Famous scammers and swindlers. Ferdinand Demara: a talented doctor without medical education

The 20th century has gone down in history as a century of fraud and grandiose deceptions. The sale of the Eiffel Tower, financial pyramids, MMM, robberies, medical quackery - an incomplete list of fraud that shocked humanity. So, we present to your attention the TOP 10: the most grandiose scams of the century.

10th place. Duet that can't sing

Milli Vanilli is the protege of the famous German producer Frank Farian. The duo was created in the early 80s of the last century and quickly gained recognition around the world. Grand shows, performances in the biggest cities of Europe, millions of fans - all this has become a reality for former dancers Rob and Faris. The duo's popularity peaked in 1990, when Milli Vanilli received the prestigious Grammy Award for Best New Artist. However, soon the group's activities were interrupted due to a scandal. During a concert in Bristol (USA), where Rob and Faris sang "live", there was a technical failure of the disc on which the soundtrack was recorded. As a result, the phrase from the famous song "Girl You Know It's True" was repeated many times, and the duo was forced to leave the stage. It turned out that during their performances, Pilatus and Morvan imitated singing, and the original voices belonged to American vocalists Charles Shaw, Brad Howell and John Davis.

The scandal was followed by a lengthy legal battle. As a result, the duo was forced to refuse all awards. In addition, deceived listeners were reimbursed for the cost of purchased Milli Vanilli records and tickets to their concerts.

9th place. The Miracle of John Brinkley

John Brinkley was born in a small American village. In his youth, he had to work hard. It was at this time that John begins to think about illegal earnings. Brinkley's "teachers" became famous in

In 1918, John bought a medical degree and began to implement various machinations. The false doctor started solving problems related to male potency. He offered his patients "miraculous remedies" from tinted distilled water. Then John Brinkley had another brilliant idea. Soon the pseudo-doctor convinced all the men that transplantation of genital organs from a goat would help solve the problem with potency. Two years later, Mr. Brinkley's new business began to bring in incredible profits. In a month, he and his colleagues performed at least 50 operations! In 1923, he acquired his own radio station, on the waves of which he advertised Dr. Brinkley's clinic.

In the 30s. the pseudodoctor was forced to end his medical practice. Several lawsuits have been filed against Mr. Brinkley due to the death of former patients. In 1941, the famous swindler was declared bankrupt.

8th place. Outlaw Artist

At the beginning of the 20th century, a wave of banking scams swept through the Russian Empire. The largest banks in the country lost large sums. The issue was hushed up for a long time, as the organizations did not want to lose the trust of their millionaire savers. Later it turned out that all these robbery scams were carried out under the leadership of a certain Mikhail Tsereteli. In different parts of Russia, he was known under different names: Prince Tumanov, Eristavi, Andronnikov.

Tsereteli invited the richest people of the empire to cooperate, took away their passports and appropriated their bank deposits. In 1913, a fraudster managed to carry out a large-scale scam in Germany. He organized the collection of funds for the construction and repair of the fleet, and then appropriated a large sum.

Another activity of Tsereteli was the robbery of wealthy ladies in European resorts. The young man quickly rubbed himself into confidence, and then swindled large sums from women.

In 1914, under the name of Prince Tumanov, Tsereteli settled in Odessa. A year later he was arrested. It turned out that only in 1914-1915. the scammer pulled off more than 10 major scams! Nevertheless, Tsereteli never looked for excuses for himself, he only stated: "I am not a criminal, I am an artist."

7th place. Catch Me If You Can

For 5 years, he made a huge number of grandiose scams. This man went down in American history as the biggest swindler. In addition, based on the life of a brilliant swindler, Steven Spielberg's film Catch Me If You Can was filmed. So what is Frank Abagnale famous for?

Mr. Abagnale's great scams involved counterfeiting bank documents. Frank began his criminal activity at the age of 16, deceiving his own father. Until the age of 21, a young man “tried on” many professions. He was a pediatrician, a professor of sociology, and even the attorney general of Louisiana! Depositors of banks in 26 European countries suffered from the machinations of Mr. Abagnale.

At 21, the swindler was arrested. But 5 years later, he was released on parole with the condition that the former fraudster would cooperate with the FBI. As a result, for more than 40 years, Frank Abagnale advised the Bureau of Investigation and assisted in exposing swindlers.

6th place. Fake Rockefeller

Christopher Rocancourt was born in a small French village. At the age of 20, he committed his first crime - the robbery of the Bank of Geneva. After that, Mr. Rokancourt leaves for the USA. At first, Christopher entered into the confidence of rich women, posing as the son of Sophia Loren or the nephew of Dino de Laurentiis. Soon Mr. Rockancourt invented a new legend. He became a member of the family of the American banker James Rockefeller, the famous founder of Standard Oil. A rich life, the attention of women, a personal helicopter - all this has become a reality for the former poor man. Christopher Rockefeller is quickly taking root in the trust of the most famous people. Jean Claude Van Dam and Mickey Rourke became his friends. But the glory of the fake Rockefeller was short-lived. In 2000, Christopher Rokancourt was arrested. After bail was paid, the swindler left for Hong Kong, where he continued his scams. In 2001, he was arrested again and charged with embezzlement of $40 million.

5th place. MMM

The 5th place in the ranking of great scams is occupied by the financial pyramid MMM. Mavrodi Sergey is considered the organizer of the largest scam in the history of Russia. The structure was founded in 1989 and continued to be active until 1994. Organizing the MMM, Mavrodi decided to make a name from the first letters of the names of its founders (Sergey Panteleevich himself, his brother and Olga Melnikova). Initially, the company was engaged in the sale of computers. Since 1992, the organization began to issue its own shares, which were sold very rapidly. Then Mavrodi put into circulation the so-called MMM tickets. The price of one ticket was 1/100 of a share. Outwardly, they were similar to Russian rubles, but in the center of the paper was a portrait of Mavrodi himself. In 1994, MMM had more than 12 million depositors. In August 1994, the scandalous founder of the financial pyramid was arrested, and the activities of MMM were terminated. According to various sources, about 10 million depositors suffered from Sergei Mavrodi's scam.

Financial fraud is one of the main problems of the 20th century. The structure of Sergei Mavrodi was not just one of the few companies from which millions of people suffered. You can see the list of financial pyramids of the 20th century below.

