Flopsy

Flopsy is slang for a scam in which the Hustler arranges to be struck by a car, then feigns injuries. The name comes from the loose-limbed roll across the car hood that causes the Hustler to seem like he is flopping around like a rag doll.

A skilled Flopsy artist can take hits up to 25 miles per hour, go rattling across the roof and fall into a miserable pile behind the car without even getting a bruise.

This con pays out in a number of different ways. The driver's insurance company will pay out for medical care from a doctor who the hustler is in league with for a split. In countries that have disability payments, that can be milked. If there is a "friendly" lawyer available to work a lawsuit up for "fear and suffering", it can be a very big payout.

The hustler can sometimes get an immediate cash settlement from the driver, who may fear that his insurance rates will go up, or who has other reasons not to involve the authorities in the matter. A preferred place to stage this play is near the exit from a bar's car park, where the driver will want to avoid a breath test if the police are brought in.

Not related to Mopsy and Cottontail. Also not related to Dropsy. Or the King of Omashu's pet.

Examples of Flopsy include:

Anime & Manga

• Used in Monster. However, instead of being a scam to get money out of someone, it was intended to get prison guards out of their vehicle so that a transported prisoner could escape. Needless to say, it doesn't go as planned...
• In Hayate the Combat Butler, this is one of the things Hayate did for money when he lived with his parents, although it's only shown in a brief flashback.

Film

• Played with in the movie Curly Sue: initially it's played straight, when the titular girl helps her father pull off this scheme with a rich female lawyer ("You've killed him!"). Then later on, said lawyer accidentally hits the guy for real ("Now you've really killed him!"). When the lawyer lets the guy and his daughter stay at her place while the former recovers, the lawyer's boyfriend shows up and tells her they may be scamming her (prompting Sue to say "We're busted" out of earshot), but the lawyer disbelieves this.
• Used as a distraction from a jewelry store robbery in David Mamet's Heist. It's performed by Ricky Jay, a noted sleight-of-hand artist and expert on con men.
• Used to start the con on Penelope in The Brothers Bloom, in a combination of The Flopsy and a pre-planned Meet Cute.

Literature

• A rather sinister variant of insurance fraud drives the plot of Dan Simmons's novel Darwin's Blade. The local Mafia recruits illegal immigrants to participate in an automobile-based Flopsy scheme. After giving them a fake identity and a car, they go on the highway and deliberately cause a crash, in order to collect insurance money. What they don't know is that the car has been rigged with explosives, and the Mafia has also taken out life insurance on the fake identities.
• In "The Spy's Retirement" by Jon Courtenay Grimwood, somebody tries this on a carriage containing Dr Watson. Watson quickly sees through the scam, and is not impressed—especially since it results in one of the carriage-horses being genuinely injured.
• Odd John used this repeatedly, though not for monetary gain (at least, not directly.) Instead, he'd fake an accident so that he could be carried into the homes of prominent men while a doctor was sent for (this being before the days of paramedics) which would give him an opportunity to study the ruling class at close range.

