Scammers are people whose desire to get rich quickly went beyond the law and universal principles. The scam has many synonyms, and therefore scammers are often called scammers, adventurers, fraudsters, crooks. There were scams that did not succeed, but there were also such schemes that brought their authors considerable revenues and world success. Let's look back at the historical past of mankind, and recall the most high-profile scams in history.
1
Trojan horse
Perhaps the first scam recorded in history, described in Homer's Iliad. It can be called a military cunning, but the Greeks did not fair with the Trojans.
The Greeks presented the inhabitants of Troy with a huge wooden horse, inside which was an armed detachment. At night, the warriors inside the horse opened the gate. As a result of this deception, Troy fell. And before that, she successfully defended herself for many years.
The war began with an adventure, when Paris stole Elena, an adventure and ended. Since then, the Trojan Horse has become associated with a military ploy and trick, and computer science has been called the malware.
Meanwhile, on our website TheBiggest.ru you can read about the largest horse breeds, as well as see their photos.
2
Gray sheep
It may not be the loudest scam in history, but it is very instructive. In the English county of Devon, there is a marshland called Dartmoor.
Within the area is a unique megalithic monument. These are two circles of lined large boulders with a diameter of 33 m. Each circle consists of 30 stones.
Once in Dartmoor came a very harmful farmer who did not like the quality of the local sheep. So the scam was that local peasants got drunk on a visiting rich man, and sold these stones to a tipsy farmer, passing them off as sheep.
3
Princess caribou
For several months, an ordinary girl, the daughter of a shoemaker, managed to impersonate a noble person. To all she appeared to be the Princess Caribou, who managed to escape from the captivity of the pirates after the shipwreck.
She spoke in an incomprehensible language, and the British, so accustomed to the honor of aristocrats, surrounded the young lady with care and attention. She was invited to social balls, gave gifts. She became very popular in high society, and even received several attractive offers of marriage.
But the deception was revealed when someone identified her as the daughter of a shoemaker. Hopes for a cloudless life collapsed. It turned out that the language she spoke was just an incomprehensible set of words.
4
First financial pyramid
The Italian Charles Ponzi moved to the United States in search of a better life. In a country of great opportunity, he opened a securities firm.
Ponzi promised investors that for every thousand dollars they will receive 1,500 dollars in 3 months. The company flourished for several years, but then, at the suit of one of the investors, the company went bankrupt. Millions of depositors have lost their money.
The entrepreneurial Italian was sentenced to 5 years, and when he left, he again opened a financial firm, continuing to crank up scams.
5
Piltdown man
In the theory of human origin, called anthropogenesis, there are many white spots.
The amateur archaeologist Charles Dawson decided to fill the gap and at the same time become famous. In February 1912, he announced that he had discovered the bones of a humanoid creature in Sussex County. Charles stated to the whole world that this was the missing link between the monkey and man, and called the find "Eoanthropus dawsoni."
For forty years, the whole world believed that Dawson made the greatest discovery. But in the late 40s they did a study. As it turned out, these were the bones of the skull of a modern person and part of the jaw of an orangutan. To age his find, the unfortunate archaeologist treated the bones with potassium dichromate.
6
Attractions Specialist
In the 1920s, a man appeared in England who easily sold London attractions to tourists. His name was Arthur Ferguson.
History testified that he managed to sell Big Ben to gullible tourists for 1,000 pounds, but Admiral Nelson’s statue, which stands on Trafalgar Square for 6,000. It’s not clear what motivated the tourists to give such money to a scammer.
In 1925, Arthur moved to the United States, where he was able to sell the residence of the President of the country to one farmer for a record $ 100,000.
The fraudster was summed up by the Statue of Liberty, or rather, a tourist who did not believe his rights to the monument and handed Ferguson to the police.
7
Eiffel Tower for sale
There lived a talented con man named Victor Lusting, who twice managed to sell the main attraction of Paris. He was born in the Czech Republic, and he turned the first fraud with fake notes, making a printing press.
In 1925, Victor arrived in Paris and read in the newspapers that they were looking for contractors to repair the Eiffel Tower. Pretending to be an employee of the Ministry of Post and Telegraph, he sent letters to entrepreneurs who were involved in metal recycling.
