Depression Era Con Games

The Suit Club

Most scams roll on and on, year after year, with only slight modification. Once a good patern for a criminal activty is established, it is copied and then done to death. What follows is the description of a scam which largely came and went with the Depression. Although not stated, the key to this crime was the willingness of commercial landlords to lease space to anyone who could come up with a month's rent. The scam itself is a straight fraud--a promise to deliver something for cash payment which turns into the taking of funds and the giving of nothing--with a twist on the old lay away plan. This is from the December 1939 issue of Actual Detective Cases of Women in Crime. 

Although it is often thought that titles such as "Women In Crime" were primarily intended for male audiences, it apears that at least the editors of Actual Detective anticipated having some female readers. The tone of this may be oft-putting to a modern eye, but it was quite typical of what was used in any number of advice-type features pitched at female audiences during this era.