The most famous financial pyramids

Pyramid of Dona Branca. In 1970, Donna Branque, a Portuguese citizen, opened her own bank. To attract depositors, she promised a monthly rate of at least 10% to each client. Thousands of people from all over the country have entrusted their deposits to the bank. But in 1984, Dona Branca was arrested for fraud, and the grandiose collapsed.
Lou Perlman's diagram. The resourceful swindler became famous for selling nearly $300 million worth of shares in non-existent companies.
European Royal Club is a company founded by Hans Spachtholz and Damara Bertges. As a result of the activities of a fraudulent organization, thousands of investors from different countries lost about $ 1 billion.

Financial pyramids XXI

Financial pyramids are not only a problem of the 20th century. A variety of criminal schemes continue to be implemented to this day. We present to your attention a list of the most famous financial pyramids of the XXI century.

"Double Check" - a scheme developed by an ordinary teacher from Pakistan, Syed Shah. He first made a lucrative offer to his neighbors, promising to quickly double their investment. Soon the pyramid expanded throughout the country. As a result, Shah managed to swindle more than $800 million from investors.
The Barnard Medoff Pyramid is a major scam organized by an American businessman, considered one of the biggest financial frauds in history. As a result of the activities of the Medoff investment fund, more than 3 million people were deceived. The damage suffered by depositors is estimated at $65 billion.

4th place. Financial genius Charles Ponzi

4th place in our rating "The most grandiose scams of the century" is occupied by the financial fraud of Charles Ponzi. Mr. Ponzi is considered one of the biggest fraudsters in US history. The future financial crook arrived in the country in 1903. According to Ponzi himself, he had "$2 and a million dollars of hope" in his pocket. In 1919, he borrowed $200 from a friend and started his own pyramid scheme, SXC. Ponzi offered its depositors earnings by selling and buying goods in different countries. In addition, the scammer promised his clients 50% profit from the deposit for 3 months. The Ponzi scheme began to work successfully. However, the ingenious plan collapsed when a friend of Charles, who once lent him money, demanded half of Ponzi's income. A long trial followed, during which the "financial genius" was declared bankrupt and deported to his homeland. Charles Ponzi died in Rio de Janeiro, where he was buried with his last $75.

3rd place. Fraudster Prodigy

3rd place in the rating "The most grandiose scams of the century" is occupied by Martin Frenkel's frauds. This man, along with Charles Ponzi, is considered the biggest con man in US history. Since childhood, Martin has been denigrated by the fate of a successful businessman. The boy finished school ahead of schedule, and then entered the university.

The brilliant swindler began his criminal path in 1986 by founding the investment company Creative Partners Fund LP. As a result, Martin Frenkel managed to swindle about $1 million from his investors. A few years later, the swindler founded another investment fund and thereby significantly increased his income.

A few years later, Frenkel came up with a new scam and began buying insurance companies in different states.

In 1998, the brilliant swindler made two very useful acquaintances: with the American ambassador to the USSR and with the famous Catholic priest Father Jacob. With their help, he organized a charitable foundation in support of the American church, which, in fact, was another financial pyramid.

Mr. Frenkel's activity was suspended only in 2001, when he was arrested and sentenced to 200 years.

2nd place. Scam 419

The 419 scam started back in the 80s. last century. At this time, a group of criminals formed in Nigeria, who began to implement the old technique of deceiving gullible citizens. Soon, this scam technique spread to the Internet. What is the essence of Nigerian letters?

People from different countries receive letters from Nigeria or other African countries in the mail. The sender begs the recipient to help in multi-million dollar transactions, promising a substantial percentage. Typically, the sender introduces himself as a former king, a wealthy heir, or a banker. The letter contains a request for assistance in transferring a large amount to another country or in obtaining an inheritance. If the recipient agrees to assist the sender, then he not only does not receive the promised money, but also loses his own.

1 place. Sale of the Eiffel Tower

At the beginning of the 20th century, a native of the Czech Republic settled in Paris. Here he turns several scams, and then moves to the United States. In 1925 Lustig returned to Paris. There, on the pages of one of the newspapers, I read a message that the Eiffel Tower had practically fallen into disrepair and needed to be repaired or demolished. This information served as the basis for a new ingenious scam. Lustig, posing as a French minister, sends telegrams to the richest magnates of Europe with a proposal to take part in the discussion of the future fate of the main symbol of Paris. At the same time, he assures them of the need to keep this information secret. As a result, Victor Lustig sold the right to dispose of the Eiffel Tower to Andre Poisson for $50,000. The scandal that followed soon after was hushed up by the French authorities.

Lustig emigrated to the United States, but returned to Paris a few years later and sold the Eiffel Tower again (this time for $75,000).

Timofei Dementievich Ankudinov

A native of Vologda, the son of a petty cloth merchant. In 1643, Timothy, having squandered the monastic treasury, burned down his house with his wife and fled abroad with state money. Everyone believed that he died in a fire, so no one was looking for Timothy. In Europe, he was first presented as the prince of Great Perm, then the son of Tsar Vasily Shuisky, Prince John Shuisky. He asked European monarchs and aristocrats for material and political assistance, and made friends with many important foreigners. After Moscow learned about his antics, the impostor Ankudinov was put on the international wanted list, but he found temporary protection from the Swedish Queen Christina, who believed in him. In 1654 he was handed over to the Russian government and, after a short investigation, he was quartered.

Ivan Osipov Cain

Born in 1718 in the village of Ivanovo, Rostov district, Yaroslavl province. At the age of 13, he robbed the master's Moscow house and fled, but was caught and returned to the owner, the merchant Filatiev. For a denunciation of him, he received freedom, after which he nailed to the thieves' den "under the Stone Bridge." Soon he became an authoritative thief, pulled off a series of bold scams, stealing money from wealthy Russian and Armenian merchants by cunning and force. For some time he led a gang of several hundred robbers on the Volga. In 1741, he appeared in the Moscow Investigative Department and offered his help in capturing Moscow thieves. Having received the position of an informer and a team of soldiers, he arrested many prominent criminal authorities. Soon the Senate appointed him one of the main Moscow detectives. Catching small thieves, he took money from large ones. Exposed in 1749. After a six-year investigation, he was exiled to hard labor in Siberia.

