Last month we published an NYPD pamphlet illustrated by a patrolman that offered New Yorkers tips on how to stay safe in 1974. Today Slate's Rebecca Onion dug up another NYPD brochure, this one from the Special Fraud Squad during the Koch administration, advising you to "Be aware of the con artist & the con game."
The document, which Onion found at the Prelinger Library, contains uncouth descriptions of cons like the "Spanish Handkerchief Switch" and the "Gypsy Burglary." A more recent example of NYPD outreach to battle cons is the department's public campaign against the Evil Spirit or Blessing scam, which has become more prevalent in Chinatown and in Asian neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
Click through for an interesting perspective from The Bad Old Days.
