“Reinvest, and tell your friends!” This was Charles Ponzi’s enthusiastic sales pitch for the infamous pyramid scheme bearing his name.

What Ponzi realized is what modern-day scammers do also: the vulnerabilities of human nature, not necessarily low intelligence levels, are the driving forces behind the success of scams. Tricksters prey on human weaknesses like greed, lust, dishonesty and vanity. If that doesn’t work, then exploiting traits such as honesty, compassion or naivety will do just fine. Whatever brings in the cash.

Kyiv’s most notorious confidence trick, used exclusively against foreigners, is the old wallet drop scam (kydalyvo in Ukrainian). Despite numerous warnings on embassy websites, web forums and by word-of-mouth, the ingenious scam is still successfully performed on unwitting visitors to Ukraine’s capital.

It is creative in its simplicity and crafty in its form since it is usually non-violent and involves the extraction of an unsuspecting victim’s money via sleight of hand. Police consider petty theft a criminal case only when the loss of money or valuables exceeds Hr 723. Lesser thefts are punished by administrative sanctions, such as fines.

One variation of the hustle works like this: An individual notices a wallet or transparent bag full of money in plain view. It is then scooped up by a passerby, who asks the targeted victim to split the money. During the conversation, a second person appears, claiming to have lost his money. The “discovered” money is counted and soon the hapless victim finds himself accused of theft and asked to produce his wallet, which is emptied of its contents.

“There are different variations of the wallet drop scam but all of them involve two individuals working together,” said Ronnie Catipon, the security attache for the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv.

Catipon cites a variation, in which the second person poses as a police officer, and threatens the victim with arrest if he doesn’t hand over their wallet for inspection to answer for the “missing” money. “It’s non-confrontational, it’s non-violent, but, nevertheless, it is a crime and people have lost considerable amounts of money,” Catipon said.

In the first half of 2008, there were 437 crimes committed against foreigners in Ukraine, of which 45 resulted in deaths, according to Internal Ministry statistics.

The vast majority of foreign deaths in Ukraine are citizens from the former Soviet republics, mostly Russians and Moldovans, according the central administration of the Internal Ministry.

And many crimes occur in Kyiv where, in the first eight months of the year, there were 240 reports filed by foreigners with the Kyiv police, of which 84 became criminal cases upon review, said Kyiv city’s Internal Ministry deputy spokesperson, Volodymyr Dmytrenko.

Interestingly, the police and American Embassy couldn’t provide statistics on confidence scams. The embassy’s Catipon said many cases go unreported, since the victims are too embarrassed and ashamed to say they were victims. “Besides, the whole operation happens so quickly that the details get lost in hindsight,” the security attache said.

There appears, however, to be a direct correlation between economic hard times and an increase in scams.

“If the economic situation is bad, more people are desperate, more people are hungry, they want to put food on their table. They look to victimize other people,” Catipon, a former police officer, said.

So foreigners should brace themselves.

Jason Pochapsky might have fallen victim to the wallet drop on his first trip to Kyiv two years ago. But he was missing a crucial ingredient: He had no money on him. “I saw a clear bag filled with what looked like $20 bills,” Pochapsky recalled. “A man picked up the bag, offered to split it ‘50-50’ and, when I declined, he stuck it in the inside of his jacket. When the second man appeared and padded the man down to no avail, he asked to see my wallet, which was empty … the two played out their supposed roles and disappeared both looking disappointed,” the Canadian said.

Although the wallet scam is by far the most successful operation, according to Catipon, it’s not the only scam for which foreigners fall.

An American who didn’t want to be identified said he fell for the “deaf/mute” scam, which preys on the desire to help those in distress. In this scenario, a foreigner is approached by a person posing as a deaf-mute, holding a piece of paper with a written address on it. When the victim tries to help him find his way, his pockets are picked while distracted by the constant flailing and guttural mumbling of the “deaf-mute.” In this case, the American was relieved of his smart-phone.

Scams usually take place at popular tourist spots, such as Pecherska Lavra, Andriyivskiy Uzviz, St. Sophia Square and “wherever there are large numbers of tourists,” Catipon observed.

Female hustlers bring natural advantages to the world of scamming.

The advent of online dating has enriched Ukrainian women to the tune of thousands – or even tens of thousands of dollars. Much of it is extracted from foreigners harmlessly, for the most part, except to the men’s bank accounts.

The U.S. Consular section said the internet scams have a common theme. “The Ukrainian woman solicits money and gifts from the U.S. citizen while leading him on about her true intent in the relationship.” Westerners and their money are used for travel, computers, fake requests for medicine and fictional surgeries.

“Many men victimized in these scams harbor misconceptions about women from this part of the world,” the U.S. Consular section said in a statement. “The men also believe the women here are so desperate to emigrate that physical differences, i.e. beauty and age, are not factors in finding a husband … this usually is not the case.”

According to anti-scam.org, an online blacklist of women in the former Soviet Union who are identified as scammers, there are three types of scenarios.

The most common and simplest one is to request “money for correspondence.” Small amounts of up to $100 are asked to pay for tabs at Internet cafes to continue exchanging e-mails.

A second and bolder approach is to ask for gift deliveries, even money to pay for the processing of travel visas, usually a student or fiance visa, and airfare to the U.S. to visit their newly found loved ones.

A third reason for money is to help pay for medicine or an urgently needed surgery. “Sometimes a woman strings along the man for so long that she actually goes through the visa process, gets the visa, travels to the U.S. for a few months, and then comes back to Ukraine. And sometimes the woman will begin the process all over again (sometimes with the same man),” the U.S. Consular section said.

Female online scammers are getting more sophisticated, according to David Skol, owner of flowerstoukraine.com, a flower delivery service. He also offers a U.S.-based scam-check service. “What we’re seeing is that women are providing more information to look like they’re not hiding anything, such as a scanned visa they send when corresponding. Or, a group of people start a website advertising a fictitious travel agency to look legitimate, which they shut down as soon as they successfully extract money several times,” Skol said.

Skol said he started the online scam-check service when many addresses for flower deliveries turned out to be phony or non-existent. Skol said his network of agents cover more than 600 towns and cities in the former Soviet Union, including Ukraine.

Exercising basic common sense is the best way of avoiding street scams, Catipon said. “Simply walk away. Because if you get involved, if you try to engage the person, and the second person gets involved, it becomes a mess,” he said.

As for petty theft, to which many foreigners fall victim, being aware and being prepared for outings significantly decreases the chances of falling prey, said Serhiy Pashynskyy, safety and security coordinator for the U.S. Peace Corps in Ukraine, which has almost 300 volunteers.

“Plan ahead. When entering public places like markets or stadiums, take small bills and keep your wallet hidden and be wary of people asking questions,” Pashynskyy said. “Do not flash valuables and stay near elderly people who are considered to be decent and harmless, uniformed personnel and keep one part of your body next to a wall to minimize the directions from which people could approach you.”