Ivan Gavrilovich Rykov

In 1863, he was appointed director of the Skopinsky city public bank, on the basis of which he created the first large financial pyramid in Russia. Advertising of the Rykov bank with the promise of fabulous interest on deposits was printed all over Russia, while the bank did not accept deposits from residents of its native Ryazan province. Conducted three accounting departments in the bank: official, internal and personal. He established the semi-fictitious "Joint-Stock Company of the Skopinsky Coal Mines of the Moscow Basin", whose securities he traded on the stock exchange with himself, artificially raising the rate and creating the appearance of interest in the enterprise, after which he gave inflated shares as collateral for loans. Rykov's bubble burst in 1884. The total debt to creditors amounted to 12 million rubles, which was three times the value of all Skopin's real estate. According to the verdict of the court, he was exiled to Siberia.

Alexander Gavrilovich Politkovsky

Born in 1803 in a poor noble Moscow family. In 1829, he entered the service of the General Staff of Military Settlements, where by 1851 he rose to the rank of Privy Councilor (read: General), received several orders and a commemorative badge for 30 years of impeccable service. However, an unexpected audit revealed a shortage of 10 thousand rubles. The auditors requested an extended review. It took place a year later, but Alexander Gavrilovich died on the same night as he learned about its beginning. According to the results of the audit, it turned out that during his service, Privy Councilor Politkovsky managed to appropriate and squander 1.12 million rubles in silver (in terms of modern money, about 300 million). It was an absolute waste record.

"Jacks of Hearts"

The most famous group of swindlers in Russia was formed in 1867 in Moscow, in the underground gambling house of the merchant Innokenty Simonov. The backbone of the group was made up of sharpers who constantly worked in the katran. Pavel Shpeer, an employee of the Moscow City Credit Society, the son of an artillery general, was elected chairman. The first major original operation was carried out by fraudsters in 1873. They sent many chests of “ready-made linen” all over Russia, valuing each at 950 rubles and taking out insurance for each shipment. Insurance receipts were issued on stamped paper and accepted by banks as collateral for loans along with bills of exchange. While the parcels at the final destinations were waiting for their recipients, who never showed up, the scammers managed to cash out the receipts and cover their tracks. After the required waiting period had expired, the Russian Society of Marine, River and Land Insurance and Transportation of Luggage, which insured them, became the owners of the chests. However, having opened them, representatives of the insurer did not find any underwear. In each chest there were several more boxes nested into each other according to the principle of nesting dolls, the last of which contained a carefully packed book “Memories of Empress Catherine II on the occasion of the opening of a monument to her”. The swindlers contracted to take out the stale edition of this book from the printing warehouse for little money. On this scam, they managed to get a very large amount, a fifth of which went to the main organizer and curator of the operation, Prince Dolgorukov.

Soon, the scammers set up almost a streaming production of fake documents, bills and bonds. Manufacturers of counterfeit papers worked ... in the provincial prison castle. The system was extremely simple: a real bill for 100 rubles fell to the imprisoned counterfeiters sewn in clean linen, and a few days later returned already in dirty clothes. At the same time, its face value increased from 100 to 10 thousand rubles.

After some time, Ogon-Doganovsky announced the recruitment of 15 clerks. Since the work was associated with financial responsibility, they took a deposit of 1000 rubles from each of them, which was a common practice. However, when the time came for the salary, it turned out that there was no money in the cash register for this. Doganovsky offered the employees, as a moral compensation, to buy bills pledged from him for half their value. The employees gladly agreed, but at the bank where they came to pay them off, the clerks were in for the deepest disappointment: the papers turned out to be the same prison work. On this scam, the "jacks" literally received more than 60 thousand rubles in a day.

The next high-profile scam was the sale by fraudsters of the house of the Moscow governor-general (now the Moscow mayor's office is located in it). This time the main performer was Pavel Shpeer. He managed to gain confidence in the general and become almost a friend of the family. Once he asked the general for permission to show the house of a real Russian prince to his acquaintance, an English lord. The prince was just about to leave with his family for his country estate and graciously allowed a pleasant young man to take charge of the building. Speer spent the whole day taking the lord around the governor's palace, showing him all the premises, including outbuildings. And a few days later, the lord drove up to the house, accompanied by several carts loaded with belongings, and ordered the servants to bring things. It turned out that during these few days he not only managed to buy the prince's house from Speer for 100,000 rubles, but also executed a bill of sale at a notary's office. But the lord failed to find this office again in order to confirm the legality of the transaction. As it turned out, it was opened a few days before the transaction and disappeared immediately after it. Together with it, Pavel Speer, who organized it, also disappeared. The governor-general could not bear such a slap in the face. He pulled all possible levers and at the beginning of 1877, almost all members of the Jacks of Hearts gang were caught and brought to justice. Of the 48 swindlers involved in the case, 36 belonged to the highest aristocracy. The main organizers were sent to hard labor, while the performers were mostly sent to prison companies, and only a few got off with large fines.

Lazar Solomonovich Polyakov

In 1889, Lazar Polyakov bought a concession for the monopoly production of matches in Persia, where such production simply could not be due to the lack of forests. With loans taken from his banks, he built a match factory in Tehran, using his own construction company as a contractor. The constructed plant was sold to the “Partnership of Industry and Trade in Persia and Central Asia” created by him, thus distributing most of the debt on loans among numerous shareholders. Numerous financial scams led to the fact that during the banking crisis of 1900, numerous Polish banks were on the verge of bankruptcy. The audit revealed that their liabilities (debts, 53 million rubles) were one and a half times higher than their assets (37 million). But, since the weight of these banks in the country's economy was extremely large, the government undertook an operation to save them. True, Lazar Polyakov himself was removed from the leadership. All of its banks were merged into one "United Bank", which in 1909 was transferred to the State Bank with all debts.

Brothers Shepsel and Leiba Gokhman

At the end of the 19th century, an antique shop was kept in Odessa. The first major success (scam) of the brothers was the sale of supposedly antique gold jewelry to Mr. Frishen, a collector from Nikolaev. And in 1896 they managed to sell a unique tiara of the Scythian king Saitafarn to the Louvre. For her, the brothers and the Viennese antiquarians Vogel and Shimansky who helped them helped out no less than 286 thousand francs. For seven years, the whole world came to Paris to see the miracle, and in the eighth year, the Odessa jeweler Israel Rukhomovskiy unexpectedly announced that it was he who made the tiara. By order of the brothers, who paid him 1800 rubles for the work. Gokhmans and their assistants managed to escape punishment, and the creation of the jeweler Rukhomovsky can still be seen. Only not in the Louvre, but in the Paris Museum of Decorative Arts.

