BRIAN BRUSHWOOD: The following program contains secret hacks.
Attempting some of these shortcuts can be dangerous
and is ill-advised.
The dictionary definition of a sucker...
-[laughing] -Ow! I hate you!
...is someone who's gullible or easily deceived.
That's disgusting.
Go.
Oh. Ow, ow!
-Ah! -[Brian laughing]
What is wrong with you?
Make you a man!
-How was it? -It tasted like sadness.
Suckers fall victim to scams.
We're gonna play follow the lady.
They lose money, believe blatant lies,
and they get taken advantage of.
Well, not anymore.
I'm gonna teach all of you suckers out there
how to spot a lie...
Your thermostat was totally shot,
so we're gonna have to replace that.
...expose a scam.
As an intuitive,
I think and speak in pictures.
Hang onto your money and fight back.
I got sixty bucks right now,
-and we're done. -All right. Let me have it.
I'm gonna show you how not to be a sucker.
I'm Brian Brushwood, and I've picked up
the tools of scientists and spies,
of criminals and con artists.
I've mastered incredible tricks
and dangerous stunts as a professional magician.
Now, I have an encyclopedia of shortcuts,
secret data, and helpful hacks
designed to help you make life easier
and give you the upper hand.
Whoa, buddy!
This isHacking the System.
According to industry experts,
Americans overpay tens of billions of dollars every year
for faulty or fraudulent auto work.
Unnecessary repairs, padded charges,
low quality parts,
heck, not even doing the work at all,
there's no end to the ways
that shady mechanics can take advantage of you.
No wonder car maintenance gripes rank
as the biggest consumer complaint.
Today, I'm posing as a mechanic
to show you how to keep unscrupulous mechanics
from taking advantage of you.
Look, I know next to nothing about car repairs,
but I'll bet I could talk someone into work
they don't need, and hidden cameras will catch it all.
What can I do for you?
Um, so I think it's been a while
since I've gotten my oil changed and my car inspected.
All right. Now you say "been a while,"
how long are we talking about?
I think like 5000 miles.
[chuckles] All right.
I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll get the oil changed.
I'll give it a full 37-point inspection,
gonna check out the power couplings,
the drive train, the complete power train.
-I'm gonna check it all out. -Okay.
BRIAN: See what I did?
I added several services she didn't ask for
without even looking at the car.
Never agree to something without knowing
if you even need it.
Do you know how much that costs about?
Ah, don't worry about it. I'll take care of you.
-Okay. Thanks. -You got your keys?
-Yeah, thank you. -Awesome. Thank you.
Never agree to work without a written estimate.
This customer has no idea what I'm gonna charge,
but once the work's done, without an estimate,
she'll have to pay for it.
So far, this customer hasn't picked up
on any of the warning signs that I could be a sleazy
or even incompetent mechanic.
Let's see what happens when I tack
a huge extra onto her bill.
Hey, miss!
Well, the good news is even after 5,000 miles
the oil wasn't a problem.
However, your thermostat is pretty much shot.
Normally, these are $500 new to install,
however, I have a perfectly good used part
that I can get in there for only $200.
Your car's already up.
We can knock it out right now.
Some shady mechanics will replace perfectly good parts
with old ones they have laying around.
Always ask for the parts you're replacing
so you could check 'em out later
with someone you trust.
I-- that's a little bit higher than I thought it was gonna be.
I thought it was just gonna be an oil change.
I mean, I don't want you broken down
on the side of the highway. Have you ever been there?
-Broken down on the side of the highway? -No. No.
No, and you... I don't think you want to be.
Yeah. No.
Don't let yourself be intimidated.
If you're not sure, get a second opinion
from a trusted source.
What do you say we just go ahead
and take care of this right now?
-Okay. All right. -All right.
Better safe than sorry, right?
-Yeah, that's fine. -You got it.
I just suckered this customer
into a repair she doesn't need.
The remedy's simple,
ask for a license, look up reviews,
get a referral.
And if you don't know anything about cars,
educate yourself
or at least take along someone who does know.
Never pay for repairs that you haven't authorized beforehand.
If a mechanic tries to steamroll you
with excess charges, stand your ground.
The law's likely on your side.
This customer, she'll be pleased to discover
she was part of an experiment
and get her oil changed for free.
-My name is Brian Brushwood. -Hi.
-And we have a few cameras. -What?
But don't be a sucker next time you need a car repair.
I guess you don't know a lot about cars, right?
-No. -That's okay, 'cause neither do I.
And you can even be your own mechanic.
