"South for the Winter" is a story about con artists (confidence tricksters) on a train. These are people who use clever talk to gain your confidence (make you trust them). All of this talk is a lot of con tricks, or confidence tricks (詐騙手法). Here are two kinds of con tricks:
1) Get rich quickly tricks, such as the Airplane Game:
The OFFICIAL rules (not the REAL rules) are like this: the "captain" (the captain flies the "airplane") asks 2 people to pay him $1000. These people are the "copilots" (copilots help the captain to fly the airplane). The 2 copilots each ask two more people for $1000; These 4 people are the "crew" (the crew work on the airplane, but don't fly it. They take care of the passengers). The 4 people on the crew each ask two more people for $1000 each.
With the official rules, each person gets $2000. This doesn't seem like a lot of money. But if you know the real rules, the picture changes.
The REAL RULES: There are NO copilots and NO crew. There is only 1 captain and 8 stupid people. The captain gets $8000 and disappears. He then becomes a captain somewhere else.
2) Boyfriend/girlfriend in another country tricks:
You are lonely, so you go to an internet dating site. You meet a boyfriend/girlfriend in another country. Your new friend is very nice to you and you spend many weeks/months writing emails and chatting on Skype. Your friend sends you gifts, so you like him/her even more. Asking for money comes later:
A) Your friend says "My grandmother is very sick, so she needs money for a doctor"
OR
B) "My uncle died and left me a lot of money, but I have to be married to get the money. I will come to your country to marry you, but I need money for an airplane ticket." Just before they arrive, there is a new problem: "I'm so sorry. I need more money!"
If you send money, they will ask for more and more. Soon, you understand that it was all a big scam (a trick). You feel ashamed, but you don't tell anybody.
Here is an article explaining European train scams, such as when people pretend to help you at a train station. Be aware!
Here is a list of Taiwan scams: 防詐騙集團手法
Here is a list of con tricks from the Hong Kong police:
(in English) Common Con Tricks;
(in Chinese) 常見騙術
Which scams have you heard about? What do you think of con artists? Please leave a comment.