Nikolai Maklakov

The son of a general, he graduated with honors from the Military Law Academy, but the career of an artist attracted him more than that of a military man. After working a little on the stage, he began acting in real life. At first, Nikolai made a living by opening offices in different cities, hiring employees, collecting deposits from them against future profits, taking loans, collecting advances for orders and hiding. When it became difficult to work in Russia, Maklakov moved to Paris. Here he posed as a namesake - a well-known deputy of the State Duma Vasily Maklakov. However, he soon got tired of playing a deputy, and he turned into an important official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In what capacity, together with another well-known swindler, cornet Savin, for a very long time and very successfully blackmailed and "milked" the French ex-minister Clemenceau. After his arrest in Switzerland, Maklakov was sent to Russia, where he was charged with 217 cases of fraud. Until the end of his life, he said that he did not feel like a criminal, and he was so proud of his machinations that he even described them in his memoirs, which brought him good fees.

Nikolai Gerasimovich Savin

About the cornet Savin in the 10-20s of the XX century in the circles of the Russian aristocracy there were no less jokes than now about Lieutenant Rzhevsky. Arriving in San Francisco, he rented the best hotel apartments for himself, signing himself as "Comte de Toulouse-Latrec". The “count” told the journalists who became interested in such an interesting guest that he had come on a special assignment from the Russian government. He was allegedly instructed to find good American industrialists who would supply materials for the Russian construction site of the century - the Trans-Siberian Railway. Such contracts promised huge profits, and there is nothing surprising in the fact that the very next day, after the publication of an interview with the “count” in the central press, the largest representatives of American business began to invite him to visit them. The kind "count" refused no one and promised assistance and patronage to everyone. Delighted entrepreneurs did not know how to thank the guest, so they thanked with money. On a fairly large scale, rightly believing that the larger the amount of gratitude, the greater the hope of obtaining a concession. Having traveled around California in this way and having collected a decent capital, the Comte de Toulouse-Latrec suddenly disappeared along with big money and big hopes for solid profits.

Cornet Savin did not rest long. Having learned from the newspapers that the Italian military ministry wanted to renew its horse park, he rushed to Rome, where he appeared before the military administration in the guise of a major Russian horse breeder. The conditions seemed attractive, and the government quickly concluded a supply agreement with the Russian horse breeder. However, no deliveries took place: the supplier simply took a huge advance and disappeared.

He did not reach Russia then. He stopped in Sofia, where he was already received as Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, the son of the same Prince Nikolai Konstantinovich, for whom the cornet had once served as adjutant. At that time, the throne was empty in Bulgaria. After a little thought for decency and bargained for decent conditions, the "Grand Duke" agreed. Sheer nonsense prevented the successful completion of the case: the best hairdresser from Sofia, who came to the “prince”, as it turned out, had previously worked in St. Petersburg and had the pleasure of personally cutting Prince Konstantin. He immediately recognized the impostor and reported it to the police.

At the height of the February Revolution, Savin managed to sell the Winter Palace to a wealthy American. At the same time, the scheme was the same as that of the Jacks of Hearts, only because of the anarchy that reigned in the country at that time, no one began to strain the police. Everyone just laughed at the stupid American.

Being already a deep old man and living in emigration in Shanghai, the legendary cornet hunted by raising money for the publication of a newspaper, selling “old manuscripts” to foreigners, and “golden Swiss watches” to compatriots. Cornet Savin died in 1937 from cirrhosis of the liver and was buried in a cheap coffin bought with money from the Russian Orthodox mission in Harbin.

Alexander Zubkov

After the October Revolution, a poor nobleman emigrated to Germany. In 1927, Zubkov was lucky. One of his successful relatives got him an invitation to tea with the Prussian princess Dowager Frederica Amalia Wilhelmina Victoria, sister of the last German Kaiser Wilhelm II and granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England. The twenty-seven-year-old Russian handsome man made an indelible impression on the sixty-one-year-old widow. The marriage lasted less than a year, but during this time the happy husband managed to safely squander Wilhelmina's considerable fortune - 12 million gold marks and make more than 600 thousand marks of debt. The ruined princess died in a hospital for the poor shortly after the divorce, and her ex-husband, having left Germany, earned a living for a long time by telling reporters about his glorious marriage epic for money.

Veniamin Weissman

Born in 1914. Traded in theft. In the winter of 1944, Venya escaped from a camp in the Vologda region. For several days he wandered through the forest, froze both legs and the left hand. All this had to be amputated. In 1946, he took out an award book twice Hero of the Soviet Union, put on order straps and medals on his jacket and became a "guard captain of tank troops" and a "disabled veteran of the Second World War." And went to the reception to the ministers. From each Venya received a very solid help. In March 1947, the head of the leadership personnel department of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks personally ordered that Vienna be provided with a fully furnished apartment in the center of Kyiv, buy a plane ticket, issue an allowance of 2,500 rubles, provide 28 sets of American gifts and provide life-long free sanatorium treatment. During the year of his activity as a war hero, Venya managed to circle around the finger of 19 Stalinist ministers. For which he received ten years in the camps.

Petr Losyk

This swindler with a certificate of a KGB major had a mandate that confirmed the broadest powers in checking the mood of working collectives at any enterprises of the Soviet Union, was signed not even by Yuri Andropov, but by "himself" Leonid Ilyich. Using this dashing paper in 1976 he traveled all over the Caucasus and the Volga region. And everywhere he spoke with the workers, who told the chief from the center about all the outrages that were happening on the ground. There were many outrages, and the local authorities sought to quickly compensate for them with solid gifts and chic receptions. Already after the arrest, the investigators saw that there were a lot of grammatical errors in his certificate and mandate: “mayor”, “legal”, “commission”, “especially important”.

Sergey Mavrodi (MMM)

Marina Frantseva and Sergey Radchuk (Chara Bank)

Valentina Solovieva (Individual Enterprise Vlastilina)

In 1989, MMM was one of the first cooperatives in the USSR to supply foreign computers. Individual entrepreneur "Dozator", which later grew up in "Vlastilina", was created by the former cashier from the hairdresser's in the city of Lyubertsy, Valya Solovieva, in 1991 and was engaged in harmless trading and intermediary activities. By 1992, the individual family enterprise Chara had grown into a holding company, which included quite successful insurance, transport and financial companies. And all these companies in the second half of 1993 suddenly switched to a new type of activity. MMM issued securities, the rate of which grew by leaps and bounds, Vlastilina began selling cars and apartments at half price, but with a delay in receipt (first three months, then six months), and Chara Bank began to attract private deposits at crazy interest. They did not last long and burst almost simultaneously - in the second half of 1994. Millions of Russians lost their money. It is surprising that this grandiose financial scam, carried out simultaneously by many companies (after all, in addition to the three leaders of similar, but not such large companies in the country, there were hundreds, if not thousands), did not lead to mass riots. In Albania, for example, deceived savers overthrew the government around the same time.