Next time your check engine light comes on,
you could save yourself a costly trip to the mechanic
by using one of these.
Nowadays you could pick up
affordable diagnostic tools online
that plug directly into the car's computer,
give you information on air flow, fuel efficiency...
-[engine starts] -...RPMs.
Some of them even have Bluetooth
and will connect straight to your phone.
This is great information to have before making
a potentially costly trip to the mechanic.
Let's see if you could get this one.
True or false,
buying higher-octane fuel
guarantees you'll get better gas mileage.
The answer is...
false.
According to the Federal Trade Commission,
most vehicles experience absolutely no benefit
from buying more expensive higher octane fuel.
So unless your car's manual recommends high octane fuel,
stick with the regular.
Don't be a sucker.
Speaking of which...
Americans spend around two billion dollars a year
on psychics hoping to get insight into the paranormal.
Yet many of these psychics are using a few basic tricks
to simulate their abilities.
One renowned skeptic has offered a million dollar prize
to anyone who can prove under test conditions
that they have any psychic abilities.
Though over a thousand people have applied,
nobody's taken home that prize.
I'm gonna show you just how easy it is
for a psychic to swindle a sucker.
One way psychics create a connection with you
is by making Barnum statements
that take advantage of what's called the Forer effect.
This is a unique psychological defect that we all have
that causes us to take general statements
and believe they apply uniquely to us.
Here. I'll show you.
I'm gonna give you a psychic reading.
I'm not even gonna charge you for this one.
You have a need for other people to like and admire you.
You have untapped potential,
but sometimes you wonder if you've made
the right life decisions or directions.
You feel like you're worth more than you're being paid.
You're calm on the outside, but inside,
you often feel turmoil.
Sound like you?
That's the brilliance of these statements.
They're designed to sound like they apply to everyone.
People rank statements like these
as almost 85 percent accurate.
Hello, ladies. Come on in.
It'll be a lot of fun. Totally free.
I'm pulling people in off the street for a free reading.
They're all perfect strangers and I'm no psychic,
but I do know how to cold read people.
[Brian humming]
Understand that as an intuitive...
[clicks tongue] ...I speak in pictures,
and not all of these will make sense to me.
Some may be from the past, some may be from the present,
some may be from the future.
I ask that you keep an open mind
and you try to follow along.
It's a smaller man, um, older.
I wanna say his name starts with a, uh, uh, uh, a B or a P.
-Patrick by any chance? -Pat.
-Who's Pat? -That's my grandfather.
H-He passed a couple of years ago.
Getting a name right is essential,
but surprisingly, not that hard.
Cold readers usually throw out common names or letters
waiting for the victim to volunteer more information.
Notice how he not only supplied me with a name,
but also gave me additional information.
Now I have my subject.
I see water. Did... did he like to boat?
Not-Not really.
I guessed wrong. Now what?
While I may be doing the talking,
my subject's responses provide the meaning and context.
'Cause it's not flat water. It's, it's in motion.
It's manicured like you would see
on a, on a, on a golf course,
-like very manicured. -Oh, no way.
-He used to love golf. -Of course. Of course.
Boom. Transformed it into a hit.
And he's dressed like in his Sunday best.
He is, like he just got off the links. Uh...
Another miss.
As I'm making statements, I'm looking for physical cues
to see if I'm on the right track.
Which is weird because he's not normally a formal person.
-He's rather casual, right? -Yeah.
I fee-- I feel like May or June was important.
Uh, the, the summertime.
What happened during the summer?
I usually... I usually visited him and my grandma,
my grandparents during the summertime.
I picked summertime because it's usually
a happy time for most people,
and I'm betting on it as when he may have connected
with his grandfather.
That makes sense, 'cause he's smiling.
And he wants you to know that those were
some of the best days of his life.
Finally, cold readers almost always end their readings
with a stock statement
designed to comfort and please.
Wow.
Thank you.
Of course at the end of the session,
I let everyone know that I was demonstrating
cold reading techniques.
God, I feel like an [bleep] even acting this way.
[all laughing]
Interestingly, this guy said he was skeptical
but that he wanted to believe.
And that's the key to a fake psychic success.
Whether you believe in psychics or not,
at least now you won't be a sucker.
See if you could figure this one out.
Which first lady held numerous seances
in the White House?
Was it Jackie Kennedy, Eleanor Roosevelt,
Mary Todd Lincoln, or Martha Washington.
The answer is...
Mary Todd Lincoln.