The victim turned out to be Andre Poisson, who not only bought the rights to demolish and recycle the tower, but also gave the bribe a bribe in order to precisely win this deal.
Not so long ago, the owner of thebiggest.ru website acquired real rights to the Eiffel Tower, so those who want to buy this beautiful building, write to us. Let's agree!
8
Medic swindler John Brinkley
John’s medical abilities are in doubt, and the diploma is probably not real. But he was a great psychologist, and immediately realized what could make a fortune quickly.
In the town of Greenville, he began to treat men who doubted their male capabilities. He gave them an injection, and they were pleased, although it was ordinary water. Naturally, this could not last forever. After numerous complaints from patients, he had to change the method of “treatment”.
He began to transplant men with impotence, goat glands. The medical business brought Brinkley about $ 12 million, but patients complained about the doctor, his license was taken away, and he declared himself bankrupt.
9
The Elusive Abignail
Now Frank Abignail runs a company that helps people not become victims of financial fraud, and once he easily turned scams.
At the age of 16, he skillfully forged checks, which earned his living. In total, he received about $ 2.5 million, cashing checks in different countries of the world. He easily reincarnated, posing as a pilot, translator, successful lawyer. In general, he could portray a man of any profession, and the police could not catch him.
When he was still detained in 1969, 12 states asked him to be extradited in order to be punished for fraud. His biography became the basis for the film "Catch Me If You Can." If you have not watched this movie, thebiggest strongly recommends doing it!
10
Tender May
The largest financial scam from the time of perestroika, carried out by Andrei Razin. He appeared in Moscow with a fuzzy photograph, stating to everyone that he and his uncle Mikhail Gorbachev were on it. And to be more precise, at first Razin did not say anything, for him the whole story was invented by people who spread rumors whispering on the sidelines of the Kremlin. But Razin only played along with these rumors. So from close to the first president of the country, he quickly became his "nephew." Everyone was embarrassed to ask Gorbachev directly about Razin, so the rumors went on for a very long time.
The same photo with Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev.
Then a group of talented musicians from orphanages was created with the sonorous name of “Affectionate May”. Their song "White Roses" then sounded at all discos and from every window. A pop group of teenagers was popular, but few people knew by sight.
In the wake of this popularity, several groups were created that traveled around the country with concerts under the guise of "Tender May." People listened to phonograms, and real money paid for concerts.
11
Nigerian letters
In the history of this type of financial fraud went under the name "Scam 419". It became widespread with the advent of e-mail, although the first letters arrived back in 1980.
Letters came to residents of European countries and North America. The recipient is Nigeria. The letter wrote about the big fortunes that need to be taken out of the country, since their owners are being persecuted at home for political reasons. And that people were ready to share these riches, the recipient only had to pay a tax in the amount of several percent of the amount of the future transfer. People believed, transferred money, because they were signed by princes, kings, presidents and other high ranks of the African country.
What do you think, how many of those who agreed to help received their millions?
12
Mmm
Russia is also rich in talents, and the three letters “MMM” have long been remembered by the millions of Russians who have invested in this company.
Sergey Mavrodi managed to organize the largest financial pyramid in history. It still began in the USSR, in 1989, and the pyramid collapsed legally in 1997. Three years earlier, the actual collapse occurred, and more than 2 million people became victims. Russians and residents of other republics remember this intrusive advertising "MMM" with Lena Golubkov, who is not a freeloader.
The most interesting thing is that after serving his term, Mavrodi was able to organize a new pyramid, but not with such success. But still there were people who were happy to invest in the new enterprise of the old combinator. After the collapse of the second wave of MMM, many new financial pyramids appeared on the territory of Russia. One of the largest was Cashbury, the damage from which amounted to several billion rubles.
Conclusion
Our article about the most high-profile scams has come to an end. Summing up, we note that Ostap Bender, the hero of the books of Ilf and Petrov, was an excellent swindler. But, as we recall from the book, he read the criminal code and knew 400 ways to honestly withdraw money from the population.
Thebiggest editors are expecting interesting comments from you on this subject. Perhaps you have something to share with us and our readers. Have you encountered any scams in your life?