Grigory Petrovich Grabovoi

The man who declared himself "the second coming of Jesus Christ" was born in 1963 in the village of Kirovsky in Kazakhstan. After graduating from Tashkent State University, he received the specialty of a mechanic and worked for some time in one of the defense design bureaus of Tashkent. In 1991, he felt psychic abilities in himself and began to "diagnose and predict aviation malfunctions." Until 1996, he was practically the official psychic of the Civil Aviation Administration of Uzbekistan. In 1995, he met with Vanga, who, according to some witnesses, blessed him to treat people, according to others, she kicked him out. In the same year he moved to Russia, where he trained as a paramedic and took up healing. He patented a number of inventions, among which are, for example, "A method for preventing disasters and a device for its implementation." He led the program "Health Formula" on TV-6 channel, published the newspaper "Management Option - Forecast". Claimed to be able to cure cancer up to the fourth degree and even resurrect the dead. On June 5, 2004, at a press conference called, he declared himself the new messiah. In September 2004, Grabovoi's students offered the mothers of schoolchildren killed in Beslan to resurrect their children "for a monetary reward of 39,500 rubles." A year later, Gregory confirmed that he was ready to resurrect the children, but he would do it for free. In March 2005, he founded the DRUGG party, from which he planned to run for the presidency of the Russian Federation. In case of victory, he promised to adopt a federal law prohibiting death on the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as to pay 12,000 rubles a month to all citizens of the country. In the spring of 2006, Grabovoi was arrested and charged under article 159, part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“a criminal case on the fact of fraud, which consisted in the provision of obviously impracticable paid services”). The court found him guilty of 11 cases of fraud on an especially large scale with damages of more than 1 million rubles. On July 7, 2007, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison and a large fine. However, he did not fully serve the due term: in May of this year, the fighter against death was released on parole for exemplary behavior.

To my world

The 2Spare website has compiled a list of the most famous and inventive scammers, rogues and impostors in the history of mankind.
It is headed by Count Victor Lustig, who forever inscribed his name in history as the man who sold the Eiffel Tower and deceived Al Capone himself.

1. Victor Lustig (1890-1947) - the man who sold the Eiffel Tower

Lustig is considered one of the most talented swindlers who ever lived. He endlessly invented scams, had 45 pseudonyms and was fluent in five languages. In the US alone, Lustig was arrested 50 times, but every time he was released for lack of evidence. Prior to World War I, Lustig specialized in organizing fraudulent lotteries on transatlantic cruises. In the 1920s, he moved to the United States, and in just a couple of years he deceived banks and individuals for tens of thousands of dollars.

Lustig's biggest scam was the sale of the Eiffel Tower. In May 1925, Lustig arrived in Paris in search of adventure. In one of the French newspapers, Lustig read that the famous tower was dilapidated and in need of repair. Lustig decided to take advantage of this. The fraudster wrote a fake credential in which he identified himself as deputy head of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs, after which he sent official letters to six vtorchermet dealers.

Lustig invited businessmen to the expensive hotel where he was staying and said that since the cost of the tower was unreasonably huge, the government decided to demolish it and sell it for scrap at a closed auction. Allegedly in order not to cause indignation of the public, who managed to fall in love with the tower, Lustig persuaded the businessmen to keep everything a secret. After some time, he sold the right to dispose of the tower to André Poisson and fled to Vienna with a suitcase of cash.

In December 1935, Lustig was arrested and put on trial. He received 15 years in prison for counterfeiting dollars, as well as another 5 years for escaping from another prison a month before sentencing. He died of pneumonia in 1947 in the famous Alcatraz prison near San Francisco.

2. Frank Abagnale - "Catch Me If You Can"

Frank William Abagnale Jr. (born April 27, 1948) at the age of 17 managed to become one of the most successful bank robbers in US history. This story took place in the 1960s. Using counterfeit bank checks, Abagnale stole about $5 million from banks. He also made countless flights around the world on forged documents.

Later, Frank successfully played the role of a pediatrician for 11 months in a hospital in Georgia, after which, by forging a Harvard University degree, he got a job in the office of the Louisiana Attorney General.

For more than 5 years, Abagnale changed about 8 professions, he also continued to forge checks with enthusiasm and receive money - banks in 26 countries of the world suffered from the actions of a fraudster. The young man spent money on dinners in expensive restaurants, buying clothes of prestigious brands and dating girls. The story of Frank Abagnale was the basis for the film Catch Me If You Can, in which Leonardo DiCaprio played the witty swindler.

4. Ferdinand Demara - "The Great Pretender"

Ferdinand Waldo Demara (1921-1982), known by the nickname "The Great Imposter", during his life with great success played people of a large number of professions and occupations - from a monk and a surgeon to the head of a prison. In 1941, he went to serve in the US Army, where he began life for the first time under a new identity, calling himself the name of his friend. After that, Demara pretended to be other people many times. He did not even finish high school, but each time he forged documents about education in order to play another role.

During his fraudulent career, Demara has served as a civil engineer, deputy sheriff, warden, psychiatrist, lawyer, child welfare expert, Benedictine monk, editor, cancer specialist, surgeon, and teacher. Surprisingly, in no case did he seek great material gain, it seemed that Demar was only interested in social status. He died in 1982. A book has been written and a film made about the life of Ferdinand Demara.

5. David Hampton (1964-2003) - African-American swindler. He posed as the son of a black actor and director Sidney Poitier. At first, Hampton posed as David Poitier to dine at restaurants for free. Later, realizing that he was believed and that he could influence people, Hampton convinced many celebrities, including Melanie Griffith and Calvin Klein, to give him money or shelter.

To some people, Hampton told that he was a friend of their children, to others he lied that he missed the plane in Los Angeles and that his luggage left without him, to others he deceived that he was robbed.

In 1983, Hampton was arrested and charged with fraud. The court sentenced him to pay $4,490 in compensation to the victims. David Hampton died of AIDS in 2003.

