A deception or trickery that can result in victims losing their valuables: There are charlatanries used by those claiming to be readers of water meters, for example, and while one is supposedly recording the data in the presence of the person who is living there, another one goes through the drawers in the bedroom and steals the resident's jewelry, cash, etc.

Another example of a charlatanry was experienced by a traveler who was pulling his suitcase and a small bag with his credit card, etc. under a bridge in New York. Two men approached him and one of them distracted the foreign visitor by saying that there were bird droppings on the back of his jacket and while the man was supposedly brushing the bird feces off, the other man grabbed the personal bag and both of them ran off before the victim could respond to the charlatanry that took place.