced to seven years for getting caught last year.
Apparently Jabbar "targeted countless victims - many of them tourists - in Midtown over a dozen years." And prosecutors also claimed that Jabbar, who is 6'2" and cuts an intimidating figure (his seat in court even broke!), used his stature to get marks to pay or would threaten to beat them up. He was arrested after trying to dupe a French tourist into giving him $100 for a pair of broken $5 glasses, but a passerby recognized the scam. Manhattan DA Cy Vance said, "The defendant is a dangerous individual whose highly effective criminal strategy has been to threaten and intimidate victims into turning over their money."
Jabbar's lawyer believes the jury was frightened of him but, "He's very much like Mike Tyson, he's a huge guy with a soft voice." Still, when he was arrested, he was found with broken glasses in his pocket.
Another popular scam: The pigeon drop. Also, be wary of the "I ran out of gas money" scam.