Her 11-year-old son died during the height
of the spiritualism movement in the 1860s,
which led her to many nights trying to contact spirits.
From conjuring spirits to scalping concert tickets,
you've gotta keep your guard up.
Even though ticket scalping's illegal in many states,
it's a thriving industry.
And if you're somebody who loves live music
or sporting events, you may find yourself
in a negotiation with a ticket scalper,
which could be intimidating at best,
and at worst, a downright scam.
I'm outside of a sold out event right now
so I could show
you how to safely get the tickets you want
without being ripped off.
First off, make sure that buying scalped tickets
is legal in your city or state.
Otherwise, you risk getting a costly fine
instead of a front row seat.
Next, only negotiate in a safe,
public, well-lit area.
I spot a scalper with tickets to sell
and I've already got an edge.
The concert's about to start,
so in just a few hours, his tickets won't be worth
the paper they're printed on.
By waiting until the last minute,
I have the upper hand.
-Hey, boss. You got one? -Yes.
They're $100 each, front and center.
Eh, front and center, which section?
Section 36.
-Section 36? -Front and center, dude.
-Right in the center. -No, section 36
is pretty far from front and center, man.
A hundred bucks.
BRIAN: Always have a copy of the seating chart.
It's the only way to know what you're buying.
Section 36?
-This is front and center, right behind the stage. -No.
Did you see that?
He tried to place the ticket in my hand.
This is a popular sales tactic.
Touching an item creates a psychological connection
between the potential buyer and the object.
Time to use his own tricks against him.
I got sixty bucks right now.
Sixty dollars cash money...
-All right. Let me have it. -...and we're done.
By showing him my cash, I've turned the tables on him.
Now that he sees my money's there for the taking,
he is much more likely to take my offer.
Don't hand him your money,
but show him you're ready to make a deal.
What he doesn't know is that I still have
another $40 in my other pocket.
I mean this is $60 cash,
-you got it right now. -I mean, if you want though,
you got to pay a hundred bucks.
Nah, it's okay. I'll be back later on then.
-They're a hundred dollars... -Yeah. Don't worry about it.
They're front and center, they're good tickets.
If you don't like the price you're getting,
don't be afraid to walk away.
All right. Well, that didn't work.
Luckily, I have another plan.
So how do you tell if you have a fake ticket?
Well, first of all, the safest way is to buy it
from a legitimate source.
But if you're not in that situation,
look at the back.
If your ticket's blank on the back,
it's almost certainly a fake.
Real tickets have advertisements on the back.
Second of all, identify the way that it's been printed.
If it was printed on an inkjet printer,
if that ink smears,
it's almost certainly a fake.
They might have used a color laser printer,
in which case you could take a penny
and scratch it on the side.
If the ink comes off, again,
probably a fake.
Of course the safest method
is to actually let the booth operator scan the ticket.
If the guy selling you the ticket has nothing to hide,
he should have no problem with it.
Scalpers are out there competing for your money.
And if you play your cards right,
you could get two scalpers to compete head to head.
You got one?
-What do you got? -[scalper speaking indistinctly]
-SCALPER 1: Hey, back down. -BRIAN: What section you got?
Hey, man, I'll drop them to 80 for you.
-I'm taking eighty bucks. -SCALPER 2: Hey, can you see...
-Can't you see I'm working with this guy here? -He's my customer.
-I got it for $80. -Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
-Back down, dude. Just drop it. -Hey, look.
Dude, you got five minutes, and those are nothing.
All right, sixty. Give me sixty.
Okay, sixty. Are we good on sixty?
Yeah. Give me sixty right now.
-All right, we're good. -You've got five minutes. Good luck.
I got good seats, and I didn't compromise on price.
I got a concert to go to.
Quick quiz. What denomination
is the most commonly counterfeited bill in America?
Is it the five dollar bill,
the ten dollar bill, the twenty dollar bill,
or the hundred dollar bill?
The answer is...
the twenty dollar bill.
Next in line, the one hundred dollar bill,
the most counterfeited bill in foreign countries.
Have you ever been passed a bill and you're not sure
if it's totally legit?
There's an amazingly simple test you could pull off
to know whether or not it's a real bill.
And believe it or not, all it takes is a magnet.
Real US currency is printed
with ferrous material in the ink.
That means a magnet should attract the bill.
In this case, we've got five identical US bills.
Four of them are counterfeit, one's the real thing.
Let's see which one identifies itself.
Look at that.
That's so awesome.
And just like that, we have our real US bill.
Talking about being real,
how can you tell when a person's being real?