6. Milli Vanilli - a duet that couldn't sing

In the 90s, a scandal erupted with the popular German duet Milli Vanilli - it turned out that the studio recordings sounded not by the duet members, but by other people. As a result, the duo was forced to return the Grammy award they received in 1990.

The duet Milli Vanilli was formed in the 1980s. The popularity of Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan began to grow rapidly, and already in 1990 they won the prestigious Grammy award.

The revelation scandal led to tragedy - in 1998, one of the duo's members, Rob Pilatus, died of a drug and alcohol overdose at the age of 32. Morvan tried unsuccessfully to pursue a career in music. In total, Milli Vanilli sold 8 million singles and 14 million records during the period of their popularity.

7. Cassie Chadwick - Andrew Carnegie's illegitimate daughter

Cassie Chadwick (1857-1907), born Elizabeth Bigley, was arrested for the first time in Ontario at the age of 22 for forging a bank check, but she was released because she feigned mental illness.

In 1882, Elizabeth married Wallace Springsteen, but her husband left her after 11 days, when he found out about her past. Then in Cleveland, the woman married Dr. Chadwick.

In 1897, Cassie orchestrated her most successful scam. She identified herself as the illegitimate daughter of Scottish steelworker Andrew Carnegie. Thanks to a counterfeit $2 million promissory note allegedly issued to her by her father, Cassie received loans from various banks totaling between $10 million and $20 million. In the end, the police asked Carnegie himself if he knew the swindler, and after his negative answer, Mrs. Chadwick was arrested.

Cassie Chadwick appeared in court on March 6, 1905. She was found guilty of 9 major frauds. Sentenced to ten years, Mrs. Chadwick died in prison two years later.

8. Mary Baker - Princess Caraboo

In 1817, a young woman appeared in Gloucestershire in exotic clothing with a turban on her head, who spoke an unknown language. Locals approached many foreigners to identify the language until a Portuguese sailor "translated" her story. Allegedly, the woman was Princess Caraboo from an island in the Indian Ocean.

As the stranger said, she was captured by pirates, the ship was wrecked, but she managed to escape. For the next ten weeks, the stranger was in the public eye. She dressed up in exotic clothes, climbed trees, hummed strange words and even swam naked.

However, a certain Mrs. Neal soon identified "Princess Caraba". The island impostor turned out to be the daughter of a shoemaker named Mary Baker. As it turned out, working as a maid in the house of Mrs. Neal, Mary Baker entertained the children with the language she invented. Mary was forced to confess to the deception. At the end of her life, she was selling leeches at a hospital in England.

After taking the money and ordering the soldiers to remain in their places for half an hour, Voigt left for the station. On the train, he changed into civilian clothes and tried to escape. Voigt was eventually arrested and sentenced to four years in prison for his raid and theft of money. In 1908, he was released early on the personal order of the Kaiser of Germany.

10. George Psalmanazar - the first witness of the culture of the aborigines of the island of Formosa

George Psalmanazar (1679-1763) claimed to be the first Formosan to visit Europe. It appeared in Northern Europe around 1700. Although Psalmanazar was dressed in European clothes and looked like a European, he claimed to have come from the distant island of Formosa, where he had previously been captured by the natives. As proof, he spoke in detail about their traditions and culture.

Inspired by the success, Psalmanazar later published the book Historical and Geographical Description of the Island of Formosa. According to Psalmanazar, the men on the island go completely naked, and snakes are the favorite food of the islanders.

The Formosans allegedly preach polygamy, and the husband is given the right to eat his wives for infidelity.

Aborigines execute murderers by hanging them upside down. Every year, the islanders sacrifice 18,000 young men to the gods. The Formosans ride horses and camels. The book also described the alphabet of the islanders. The book was a great success, and Psalmanazar himself began to lecture on the history of the island. In 1706, Psalmanazar got bored with the game and confessed that he had simply fooled everyone.

November 24, 2014 | BANKDIRECT.PRO

We recall the loudest scandals from the world of money

Today we will talk about Russian financial scams that ruined so many people in our country. It is worth remembering and knowing this very well in order to prevent their repetition.

1. Monetary reform on January 22, 1991 in the USSR

She was remembered by many citizens, because thanks to her, savings denominated in 50 and 100 ruble bills partially or completely turned into just beautiful pieces of paper with the image of Vladimir Lenin.

The reform was initiated by the Minister of Finance Valentin Pavlov, who since August 1986 headed the USSR State Committee on Prices and was aware of the real state of affairs and had long been looking for ways to withdraw funds from the population that were not backed by goods.

Pavlov considered a variety of options for "monetary reform". One of them provided for the introduction of the so-called "parallel money" on the model of the gold chervonets of the 1920s, but in non-cash circulation.

The minister really wanted to do everything as soon as possible so that people did not have time to exchange the money savings stored at home.

2. Voucher privatization

Vouchers, or privatization checks, began to be issued to the population through Sberbank branches on October 1, 1992. The nominal value of the voucher was 10,000 rubles.

Most Russians at that time were distinguished by very low financial literacy, so they simply did not understand the meaning of vouchers and, at best, used them to participate in check funds: Khoper-Invest, Moscow Real Estate, etc. Only a few guessed to buy shares " Gazprom and other really significant domestic companies.

3. Financial pyramids

MMM, Vlastelina and others were able to prove in the 1990s that pyramid schemes bring wealth only to their founders.

According to various estimates, from the MMM joint-stock company, headed by Sergei Mavrodi, suffered from 5 million to 15 million depositors. The founder of this company himself believes that government agencies are to blame for all the troubles.

Mavrodi has been repeatedly tried for fraud, but he is still trying to revive MMM, slightly changing the name - now it is known as MMM-2012.

4. Bankruptcy of the first Russian banks

The first Russian banks founded in the 18th century were state-owned, including the Commercial Bank for Merchants and other noble banks in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

The heads of these credit institutions often combined their posts with service at court. A vivid example of this is the author of the project of the first state banks - Petr Ivanovich Shuvalov who was the closest associate Empress Elizabeth and at the same time a big businessman. At his suggestion, the interest on bank loans was repeatedly reduced; at the same time, the repayment period, on the contrary, increased.

As a result, the amount of delinquent loans turned out to be so large that the proceeds were not even enough to pay the salaries of bank employees. The total amount of debts was 408 thousand rubles.

The application of the law in case of non-payment of loans by merchants to sell their goods at a public auction did not bring tangible results. Pavel I solved the problem by allowing outstanding debts to be written off.

