In 50s Russia, men used to go through the enormous apartment buildings, knocking on thousands of apartment doors. They claimed to be from the gas company and needed to check each apartment’s air quality.

The men asked for an air sample, preferably in a clean glass bottle. Housewives were pleased to ensure the purity of the air their families breathed. In this way the scamsters collected thousands and thousands of milk bottles, which they turned in for deposit until they were caught.

As told to me by an elderly Russian couple, along with two upcoming stories.