Retired Glasgow-born actor Arthur Furguson was a terrific salesperson. However, like many other such people, he was unaware of his talent until one inspiring day when the perfect opportunity presented itself to him. His moment happened in Trafalgar Square, one…
Ruja Ignatova called herself the Cryptoqueen. She told people she had invented a cryptocurrency “onecoin” that would rival Bitcoin, and persuaded them to invest billions. Then, two years ago, she disappeared, she has not been seen since. The biggest thing…
World’s biggest con? Joseph Berger, a tailor by trade, made a living running swindles on the unsuspecting throughout northern California. The suave dandy used his good-looks, smooth-talking, and cunning intelligence to bilk the naïve out of their hard-earned money. With…
In 1993, a prospector named Michael de Guzman walked out of the jungles of Borneo with extraordinary news: he found gold. For the next three years, de Guzman produced thousands of core samples riddled with gold. During that period, the…
Catch me if you can! Frank Abagnale is a former cheque con artist, forger and imposter who, for five years in the 1960s, passed bad cheques worth more than $2.5 million in 26 countries. The recent blockbuster film Catch Me…
Ponzi, an Italian immigrant to the United States became one of the most famous con men in American history. While many people do not know the name Ponzi, the Ponzi Scheme is extremely well known and continues today in Internet…
Eduardo de Valfierno, who referred to himself as Marqués (marquis), was an Argentine con man who allegedly masterminded the theft of the Mona Lisa. Valfierno paid several men to steal the work of art from the Louvre, including museum employee…
For Sale: The Brooklyn Bridge Background: Not long after the Brooklyn Bridge was completed in 1883, a shifty 20-year-old named George C. Parker decided on a whim to see if he could “sell” it to an unsuspecting tourist. He did.…
The Newby-McMahon Building, commonly referred to as the world’s smallest skyscraper, is located at 701 La Salle (on the corner of Seventh and La Salle streets) in downtown Wichita Falls, Texas. Reportedly the result of a fraudulent investment scheme by…
Joseph “Yellow Kid” Weil (July 1, 1875 – February 1976) was one of the most famous American confidence men of his era. Weil’s biographer, W.T. Brannon, believed Weil had an “uncanny knowledge of human nature.” Over the course of his…