5. Case of the Bank of Moscow

According to investigators, top managers Andrey Borodin and Dmitry Akulinin in 2008-2011, using their official position, they organized the transfer of at least 50 billion rubles from the correspondent account of the Bank of Moscow. to the accounts of controlled commercial companies registered in Cyprus.

The investigation also accuses Borodin and Akulinin of legalizing money obtained by criminal means in the amount of more than 600 million rubles.

This is where the list of crimes, according to law enforcement agencies, does not end - since they found that both bankers, with the help of the president of the Kuznetsky Most Development company and the general director of Premier Estate, stole money from the Bank of Moscow, which later ended up on the accounts of Inteko ", headed then Elena Baturina, wife of the former mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov.

Andrey Borodin considers all the charges ordered with the aim of taking over the Bank of Moscow by the VTB group, which now owns it.

6. Sale of the Borodino field

Former village head Maya Sklyueva, according to investigators, on the eve of the 200th anniversary of the legendary battle of Borodino, 40 hectares of historical protected lands in the Moscow region, including the Raevsky battery, were sold for cottages.

7. Case of "Oboronservis"

Perhaps the loudest in recent times, because of him I had to leave the post of Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov.

At the end of October 2012, information appeared in the press and in the media about a major corruption scandal involving Oboronservis OJSC, whose employees were caught by law enforcement agencies in fraud in the sale of non-core military assets. Estimated damage caused to the state from the sale of only eight real estate objects amounted to more than 3 billion rubles. A number of defendants in the case, as it turned out during the investigation, have long known Serdyukov and maintained close relations with the Minister of Defense.

The case of "Oboronservis" unites 9 episodes. Related to corruption in the Ministry of Defense are also the case of the disappearance of unique vehicles from the Ryazan Museum of Military Vehicles, which is being handled by the FSB, and the case of low-quality military uniforms.

8. Deceived equity holders

This is a whole category of victims of unscrupulous companies operating in the housing market. Representatives of the authorities are actively involved in resolving the situation.

Head of the Department for the Development of New Territories in Moscow Vladimir Zhidkin the other day he said that the largest number of deceived equity holders was recorded in Shcherbinka (1700 equity holders). “They will receive an apartment in 2015, currently Morton and SU-155 are doing this,” Zhidkin said.

TV channel "360 Podmoskovye" previously reported that by the end of 2014, about 1,200 deceived equity holders would receive apartments in the region. Deputy Chairman of the Regional Government Herman Yelyanyushkin previously noted that at the beginning of last year in the Moscow region there were 112 problematic objects, now there are 47 of them.

9. Black Realtors

After the collapse of the USSR and the emergence of the opportunity to obtain ownership of apartments, a whole line of criminal activity appeared, connected with the seizure of someone else's real estate by fraud. The purpose of criminals is usually apartments of lonely elderly people, or citizens suffering from alcohol or drug addiction.

Such "realtors" enter the trust, ask for documents for registration, and then kill their victims.
Not so long ago, one of these gangs was detained in Moscow, which consisted of citizens of Armenia, natives of the Chechen Republic and Saratov.

They came to the gang after one of the relatives tried to inherit, suddenly found out that the apartment of the deceased father had already been sold. He turned to the police, and the security forces managed to find the criminals.

10 Lottery Scam

Here the main task is to determine whether the lottery is real or fraudulent.

Criminals usually contact the victim by phone or mail, informing them that they have won a big prize, and they speak about it very convincingly and professionally. After convincing the victim of the accuracy of the information, they are asked to provide personal data: name, address, date of birth and, most importantly, bank details and credit card numbers.

Phone scammers find various reasons why they need your bank details: to verify your identity, where you need to pay a certain amount for the transfer of winnings; or the data is needed in order to directly transfer the prize amount to your bank account.

There is a known case when a man received an SMS that he won an expensive foreign car in the lottery. The message also indicated the site where the sales manager found out about the lottery. The victim contacted an unknown person who confirmed the winnings. All that was needed was to put 9 thousand rubles. to an electronic wallet. Later, the man again went to the action page and found out that instead of a car he could receive 7 million rubles. To do this, it was necessary to put another 109 thousand rubles. to an online wallet. The next day, the man checked the balance - there was no money on it.

The most talented swindlers who ever lived. They invented endless scams, had many aliases, were fluent in languages and even managed to sell the Eiffel Tower!

Victor Lustig (1890-1947) - the man who sold the Eiffel Tower

Poisson, not wanting to look like a fool, hid the fact of deception. Thanks to this, some time later, Lustig returned to Paris and sold the tower again according to the same scheme. However, this time he was not lucky, as the deceived businessman reported to the police. Lustig was forced to urgently flee to the United States.
In December 1935, Lustig was arrested and put on trial. He received 15 years in prison for counterfeiting dollars, as well as another 5 years for escaping from another prison a month before sentencing. He died of pneumonia in 1947 in the famous Alcatraz prison near San Francisco.

Ferdinand Demara - pretended to be a surgeon and cured 15 people out of 16

The man in this photo is called Ferdinand Waldo Demara, but he is also known as "The Great Imposter". Why was it named like that?

He posed as a Benedictine monk, prison director, ship's doctor, child care expert, civil engineer, deputy sheriff, certified psychologist, lawyer, orderly, teacher, editor, and scientist looking for a cure for cancer. But never tried to make money on it. All he needed was the respect of others. He had a photographic memory and a high IQ.

At the age of 16, he ran away from home and spent several years with the Cistercian monks, and in 1941 he enlisted in the army. Then to the fleet. He tried to impersonate an officer, and when this failed, he faked suicide and turned into Robert Linton French, a psychologist with a religious bias. He taught psychology at the colleges of Pennsylvania and Washington.

Then the FBI agents approached him and Demara received 18 months in prison for desertion. After his release, he bought fake papers and studied law at Northeastern University, before becoming a monk again. He founded the college that still exists today. In the church, he met a young physician, Joseph Sira, took advantage of his name and began to impersonate a surgeon. During the Korean War, he received the rank of lieutenant, a position as a ship's doctor on the Canadian destroyer Cayuga, and was sent to Korea. There he perfectly treated the sick with penicillin.

Once, 16 seriously wounded soldiers were delivered to the destroyer, who needed an operation. Demara was the only surgeon on the ship. He ordered the staff to prepare the wounded and take them to the operating room, while he himself sat down in his cabin with a textbook on surgery. Demara independently performed all operations (including several heavy ones). And not a single soldier died. Newspapers wrote enthusiastically about him. By chance, the mother of the real Joseph Sira read them and the deception was revealed. The captain for a long time refused to believe that his surgeon had nothing to do with medicine. The Canadian Navy decided not to press charges against Demara and he returned to the United States.

