10. The Embarrassing Check

The embarrassing check con is a well-known means of legally getting money from victims by playing off of their innate feelings of shame. The con men open a fake business with an overtly explicit title that supposedly sells sex toys or other pornographic material, but buyers are told that any purchases they make will be routed through a separate company with a much more innocuous name. After taking orders and collecting payments, the company then sends out letters explaining that a shipping error or some other issue has made it impossible for them to deliver on their product. They enclose a legitimate check refund, only this time the highly graphic name of the company is clearly emblazoned on the check, the idea of course being that a certain percentage of the customers will be too ashamed or embarrassed to ever cash it.