A Queens man was offering a fantastic deal: three adjacent commercial buildings in midtown Manhattan for $6.5 million. And the seller's agent only asked for a down payment of $1.66 million! Steal of the century! What could possibly go wrong? more ›

Brooklyn native Seyit Ibrahim Yel has allegedly conned casinos across the country out of over $500,000 by using comped chips to bet at the blackjack table. However, no one has been able to sue him because he is nowhere to be found. Yel and a group of other con men somehow tricked casinos into thinking he was a 35-year-old businessman named Mustafa Seda, and within weeks of beginning a gambling spree in 2008 he was traveling on private jets and staying in complimentary suites paid for by big casinos. more ›

New York City residents are among the least likely Americans to fall victim to scams and swindles, but that doesn't stop con artists from trying to outwit New Yorkers. Hustlers use a number of different strategies to try to cheat their victims, from well-known shakedowns like the "broken glasses scam" to more obscure hoaxes like the "pigeon drop," the Daily News reports. more ›

New Yorkers are some of the least likely people in the country to fall victim to scams. Though local con artists continue to try to pull off the "broken glasses scam," the "broken bottle scam," and the "I need an insulin shot scam," New York City wasn't one of the top 50 places nationwide where residents have complained of scams or identity theft. more ›

A Midtown con man faces a possible life sentence after being convicted of attempted armed robbery for pulling a carpet knife on a Swedish Navy official after a botched scam. Louis Parson was found guilty of his fourth violent offense for taking out the blade after trying the "broken bottle scam" (which is similar to the "broken glasses scam"). He faces between 16 years and life behind bars. more ›

A thief unsuccessfully attempted to extort a Swedish military official and his elderly father for $40 using a widely known scam, Lt. Cmdr. Peter Palm testified in court yesterday. According to the Swedish intelligence commander, career criminal Louis Parson tried to pull a "broken bottle scam"—which closely resembles a "broken glasses scam"—on him and his father in a Midtown hotel. more ›

An elderly Carroll Gardens woman recently fell for the old "your grandson's in trouble" con, but this one had a clever Canadian twist. A man identifying himself as "Constable Karl Moore from the Canadian Police Department" telephoned a woman at her home on Henry Street Friday morning with some bad news: her grandson "had gotten into trouble with the law" during a trip to the north country. more ›

A Manhattan woman still dealing with the repercussions of an identity theft that began in 1992 is furious that the con artist who victimized her is getting off with just 60 days in prison. Sara Benitez, 44, became aware of the extent of the damage caused by Araceilis Cherico, 46, when she tried to get married at City Hall in 2004. At the registrar's office, the clerk told Benitez she was already married to someone else. She still hasn't been able to tie the knot, and couldn't even get a passport because Cherico got one using her name. more ›

The son of a Harlem landlord is accused scamming potential buyers by trying to sell a building he did not own. The commercial property, located on a triangular lot just north of Central Park at 21-41 Lenox Avenue, was entirely owned by another man. But alleged grifter Henry Vargas told buyers the man, Manuel Duran Jr., was just an elderly farmer from the Dominican Republic whose share was only 10 percent. more ›

A 25-year-old Chase Bank investment adviser is behind bars at Rikers Island after being charged with siphoning $110,000 from a millionaire's private account. Saucy Robin Katz worked at Chase's midtown headquarters until May, at which point she told employers she had to return to California for a family emergency. In April, one of Chase's clients realized that his seven-figure account balance had a six-figure shortfall, and auditors determined that an extra ATM card in the millionaire's name had been created in June 2008 and was used dozens of times to withdraw cash out of the account. Bank investigators traced the scam to Katz and asked her to return from California because she had some explainin' to do; she was arrested after arriving back in NYC last week. A police source tells the Post, "She just spent it... shopping and going out." The tabloid also pulls some choice quotes from Katz's MySpace profile, where she describes herself as a "rocket scientist by day, party fool by night," and lists her interests thus: "Politics: F-- Bush. Sex: F-- Me." more ›

Last year, 51-year-old Cecille Villacorta, an ex-Saks employee, went on trial for charges that, through a unique con, she stole over $1 million from the Manhattan flagship store. She faced up to 7 years in prison for grand larceny, and now the court has finally handed down her sentence: 90 days behind bars, five years’ probation and a $96,000 fine. Though Villacorta reportedly left the courtroom happy, the conviction is being appealed—if it's upheld, she also faces deportation to her native Philippines. more ›

A source tells the Post that two con men who ran a mortgage scam bilking millions out of now-failed lenders like Countrywide and Washington Mutual blew obscene amounts of money on extravagant gambling trips to Atlantic City. Garri Zhigun and Aleksander Lipkin pleaded guilty earlier this month to running a 27-member gang that borrowed money to buy properties, then faked sales at inflated prices to borrow even more before defaulting on the loans. The two swindlers—who were backed by the Russian mob—made dozens of trips to Atlantic City between '05 and '06, where they were high rollers awarded with free hotel rooms and show tickets. And all this took place while Zhigun was on parole after serving two years in prison for his participation in an insurance scam involving staged car accidents. more ›