Sucker list

A sucker list is a list of persons who have previously been successfully solicited for something.^[1]

The major areas of "sucker lists" are solicitation of donations and fraud.

An early example of "sucker lists" made public is given in the November 18, 1929 issue of Time Magazine^[2] in an article about the United States Senate probing into one lobbyist.

People who become victims of, for example, a telemarketing fraud, often are placed on a sucker list. Sucker lists, which include names, addresses, phone numbers, and other information, are created, bought, and sold by some fraudulent telemarketers. They are considered invaluable because dishonest promoters know that consumers who have been tricked once are likely to be tricked again via the "reloading".^[3] As a result, these persons became flooded with letters, e-mails and phone calls with various lottery wins, investment plans, get rich quick schemes and work from home offers.^[1]

The consequences for the victims may be devastating, ranging from further loss of their money, and at worst, being forced to change their identity and even suicide.

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 is fraudulent racetrack touts, who, in particular, used to call people known to be in deep debt and give them false tips.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Trigger list

References

v • d • e Confidence tricks and con artists Terminology Confidence trick · Error account · Mark · Shill · Sucker list Notable confidence tricks Advance fee fraud · Badger game · Black money scam · Bogus escrow · Clip joint · Drop Swindle · Embarrassing cheque · Employment scams · Hustling · Mock auction · Penny-and-dime scam · Pig in a poke · Pigeon drop · Reloading scam · Shell game · Slavery reparations scam · Spanish Prisoner · Thai gem scam · Thai tailor scam · Thai zig zag scam · Three-card Monte · White van speaker scam Pyramid and Ponzi schemes (List of Ponzi schemes) Dona Branca · Caritas · Bernard Cornfeld · Foundation for New Era Philanthropy · High-yield investment program · Investors Overseas Service · MMM · Make Money Fast · Reed Slatkin Notable con artists Frank Abagnale · Tino De Angelis · Philip Arnold · Nicky Arnstein · Scotty · Lou Blonger · Ed "Big Ed" Burns · David "Race" Bannon · Matthew Cox · Louis Enricht · Billie Sol Estes · Arthur Furguson · Peter Foster · Oscar Hartzell · Sante Kimes · Henri Lemoine · Victor Lustig · Gregor MacGregor · Bernard Madoff · George C. Parker · Charles Ponzi · Steven Jay Russell · Soapy Smith · Titanic Thompson · William Thompson · Joseph Weil · Fictional con artists