short con

short con (plural short cons)

1. A scam that can be performed in minutes or seconds, typically aiming to rob the victim of the money or valuables they carry on them.

   Coordinate term: long con

   • 1990, Jim Thompson, Donald E. Westlake, The Grifters, spoken by Roy Dillon (John Cusack):

     It's up to me. I'm strictly short con. It's nothing but small time stuff. I can walk away from it anytime I want.

   • 2009, Michael Benson, Cons and Frauds, Infobase, →ISBN, page 21:

     Another common form of short con is the shell game. This scam has the advantage of giving the criminal the ability to rip off many marks all at one location.

• Eric Partridge (2005) “short con”, in Tom Dalzell and Terry Victor, editors, The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, volume 2 (J–Z), London, New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 1736.
•   scam § Length on Wikipedia.Wikipedia