Hypnotist thief

A man in Italy is allegedly hypnotizing store and bank clerks to give him all of their money.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7309947.stm

I’m a trained hypnotist myself, so my first reaction was skepticism. You can’t hypnotize someone that quickly and reliably. But then I put on my criminal mastermind hat and tried to figure out how this crime could be committed as described.

The trick is to hypnotize the targets well ahead of the actual day of the robbery, perhaps several times, and weed out the people who don’t instantly return to the so-called trance state upon suggestion. Then on robbing day, a simple suggestion at the store or bank can produce the instant results you need. The subjects have been pre-trained.

The hard part of this scheme is finding a way to get the right people to agree to hypnosis ahead of time. I imagine he advertised in a local publication, offering to help people quit smoking or lose weight. When people called for an appointment he would ask what sounded like standard questions, including age and occupation. If someone had the right sort of job, he set up an appointment and started the process. On any given day, he could hypnotize several new clients while testing for the most susceptible subjects who also handle money.

The next part would be a bit tricky. You can’t get a hypnotized person to do something that would violate his basic sense of right and wrong, or to put himself in danger. The brain has some sort of safety mechanism to prevent that.

In the surveillance video on the web, the hypnotist is seen taking the money from the register himself while the clerk seemed to be watching. This might be part of his workaround. The clerk wasn’t committing the crime so much as observing it. And perhaps the hypnotist said he was borrowing the money, or the manager had asked him to bring it to him in the parking lot, or some other story that obscured the ethical boundaries.

It could work. He’d need to be an excellent hypnotist, but that isn’t so rare.

Comments

[Andrew Keir]

put the hypnotist idea together with the idea that we don't actually decide things, we just rationalise our actions, and it all makes sense.

This is really getting scary.

[Boldlulkils]

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[bonkers]

Hypnotising theft is commonplace in Southeast Asia, especially in the Malay archipelago. it is called 'pukau'. The thief breaks into a house and somehow hypnotises the occupants who will be stupefied or fall asleep. Some pukau artists blow smoke into the house to aid his work. While they remain in trance, the thief helps himself to whatever he can find in the house. It is also common for the thief to leave a nasty souvenir after the break in, in the form of fresh turd (produced by the pukau artist after eating food from the house he had broken into) usually left in cooking utensils such as pots and woks! Apparently, this is part of the 'recipe' for a successful pukau. To counter pukau, house owners keep a type of fish called 'puyu', said to be effective in rendering pukau ineffective.

[Jay]

Or the cashier could have been part of the robbery and when they asked "Why didn't you stop him?!" you just say "He hypnotized me!"

BOOM instant money AND a spot on the news.

[Greg P]

I once saw a hypnosis example where the person was convinced the hypontist was invisible. The hypnotist then handed him odd props like a chainsaw and someone else started asking about them as if it was a crime scene or soemthing. It was funny stuff at the time.

I wonder if something similar was at work here. Not being able to see the robber wouldn't realy violate any sense of morals.

[frx]

These things do happen.

There are very few well-documented cases, like the one of the Iranian Yazdandjou Azad (aka Jahan Sina), arrested in Italy in 2002 for thefts done in 1998-1999
The excuse was was asking bank cashiers to change a large note with smaller notes that had an "I" in their number (allegedly, to keep them as souvenirs)
Caught because of fingerprints and surveillance cameras

Also targeted smaller victims: he went to a flower seller with a 100 Euro notes and bought flowers for 10 Euros, asking for change in specific cuts.

(there was another case of man jailed for similar cases, iirc he was in Lithuania)

A second-hand experience: I know a girl (cashier at an hotel) who suddenly "woke up" and found herself having spread a lot of bank notes on the desk in front of two guys.
Realizing what was going on, she took the money back and they ran.

Other unsuccessfull attempts like this convince me it's not a case of victims convincing themselves of being hypnotzed after having been plain dumb.

[Lustig]

I'm may be ignorant, but I dont see how this method could work. May be the guy is using some kind of injection or gas.

[Hypnosis Mp3s]

Well, it looks like a good idea, but I really think those sorts of skills could be used to better society. Surely if he can make people forget, there's more interesting work around!