Live Action TV

• One of the many skills of Ash Morgan in Hustle. He uses an old skull fracture that he accuired in a Bar Brawl that shows up on the xray once taken to hospital to claim on insurance. In fact, the BBC website has made a game out of it which you can play here.
  • In one episode it is found out that he is paying for the medical care of his ex-wife who often did this stunt and had it go bad the last time.
• Many Sitcom plots involve such a scam being pulled on the spur of the moment, after a character has genuinely been hit by a car, but escaped without injury. See Frivolous Lawsuit.
• In an early episode of M*A*S*H (television), Radar encounters a Korean incarnation of this scam - the con is discovered because the doctors have treated the uninjured 'victim' before.
• In It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Dennis and Charlie use this in a failed bid to get tickets to the World Series. Emphasis on "failed": Charlie initially volunteers, chickens out, then shoves Dennis in front of a passing car instead, who gets hurt and obviously still does not get tickets.
• Uncle Albert in Only Fools and Horses episode "Hole in One" used a variant; using his parachute training to fall safely down open pub cellars.
• Used by the guy who played G.O.B. at the end of the third season premiere of Thirty Rock. He says he's going to sue everyone in the same way.
• In the pilot of the unfortunately cancelled FX show Lucky, the titular character needs to come up with a lot of cash into order to pay off a debt. When time becomes a very important factor, his friend asks how much is needed, then says he'll be right back before walking out to the street and getting hit by a car, much the consternation of Lucky ("SON OF A BITCH!"). He walks in and hands some money to Lucky, then asks how much is needed and says it'll take a while before walking outside. When he's hit by a car again (he is not a skilled Flopsy), Lucky doesn't even notice.
• Played with in an episode of The Munsters; Herman is hit by a car driven by a rich man. Being Herman, he just gets up and walks away, oblivious to the idea that it should've even hurt. The rich family offers money to the Munsters so they won't sue, which they somehow mininterpret as being sued and thus don't take it, prompting the rich family to make a better offer, which just increases the amount the Munsters think they're being sued for...
• Happened in an episode of Highlander the Series with an Immortal who would "fake" his death and his (mortal) girlfriend who would collect the money. Goes horribly wrong when a driver decides to just kill her instead.
• An unusual example in the Showtime miniseries Sleeper Cell. The Flopsy is performed by an FBI agent who rides his bike in front of the terrorists' van hoping to slow them down.
• In Cra$h & Burn a group of Russian crooks specializes in this type of scam and a major part of the protagonist's job as an insurance adjuster is to spot which claims are genuine and which are fake. The crooks go so far as to stage a fender bender with an empty transit bus and when the bus driver gets back from checking out the damage he suddenly has dozens of 'passengers' who claim to have been injured in the accident.
• On Parks and Recreation, Jean-Ralphio's only successful source of income so far was getting hit by a Lexus. He barely got hurt; he says he knows a guy who can set these things up.
• In The Partridge Family a man is hit in a genuine accident, but decides to fake an injury once he realizes who the bus belongs to.
• As a child, Sarah Walker was used in a similar scam by her con artist father. In the version we see, however, her dramatics are merely used as a distraction while he robs a security van.
• One episode of Taxi has Louie thinking that he is the target of this scam when he learns the elderly woman he hit is a con-artist who pulls it regularly. Unfortunately for him, it turns out he really did hit her and break her leg. And that was before he pushed her wheelchair down a flight of stairs..
• One victim on 1000 Ways to Die was a con artist who specialized in this. He died when one of his marks didn't put the brake on properly, crushing him between her car and the car ahead of hers.
• In one episode of Kenny Hotz's Triumph of the Will, Kenny tries to make money this way but gives up after a few feeble attempts.

Newspaper Comics

• One Dilbert Sunday strip had a variation on this. Dilbert accidentally taps a nearby car and goes to check the damage, only to find the driver horribly twisted and threatening lawsuit. When under oath in the courtroom, he reveals his job as "circus contortionist". (And the entire thing was just to set up a pun.)

Video Games

• Video game example: The Grand Theft Auto clone Saints Row For the Xbox 360 features an "insurance fraud" minigame where the player can earn money by pulling this scam. Being a video game, you don't so much roll across the bonnet as get catapulted thirty feet into the air before witnessing a very painful-looking demonstration of the Ragdoll Physics engine.
  • In the sequel, a good hit can knock the player two or three blocks down the road and about a third as high into the air.

Western Animation

• In one episode of The Simpsons, Homer has a distant relative who "jumps in front of cars [to] sue the driver."
• In "The Runaway" episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender Sokka and Toph pull this scam on a carriage, though no one was actually hit and they got money by Sokka pretending to be a guard and taking a bribe. That's right, they are getting away with fraud and extortion while most kids on TV Can't Get Away with Nuthin'.
  • Not to be confused with the king of Omashu's pet, also called Flopsy.
• This is part of one of R.J.'s heists to get food from the humans in Over the Hedge: Ozzie the possum pretends to have been run over and distracts the humans while the others steal the food. It almost goes awry when the exterminator turns up.
• In the Disney film Oliver and Company, Dodger and his gang apparently do this to steal car stereos: Einstein the Great Dane headbutts a car, Francis the bulldog pretends to be injured or dead, and Tito the chihuahua crawls inside the car and chews through the wiring. A mishap on one of these scams is how Jenny originally gets Oliver.
• Milo and his friends try this in The Oblongs at his mother's request, but just so happen to scam his father and call it off.
• Beavis and Butthead - Beavis is hit in a parking lot while riding in a shopping cart, and the driver slips him some cash to keep quiet. The two try repeating it to scam other folks, but fail painfully and repeatedly.
• In Madagascar Escape 2 Africa, the penguins use this to steal parts from safari jeeps, with Private as the injured.