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Children Of Lieutenant Schmidt
The Children of Lieutenant Schmidt (russian: Дети лейтенанта Шмидта), a fictional society of swindlers, appeared in the 1931 satirical novel ''The Little Golden Calf'' by Ilf and Petrov. They pose as children of Lieutenant Schmidt, a hero of the Russian Revolution of 1905. The main antihero of the novel, Ostap Bender, befriends two hapless members of this society. The novel is set in the Soviet Union (Russia, Ukraine and Turkestan) in the 1920s, and its premise is that at the time, numerous fake relatives of Karl Marx, Prince Kropotkin, and other revolutionary figures roam the country, tricking gullible Soviet officials into sponsoring them. Their numbers grow, and to prevent any unlucky chance of spoiling each other's attempts, they "unionize", with Schmidt's Children being the most difficult to organize. When the latter finally convene, "it turned out that Lieutenant Schmidt had thirty sons, from eighteen to fifty-two years in age, and four daughters, unatt ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Confidence Trick
A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have defined confidence tricks as "a distinctive species of fraudulent conduct ..intending to further voluntary exchanges that are not mutually beneficial", as they "benefit con operators ('con men') at the expense of their victims (the 'marks')". Terminology Synonyms include con, confidence game, confidence scheme, ripoff, scam, and stratagem. The perpetrator of a confidence trick (or "con trick") is often referred to as a confidence (or "con") man, con-artist, or a "grifter". The shell game dates back at least to Ancient Greece. Samuel Thompson (1821–1856) was the original "confidence man". Thompson was a clumsy swindler who asked his victims to express confidence in him by giving him money or their watch rather than gaining their confidenc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