[GLK]

When (typically overworked & underpaid) clerks and tellers get robbed they cannot help but feel a certain responsibilty for the loss. And, certain employers will make them feel worse, even fire them sometimes. The brilliance of this heist lies in the fact that the "hypnotist" simply provides the clerks and tellers a great excuse for why they handed over the booty. An excuse that, in effect, washes away the responsibility and guilt. Thus the robber is actually providing relief for his victims who take it, willingly, to the hilt. Its a win-win except for the actual owner(s) of the money who aren't on the scene anyway.

[John S.]

Hypnotism is bullshit. They say there are those who "cant' be hypnotized". That's right, they're called NORMAL PEOPLE. Anyone who "can" be hypnotized is just stupid, or going along with the gag.

[RK]

Do I smell a consultant here ?? Give me all your money....I will count it for you. :-)

[Nomi]

Wow, I'm so slow. Even though the whole thing sounded dubious to me, I don't know if I ever would have thought that the clerks could have been in on it.

[Karl]

Wow, you were literally the first person I thought of when I saw this video, and I was expecting you to debunk it IMMEDIATELY ... shows what I know.

Anyway, good to hear your take on it.

[Ferran]

Let me tell you 2 things about your idea:
1. It will never work
2. It's already being done

You think I contradict myself? You should see me in the morning trying to choose what pants to wear.

huh!

[venkyx]

the video doesnt show anything to suggest the store clerk was hypnotized before the cash gets stolen. as humans we all can make mistakes, get distracted, err... its an easy way out (face saving too) to blame it on being hypnotized, then you get sympathy as well as a victim, rather than being treated as a moron who lost the money/valuables. at least a trained hypnotist shouldn't be propagating such myths about hypnosis.

[Travis]

they did that in an episode of MacGuyver, the villian (a hot chick) took Jack Dalton and Peter Thorton and hypnotized them over the period of a week. then, set the "activation word" so they when they hear it, they will preform a predetermined action. but instead of "you hear this, you shoot him" it was "you hear this, you shoot this item", the item being a medal on the speaker. it all worked out fine too...if not for that meddeling MacGuyver.

[Sam]

Maybe the two were colluding? It would be a good way to steal from your bussiness.

[Sondra]

instant induction hypnosis

It's real!

[Tormod]

Whoever says that you cannot be hypnotized against your will presupposes that the subject has identified the situation and context for the maxim to apply.

Seriously, you should watch Derren Brown. The trick about merely asking an individual for his valuables is generally referred to as "russian scam".
There are many factors influencing. You set a state of confusion and you probe the trance for suggestibility before giving the commands.

This hypnotist only needed to find someone already in a trance from doing a repetitive job. Probably from watching how mechanically and detached she performs her serves a few customers is probably all it took.

If it was a hoax, I doubt that they'd arrange for a female accomplice to distract the next people in line. If it was a staged fake video, it would be much easier to just have the hypnotist and cashier in it.

[Ajay Pal Singh Atwal]

Can you teach me hypnosis :-D

[Old Jacques]

"You can’t get a hypnotized person to do something that would violate his basic sense of right and wrong"

You need to consider that in Italy, the land of (centuries' old) various and sundry Mafia and the (much more recent) "Clean Hands" judge scandals (which is more symptomatic than curative, to be honest), and in the meanwhile soccer refs' (national pasttime in Italy) and TV Showgirls (they slept with people to be able to dance half-naked, sometimes less, on TV - but where are their morals?) scandals as well, that the "basic sense" is much different than in other places, such as California, and often an employee considers him(her)self taken advantage of by any big supermarket (or banking, or insurance, etc...) chain which employs him(her), just because as a corporation the company earns more than the single individual worker.

[Aidan]

Scott,

Your theory on how the hypnotism could have been carried out precisely accords with a scheme detailed in the comic caper novel "The Hot Rock" by Donald E. Westlake. This was made into a movie which starred Robert Redford as Westlake's brilliant but star-crossed criminal mastermind John Dortmunder. In the book, the hypnosis takes place on an elevator some days before the robbery is to occur. The post-hypnotic trigger is the nonsensical phrase "Afghanistan banana stand". In Westgate's treatment, no morality or ethics come into play; they're completely bypassed or suspended by the hypnosis. He made this premise very believable (and funny!).