I'm gonna say this again,
I did not have sexual relations with that woman.
Of all the ways to get suckered,
one of the worst is buying someone else's lie.
Whether it's a customer or a co-worker,
a companion or a contractor,
when you buy someone's lie, it costs you money,
emotional pain, even your credibility.
Luckily, most liars have the answer
written all over their face.
I'm gonna teach you the clues to look for
so that you can become a human lie detector.
Hello, gentlemen.
Some guys on the production team
have volunteered to let me put
some facial reading techniques to the test.
I'll ask them a series of questions
and see if I can spot who's lying
and who's telling the truth.
I understand one of you did something interesting.
What was it?
-I've eaten a live cobra heart. -Hmm.
I've eaten a live cobra heart.
-I've eaten a live cobra heart. -Hmm.
What was the first thing you thought of...
when you ate a cobra's heart?
That I was awesome.
What about you?
When you ate the cobra's heart,
what was the first thing that came to your mind?
I was still pretty worried about getting sick.
Like poisoned?
I figured it was a possibility there's still poison somewhere,
you know, coursing through its body.
Something would still maybe get me.
Huh.
Did you kill the cobra yourself or did someone else kill it?
No, someone else killed it.
-How did they do it? -With a knife.
How big is a cobra heart?
-It's about that big. -Yeah?
-Little larger than a golf ball. -Did you take it in one bite?
-I swallowed it. Yeah. -You swallowed it whole?
Wow.
They're all trying to appear
like they're telling the truth,
but what they don't realize is that
their facial expressions are telling another story.
Our faces have 42 muscles
and thousands of different expressions.
While body language is something
we're all aware of at times,
there are also micro-expressions
which are unconscious.
They can't be controlled.
They appear so fast, they give us away
before we gain control of our faces.
Now, analyzing expressions is not an exact science.
It takes years of training to become an expert,
but these small clues can help me take a good guess.
After watching their faces carefully,
pretty sure I know who's telling the truth
and who's lying.
Let's see if I'm right.
Before I even begin, Nick takes a big swallow,
indicating he's getting ready to lie.
That's not enough to say for sure.
He shows us no appropriate signs of disgust
before he tells us that he swallows the heart
but only afterwards with a slight wrinkle in his nose.
He also raises his eyebrows
when he says that he swallowed it.
I swallowed it.
This might mean he's trying to impress me
by emphasizing his words.
I'm not a hundred percent sure Nick is lying,
but I'm definitely suspicious of him.
Paul's got fear written all over his face,
and that could tell us that he's too scared
to eat the cobra's heart.
Here, his lips stretched
just before he presses them together.
The stretched lips indicate fear,
which he then tries to disguise
by pursing them together.
...something would still maybe get me.
Again, Paul shows signs of fear
when his eyebrows raise and he swallows slightly.
And finally, Paul's lip goes slightly up,
showing us contempt.
Contempt is often associated with lying.
Paul's face gave him away.
I'm gonna guess that he too is lying.
Which leaves Alex.
I gotta say, I would not have chosen him
as the guy telling the truth,
but let's see what his face tells us.
I've eaten a live cobra heart.
BRIAN: Alex is wearing a suppressed smile,
showing me he's genuinely satisfied
that he ate the cobra heart.
That I was awesome.
BRIAN: When I asked him what he thought after eating it,
Alex looks upward and answers naturally.
This is a sign of sincerity,
as he appears to be recalling a memory.
[distorted voice]: Awesome.
BRIAN: When he answers, he nods his head,
confirming he felt awesome.
Throughout, he shows no signs of contradicting
what he says with his expressions,
leading me to believe he's telling the truth.
I'm not totally convinced,
but there's only one way to find out.
I feel like the only person
who's talking straight with me the whole time...
was Alex.
Did you eat the cobra heart?
-I did. -[laughing]
When did you eat the cobra heart?
Just a, you know, college abroad.
-One of those things. -BRIAN: That is awesome.
Obviously, nothing's a hundred percent,
but man, micro expressions really give stuff away.
Well done, gentleman.
Gross. Cobra heart.
Well, there's no foolproof way to keep from being suckered,
but at least now you have a few tricks up your sleeve
to make it less likely.
Not bad.
Of course, if you want to try your luck...
we're gonna play follow the lady.
...that's up to you.
-We're going all in. -All in.
-BRIAN: You're going all in? -Yeah.
-BRIAN: On which one? -MAN: Our right.
BRIAN: Your right?
You're not right.
[laughing]: I'm so sorry, guys.