A sucker list is a list of people who have previously fallen for a

scam A scam, or a confidence trick, is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their Trust (emotion), trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using a combination of the victim's credulity, naivety, compassion, vanity, confidence ...

such as a telemarketing fraud, lottery scam, high-yield investment program, get-rich-quick scheme, or work-at-home schemes, or, as used by charities, someone who made a

donation A donation is a gift for Charity (practice), charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, Service (economics), services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donati ...

. The lists are usually sold to scammers or charities. After the list is sold, the victims may be called by scammers promising to recover the money they lost or the prize or merchandise they never received, in an advance-fee scam. An early example of sucker lists is mentioned an 18 November 1929 article in ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' which described a list of people who contributed to a lobbyist fund. Yet another usage was described in the movie ''Sucker List'', a part of the 1941 United States series '' Crime Does Not Pay''. The subject of the movie are fraudulent racetrack

tout A tout is any person who solicits business or employment in a persistent and annoying manner (generally equivalent to a '' solicitor'' or '' barker'' in American English, or a '' spruiker'' in Australian English). An example would be a person w ...

s, who, in particular, used to call people known to be in deep debt and give them false tips.

References

{{Scams and confidence tricks Confidence tricks Direct marketing Fraud

See also

References