[Aidan]

Scott,

Your theory on how the hypnotism could have been carried out precisely accords with a scheme detailed in the comic caper novel "The Hot Rock" by Donald E. Westlake. This was made into a movie which starred Robert Redford as Westlake's brilliant but star-crossed criminal mastermind John Dortmunder. In the book, the hypnosis takes place on an elevator some days before the robbery is to occur. The post-hypnotic trigger is the nonsensical phrase "Afghanistan banana stand". In Westgate's treatment, no morality or ethics come into play; they're completely bypassed or suspended by the hypnosis. He made this premise very believable (and funny!).

[Miao]

Chris said, "Scott, you need to teach us some quick hypnosis techniques. I could really use them to convince my boss I deserve a raise!"

I could really use them to convince my professors that I deserve As for my papers.

[Chris]

I think your criminal mastermind hat is broken. That plan would get you caught pretty damn quick. So all of the victims have had recent appointments with the same weight loss hypnotist huh? Even the dumbest cop could figure that out in two seconds.

[Johno]

Be simple. So it's hard (I won't say impossible) to make someone violate ethical/self-protective boundaries? No problem! Use that tendency!

You simply hypnotise the guy into thinking either:

*This poor bloke really needs money. The boss would agree if he could see him.*

Or, more sinisterly,

*This fellow is dangerous. I'd better do what he says or else he's going to kill me. And I really need to ensure that I don't let on that I know - to anyone!*

Mind you, he'd have to be good.

[Mark]

A lot of people here mentioned Derren Brown. I'd like to add that Derren Brown is a illusionist and uses many of the same tricks that magicians use. He doesn't actually use hypnosis to pull off all his feats and almost anything can be explained by using standard magician tricks.

[Zeph]

Hypnotism, huh? I can't wait to see when you roll out the astrology page.

[Kevin Kunreuther]

If you ever got bored or fed up with your day job (it could happen), you could probably pull this caper off as you describe it.
1.)You, Scott Adams, strikes me as having the patience to weed out the applicants and find the perfect "accomplices".
2.)The thrill of getting away with such a caper would be far more gratifying than any perceived financial windfall.
3.)If you could somehow have the CCTVs turned off on the appointed visits, 'twould be a perfect crime. Wearing a disguise would not work.
4.)In the end you would have to kill your subjects on the off chance they "recall" you in any way that would lead the police inspectors to your door. Oh well, you could always go into the beef jerky business or add special exotic variety meats to the menu at your two restaurants. Wait, there's that pesky health inspector ... well, I'm sure you can work something out from there!

[Oli]

Wow, I have to learn how to do this, I mean what a career!

I bet he doesn't just limit it to stealing from tills.

"One minute I was on the train, next I was laid on a bed legs akimbo!"

"My burger just disappeared"

"I'm sure I parked my car here"

My Travelling Blog.

http://explorationtofreedom.blogspot.com

[Darth Geoff]

The article quoted one job as being worth 800 euros - seems like a huge amount of work to go for such a piddling amount. He'd be better off actually hypnotising people to give up smoking or lose weight for real.

[prick]

I don't know y i keep returning to this site. But i do, without fail.

[A]

I'm afraid it's an hoax, scott.
I'm writing from Italy, and nobody here knows anything about it.

[Bob]

That's a plausible explanation, Scott. I find it more likely that this is a hoax, though.

[MaxDZ8]

Currently, banks here in Italy are considered thieves by themselves, so the "safety mechanism" is rather weakened. ;)

[David MacMillan]

So this doesn't have to do with the hypnotist thief (and idiotic clerk) - but I wonder what percentage of readers actually figured out the punchline to today's comic?

After all, "Not fast enough" has three possible meanings in that context:

"[Dogbert, you are]n't fast enough."
"[He was]n't fast enough."
"[He didn't use tools] fast enough."

[Mark]

It would be great to see more posts like this, less posts revolving around misapprehensions and flawed logic.

[Danial]

Hypnotism is a load of crap invented by charlatans.

[Arby]

Someone that smart is aware that camera surveillance is a given. If he knows he is being watched and can be identified all the brain work and skill required for hypnotizing the subject adds little to the deceptiveness of the crime.

