The problem is hoaxes and cons are not interchangeable.
A hoax is fabricated evidence of something that doesn’t exist or that didn’t happen, but without ulterior motives. The point of a hoax is merely to influence what people believe, not to profit off of it. One famous example is the Spaghetti Tree hoax, where on April Fool’s Day in 1957 the BBC aired footage of what they claimed were Spaghetti trees being harvested in Switzerland.
A con is an attempt at falsehood, with or without evidence, designed to fool someone into giving up money, services, access, or other tangible benefits. One famous example is the many, many times various unscrupulous figures have “sold” people “London Bridge” (the name many people mistakenly associate with the famous Tower Bridge), either giving them false deeds or sometimes legitimate ones to unrelated bridges elsewhere officially named “London Bridge”, then taking the money and running.
