Just Evil Enough

Chapter 17:

 

Bait and switch

Theft by violence is robbery; by intimidation, extortion. Undetected theft of property is larceny; of funds, embezzlement. Theft by deceit is a swindle, a word with its roots in the eighteenth-century German noun Schwindler, an “extravagant maker of schemes.”¹ The victim of fraud is disappointed by what they received, angry at being tricked, and ashamed for being duped—strong feelings that may take years to be erased.

Bait and switch is at its core deceitful, offering one thing but delivering another. It’s a subversive tactic marketers employ either because it’s easier to sell the bait, or more profitable to deliver the switch.* But it’s not theft if nobody’s wronged, which happens when:

• There’s no transaction.  ...