A blued steel, snub-nosed 45 stuck in the clerks face would have the same effect in getting the cash. Bonnie and Clyde were pretty good at it. In the end the crook would probably be caught as he became bolder and could meet the same end as the infamous couple. It is hard to hypnotize a speeding bullet.

[quantum_flux]

I would like to think that the stores are at least giving something back to the community. What with all their hypnotic brain-washing they do on TV.

Also, here's a good idea!

http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/Space_20Suit_20Bathtub#1206389001

[Drone74B]

I want to learn to hypnotize. "Your breasts are suffocating. Set them free!" I'd be a tough act to follow.

[KK]

This not new. We had several cases here happening in Malaysia. The culprits that were involved tend to be from the Middle East (Turkish, Iranians, etc). They would just approach the cashier, cast a spell (hypnotize?) on her, walk over to the till and empty it, and then just walk out. The cashier claims that she could see what's going on, but had no way to do anything except watch.

[sung]

I can't help but think all your blog entries contain subliminal messages, a sort of hypnosis pre-training if you will, geared towards something big and sinister....

[Steve]

Your idea sounds like a lot of work for a measly $1000. I am sure it is something much simpler. It is like watching a magician do a trick and you conjure up all sorts of ways it could be done. When you find out how it was done it is much simpler than you had thought.

Your knowledge of hypnosis is probably harming you on guessing how this was done.

[who cares]

Well maybe the cashiers did not care. Would you care to protect an employer who paid you poorly?

[jim]

I'm not sure you have this correct. How fast can you, personally, hypnotize someone? Is there anyone who is faster than you? If you said yes, and you probably did, then there is a good probability that, when you find someone faster at hypnotizing than you, there will be someone faster than that person. Following that to its logical (if completely flawed) conclusion, the fastest hypnotizer in the world can hypnotize pretty damn quickly. Perhaps the bank robber in question is THE FASTEST hypnotizer in the world.

[gilknut]

A case of life imitating art?

This sounds a bit like Woody Allen's "The Curse of the Jade Scorpion".

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256524/

Two people are "pre-hypnotized" at a night club, as part of the entertainment, and then made to commit thefts later.

[Mark Thorson]

This would be an opportunity
for supermarket checkers and
bank tellers to claim the
hypnotist is responsible for
otherwise unexplained losses
from their till.

The scheme would work better
if a confederate would be
recruited who looks something
like the hypnotist. He'd walk
through the line and be caught
on camera, but since he would
not actually be taking any
money, he'd have no reason to
fear arrest. He'd simply
provide back-up for the story.

[Erik]

Is there any possibility that the clerks were in on the whole plan from the beginning? That seems like the most likely explanation to me...

[Bryan P]

I just realized why I keep reading this blog. Scott has Hypnotized me. But I would rather be Hypnotized by Scott than do useful work so keep it up.

[WCE]

I'd recommend watching "Mind Control with Derren Brown" (if it ever comes back on).

He uses mental tricks, hypnosis/suggestion, showmanship, etc., to get people to do a lot of things they wouldn't ordinarily do, and appears to be rather successful at it. (Selective editing may help improve the perception of his success rate.)

In the first show of his that I watched, he bought a $4500 platinum/diamond ring from a jeweler using blank sheets of paper cut to the size of dollars to "pay" for the ring. The jeweler accepted the "cash" without question, and allowed him to leave the store with the ring.

He'd distracted the jeweler with small-talk about the safety of taking the local NY subways, and timed his monologue such that when he handed over the blank pieces of paper "money", he was quoting his friend who'd advised him that the subways were safe, saying "Go ahead, take it, they're fine!" right as the jeweler was looking at the blank paper "money".

In the most-recent show, he displayed his technique for cashing-in a losing race-track ticket as if it were a winning ticket, and got paid 20:1 odds on a $20 ticket, using a similar tactic, banter, distraction, etc..

My favorite was when he posed as a tourist asking a local for directions to find a local landmark, and in the process, requested, politely, his watch and wallet, and the local complied, just as cordially, finishing the directions while Derren Brown was offering his help with the watch. The local didn't realize he'd given his watch and wallet away until some time later, and approached him, asking for his wallet and watch back, and got the same cordial banter, apologies, and ended up getting his watch and wallet from the local *again* after giving them back.

I'm sure you'd like the program, as a hypnotist, you could probably see where he used suggestion covertly. I was amazed.

