Photo/Illutration The building in Tokyo’s Minato Ward where Softbank Corp.’s headquarters is based (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

“The Sting,” a U.S. caper film released in 1973, is about two professional grifters who team up to con a mob boss with an elaborate off-track betting fraud.

The film, with its upbeat ragtime theme music, became an instant hit.

To convince the gang boss he could beat the odds with a $500,000 bet, they rent an empty basement in an alleyway and transform it into a fake de-luxe betting parlor, complete with gaudy chandelier, chalkboard to write the names of horses, a cash dispensing window, and so on. Bundles of bills are also on show, along with plenty of shills.

But such elaborate props were obviously unnecessary for a big con pulled off at the 40-story headquarters building of SoftBank Corp. by former department or section heads who are now under arrest along with another suspect.

They stand accused of defrauding a man of a whopping 1.2 billion yen ($7.92 million) by telling him they were looking for an investor who would loan SoftBank the funds purportedly needed to update computer systems at the company’s domestic outlets. They handed him brochures imprinted with the company logo.

They contacted more than 20 people in the same way, and promised a “20-percent dividend,” which one of the executives said he was fully authorized to deliver.

With the official-looking brochure and the reassurances, I suppose everything must have seemed authentic enough for the victim to fall for the scam.

David W. Maurer (1906-1981), whose 1940 book “The Big Con: The Story of The Confidence Man” is said to have inspired “The Sting,” lists some of the basic qualities needed to succeed as a scammer.

For instance, the perpetrator needs to be able to converse freely with the potential victim on practically any subject, ranging from tabloid gossip to politics and the economy. The person must never give the impression they are smarter than the unwitting victim. In short, they need to be a sort of “everyman” who is liked by everyone.

And finally, according to Maurer, the person must be able to maintain the fiction.

Well, unless you are a professional actor, that’s a tall order. Perhaps the first step to becoming a successful con artist is to be able to deceive yourself before anyone else.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Nov. 11

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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