Tales of Mere Puffery
How would you like to earn $90,000 for two months of work, in an upscale saloon?
How? Publish some puffery about some desirable vacation hotspot, suggest that there is a real estate development project, hint that the project is exclusive, fail to publish prices and then ... you give away the lots of land!
So far this doesn't sound like much of a plan, let alone a plan that could generate $90,000 in two months.
But the Yellow Kid, notable for his practical understanding of psychology, did exactly that.
He incorporated a real estate development company, the Elysium Development Company, delightful in its irony. Next, he created a lovely brochure extolling the vacation lands in Ocean County, on Michigan Lake, using stock photos. "For more than half a century, Michigan has meant just one thing to the people of Chicago - summer vacation land. ...Oceana County lies on Lake Michigan, and for all [the Kid] knew there may have been some good resort spots along the shore." The expensive brochure was descriptive, but no lots were offered for sale and no prices quoted. The last element was key.
The development was talked up by a confederate, and Elysium's offices, showing the development plans, were opened. No lots however were for sale, establishing their exclusivity or scarcity. Weil's pitchman was described as "sane enough, yet is was easy for him to delude himself that he was a tycoon." He could imagine anything and tell convincing stories about places located entirely in his imagination.
Now a lower class criminal would have been content to simply mislead his fellow Chicagoans and sell them Michigan swamp land. Nothing so crass for Weil.
Weil owned an upscale bar, at the time. At lunch, he made sure that the gave out expensive sandwiches. Once he established a patron had money, Weil would go into a convincing story about the Elysium Development Company. (He must have known that there was a link in the common man's mind between "Elysium" and "Dream".) The pitch went like this:
Weil: "You look like the sort of fellow I'd like to have for a neighbour." Handing him a brochure.Mark: "Do you live up there?"
Weil: "I am one of the owners. This is a private club and membership is only by invitation. Of course the only members are those who own property in the Development."
Mark: "Oh, you want me to buy some of this property?"
Weil: "My dear fellow, this property is not for sale. But I should like to have you for my neighbour. And that does require that you own property in the Development."
Mark: "If can't buy it, how am I going to own it?"
Weil: "Very simply, I shall make you a gift of a desirable lot." Weil proceeds to make a deed over to the mark.
Notice the use of the compliance tool of reciprocity, free sandwiches, an expensive brochure, and finally a gift of an acre of dream land.
What does Weil want in return? Well, he casually mentions that his new friend ought to get the title recorded, and further to keep this confidential because "If some of my friends heard that I had given you this lot, they would be after me for similar gifts"
The catch? "The fee for recordering -thirty dollars- was exorbitant and everybody knew it. But they all remitted [the money to the clerk]. After all, the lot was a gift."
Weil split the money with recording clerk 50/50, which had already been arranged, and made the equivalent of $90,000 in two months. Weil describes his fraud as legal because "I had not taken money from them: they had not been compelled to have the lots recorded. So far as the law was concerned, I was clean." Hmm.
But, two chumps were not happy, and since they were detectives in the Police force, Weil was forced to scamper for his physical well being when he encountered them.
The elements of this sophisticated advance fee scam are:
- Convincing pitchman.
- Expensive representations that are puffery, not actionable at law.
- Regulatory corruption, or even capture.
- A free or inexpensive "gift" that needs to be registered with the regulatory agency in 3, to be effective.
- Disguised kickback from 3.
The compliance tools, as described by Cialdini are:
- Scarcity, the lots not being for sale and the deal being confidential.
- Liking, Weil and his pitchman knowing their marks, and the value of Michigan Lake property.
- Reciprocity, free lunch, expensive brochure and a real gift.
In closing, I imagine this will work today especially if the condominiumization of commercial buildings as proposed in Ontario, proceeds.