[Gabe]

Yeah, I think the teller was in on it and they concocted the hypnosis thing as a cover.

[daniel]

If a hypnotist is that good, could he not make far more money legitimately?
The problem with most schemes is that if you are clever enough to come with a really good one, you could probably achieve similar results legitimately and not have to worry about hiding out afterwards.

[Tom]

I have been a long time reader of your blog and...........and.....and.....where do I send you all of my money?

[Oliver]

I think it's much easier. Something along the lines of this recently popular video:

http://break.com/index/awareness-test.html

All of us saw the dancing monkey but we were too busy counting the passes. And afterwards, we didn't even realize we saw it.

The guy could have said something to her to keep her mind busy.

[Bloodboiler]

I call bullshit on the widely believed fact that people cant be hypnotized to do things against their will. Some psychological experiments have shown that most ordinary people may turn into sadists or even participate in killing of another human, if context or an authority figure gives them reason to do so. Why would your brain protect your "moral compass" from verbal tampering, but allow simple context change or an authority figure to bypass it completely?

In the Stanford Prison Experiment, prison guard role made third of the volunteers sadistic. Similarly, in the Milgram Experiment two thirds of the participants were willing to give lethal electric shocks to another human (of course they didn't really kill anyone in the tests).

[Yuriy]

People always bring up the fact that you can't convince someone to do something they'd never agree to do on their own, but miss the fact that you can convince them to do it as long as you're also convincing them that they're not doing it.

You can't hypnotize some one with "take this gun, point at that person, and shoot." Unless you hypnotize them with "this is only a water pistol" first.

[Toxic]

Or it was an inside job, and they thought that "hypnotizing" the inside guy would provide him enough cover to hand over the loot.

The hypnosis in that case might be the 50/50 split when they meet up later.

[LA Clay]

Convincing the teller that bank was empty or the drawer was closed should be easy. I saw Skip Orley convince a stage full of people a night club was empty, tables deserted and full of trash. He also convinced them the only thing they could hear was his voice, In spite of the fact there were over 200 patrons laughing their respective asses off.

[James]

You can't convince someone to do something they know is wrong - so the trick is to convince them that what is happening is actually right. I'm reminded of a recent scam in the UK: a big, busy supermarket had a pipe system for transferring money to the back office to avoid any checkout having too much cash available to steal. Unfortunately, the pipe happened to run through the bathroom - so an enterprising thief cut the pipe open and sat collecting cash. The operators were all loading batches of cash into the containers and firing them off to the office as usual - effectively handing cash in big bundles directly to the thief, without knowing it!

So, use hypnosis to convince the operator that you are, in fact, the store's accountant or the bank courier, sent to collect the cash from their drawer. Result: they sit there waiting for their cash drawer to be emptied (by you), seeing it as a normal procedure. For extra credit, use similar tricks to convince someone else that they work for the bank and have been sent to collect the cash for delivery to their new branch in the back of your car...

[dave]

Have u heard of derren brown?

i think it is possible. people who work at supermarkets taking money, carry the same routine over and over again. it would be quite easy to make a mistake.

once i went to a supermarket. my stuff cost just under £10, i paid with a £10 note. then the person got distracted by a coworker, who said something about working on aisle twenty, and she was on aisle twenty. then she mistook my £10 for a £20. and she put it in the £10 bit of the tray, and got another £10 out from the back of the tray and some other small change. I thought it was so wierd that she was doing this, I kept quiet, but it is my real life example of how distraction during a autonomous process can cause irregular behaviour.

[Paula]

Write it up and offer it to USA network as a Monk episode.

[Chris]

Scott, you need to teach us some quick hypnosis techniques. I could really use them to convince my boss I deserve a raise!

[bill]

I knew that show, Mind over MAtter" was a hoax, Scott just proved my theory

[patti]

Patti says:
Hmmmm I like this idea.
"Look into my eyes",seems like I've heard this one before?
Maybe he's from Transylvania. Seems like he's seen too many movies.Were there any marks on their necks?

Perhaps this guy hypnotized people into revealing hidden secrets in their lives. THEN? He used those secrets to blackmail them.. and so ..they went along with his suggestions.
After all, they didn't remember anything and they didn't actually DO anything. Right?

Did these people show-up for work after their encounters with him and those robberies?

And..YOU, SCOTT? Is that what you ask people to do when you hypnotize them? Do you ask them to "look into" your eyes?

Of course he may have used that phrase rather then "look into ..my pants"

[rita mae]

If he were that great of a hypnotist, he would have made it big somewhere. My take is that the teller was in on it.

However, Scott, you are a great hypnotist. I run into work and instantly check your blog. Then I check every hour to see what's happenin'. You have me -- hook, line, and sinker.

Rita Mae

[Keshav Bhatt]

Not a bad idea at all, if not steal, a person can at least fake that he's hypnotized while his/her accomplice grabs the money and runs away !!!! simple , Scott

[Borjan]

What if the hypnotist is talented like Derren Brown?

Watch some of his videos on the web and see how he instantly confuses clerks giving him (or other people) money for wrong betting-tickets (those clerks are much more difficult to influence than bank clerks)...

[Drew]

I call Jedi on this one. He Kenobied them out of their money, that dirty little padawan learner.

[Leora]

Why would you bother with the hypnosis? Just carve yourself a replica gun or buy one at a toy store.

I know when I worked at a grocery store and two guys with sawed-off shotguns came in demanding money, I got the hell out of the way and let them help themselves to the till. I suspect very few people would have the presence of mind (or suicidal tendencies) to notice if the gun was real or not before handing over cash that's not theirs from a place that's paying them minimum wage.

Now, if he could hypnotize the clerks into remembering him as looking totally different than he really does, and into turning off the surveillance video, that might be useful.

Why do I have the feeling I just aided and abetted?

[Corey]

It would seem that the most likely explanation is that those who have been hypnotized were actually in on the scheme and that being hypnotized is their allibi. If Italians are that easily suggestable, I wish I was 20 years younger and single again.

[Silon]

That's crazy. Seems unlikely though. Wouldn't it be easier to buy a gun or something?

[jeff]

For the money? Why not for the sex? Granted, you can buy the sex with the money. But then I'd feel dirty.....

[himanshu]

your theory has holes.......if the clerks have been pre-trained by the thief, they surely would recognize and name him AFTER the crime....they wouldn't remember the crime happening, but they would know who came and spoke to them, just before the crime.

[Slap D. Monkey]

Scott,

Suppose your camping and your camp-mate says 'look into my eyes'. The next thing you know, you wake up with your pants around your ankles and your ass is sore. Would you tell anyone?

No? Want to go camping with me?

[Jan]

Sounds complicated.

In the thread on Digg several people expressed scepticism too, but someone posted these examples of Derren Brown performing similar tricks:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3Vz_YTNLn6w
http://youtube.com/watch?v=II_-QcW4Q4I
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8ZohpDS2aMc

[Moe]

Derren Brown did a bit on his show Mind Control where he essentially ripped off tellers as a horse race track by "convincing" them to pay out on a losing ticket. That guy uses combinations of psychological tricks, hypnosis, and just plain charisma/showmanship to do what he does. The race track bit used some elements of fast hypnotic inductions I've read about.

I wouldn't be surprised if I was told that for every take on his show there were ten where the participants didn't react how he wanted, but it was still a pretty cool show.

[Real Live Girl]

I would be more likely to believe there was some collusion between the robber and employees. I think hypnotism can be a useful tool, but I'm not sure it's as powerful as all that. If it was, wouldn't all lonely horny guys be rushing to be Master Hypnotists instead of Masturbators? Or did I just ruin your good thing? LOL.

[Andrew]

I personally don't believe that is possible (my opinion, don't bash me!)

An alternative solution is that the clerks are in on the deal...

[dsg]

Hi Scott,

Dilbert not selling so well lately? Sounds like you have some plans of your own. The guy in the picture looks entirely unlike any photos I have ever seen of you. Perhaps he is just one of your hypnotized minions. You gave away your whole plan except for, Start by hypnotizing a bunch of good hypnotists.... How are you going to get the money from your minions?

Beware the hypnotist in comic’s clothing,
dsg

[Fiscal Musings]

Stranger things have happened, but I can't imagine it actually works.

[Diana W]

So what you're saying is that I should hypnotize my boss into logging into the payroll system and then ignoring me as I give myself a hefty raise and penalize my adversaries. I like it!