Then he also worked as a deputy head of a prison in Texas (he was hired thanks to a psychology degree). There Demara started a serious program of psychological reforging of criminals - and succeeded in this. He worked as a counselor at Los Angeles' largest homeless shelter, earned a college degree in Oregon, and was a parish priest at a hospital.

In 1982 he died of heart failure. Several books have been written about him, as well as a film and TV series.

Frank Abagnale - "Catch Me If You Can"

Frank William Abagnale Jr. (born April 27, 1948) at the age of 17 managed to become one of the most successful bank robbers in US history. This story took place in the 1960s. Using counterfeit bank checks, Abagnale stole about five million dollars from banks. He also made countless flights around the world on forged documents.

For more than 5 years, Abagnale changed about 8 professions, he also continued to forge checks with enthusiasm and receive money - banks in 26 countries of the world suffered from the actions of a fraudster. The young man spent money on dinners in expensive restaurants, buying clothes of prestigious brands and dating girls. The story of Frank Abagnale was the basis for the movie Catch Me If You Can, in which Leonardo DiCaprio played the witty swindler.

Christopher Rockancourt - Fake Rockefeller

David Hampton (1964-2003)

African American scammer. He posed as the son of a black actor and director Sidney Poitier. At first, Hampton posed as David Poitier to dine at restaurants for free. Later, realizing that he was believed and that he could influence people, Hampton convinced many celebrities, including Melanie Griffith and Calvin Klein, to give him money or shelter.

In 1983, Hampton was arrested and charged with fraud. The court sentenced him to pay $4,490 in compensation to the victims. David Hampton died of AIDS in 2003.

Milli Vanilli - a duet that couldn't sing

The duet Milli Vanilli was formed in the 1980s. The popularity of Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan began to grow rapidly, and already in 1990 they won the prestigious Grammy award.

Cassie Chadwick - illegitimate daughter of Andrew Carnegie

Cassie Chadwick (1857-1907), born Elizabeth Bigley, was arrested for the first time in Ontario at the age of 22 for forging a bank check, but she was released because she feigned mental illness.

In 1882, Elizabeth married Wallace Springsteen, but her husband left her after 11 days, when he found out about her past. Then in Cleveland, the woman married Dr. Chadwick.

Cassie Chadwick appeared in court on March 6, 1905. She was found guilty of 9 major frauds. Sentenced to ten years, Mrs Chadwick died in prison two years later.

Mary Baker - Princess Caraboo

Wilhelm Voigt - captain of Köpenick

Wilhelm Voigt (1849-1922) was a German shoemaker who pretended to be a Prussian captain. On October 16, 1906, in the southeastern suburb of Berlin, Köpenicke, the unemployed Wilhelm Voigt rented a Prussian captain's uniform in the city of Potsdam and organized the capture of the town hall.

Voigt ordered four unfamiliar grenadiers and a sergeant who were accidentally stopped on the street to arrest the mayor of Köpenick and the treasurer, after which, without any resistance, he single-handedly captured the local town hall, and then confiscated the city treasury - 4,000 marks and 70 pfennigs. Moreover, both the soldiers and the burgomaster himself carried out all his orders unquestioningly.

George Psalmanazar - the first witness of the culture of the aborigines of the island of Formosa

The Formosans allegedly preach polygamy, and the husband is given the right to eat his wives for infidelity.

Darius McCollum isn't the most spectacular impostor on this list, but he's certainly the most enduring. McCollum was arrested 29 times. He posed as employees of the railroad and subway, including he managed to become a train driver for the New York subway when he was 15 years old. He was born and raised in New York. Suffering from Asperger's Syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, McCollum has been obsessed with trains since childhood. At the age of five, he memorized the city's subway system.

He has become a cult figure, inspiring plays, documentaries and songs. Knows more about trains than any employee of the New York subway.

Frederic Bourdain - chameleon

Bourdain had a lot of false personalities. He came up with the first one when he was a child. The boy called the police and said that he was a missing child, that he was tortured or lied to, that his parents had either died or kicked him out of the house. He did this many times throughout Europe. Subsequently, many wondered how and why a thirty-year-old man pretended to be an orphan teenager. He had no sexual deviations or material interest. Bourdin just enjoyed it all.

The youth started his deception as soon as he left the orphanage and as of 2005 had taken on at least 39 false identities. Three of them were teenagers who went missing. In 1997, Bourdain posed as Nicholas Barclay, a missing child from San Antonio, Texas. He invited his would-be parents to the American embassy in Spain to meet him. Although Bourdain had brown eyes and a French accent, he convinced the family that he was their blue-eyed son, who disappeared three years ago. He said he was the victim of traffickers supplying minors for the child prostitution industry. Bourdain lived with his family for three months until he was suspected by a local detective of forgery and lies, which were confirmed by a DNA test. He was imprisoned for 6 years.

When Bourdain returned from the US in 2003, he moved to Grenoble and posed as Leo Ballet, a teenager who had been missing since 1996. DNA testing was able to disprove this. In August 2004, in Spain, he claimed to be a teenager Ruben Sanchez Espinoza and said that his mother died in Madrid during a terrorist attack. When the police found out the truth, he was deported to France.

In June 2005, Bourdain posed as 15-year-old Spanish orphan Francisco Hernandez-Fernandez. He spends a month at Jean Monnet College in Pau, France. He claimed his parents died in a car accident, dressed like a teenager, imitated the walking style of a teenager, covered his bald patches with a baseball cap, and used special creams to remove facial hair. his ward. On September 16, Bourdain was sentenced to four months in prison for using the false name "Leo Ballet".

In his own words from a 2005 interview, Bourdain did all this for one single purpose - he wanted love and attention that he did not receive as a child. He appeared in French and American television shows, but continued his deceit. In 2007, after a year of courtship, Bourdain married a French woman named Isabelle. They had three children.

In 2010, based on the work of Jean-Paul Salome "The Case of Nicholas Barclay", the film "Chameleon" was shot, which is based on the story of an impostor. Bourdain (renamed Fortin in the film) acted as the picture's consultant. In the film, he is played by Canadian actor Marc-André Grondin. In 2012, Bart Layton directed the documentary film The Imposter, which is based on the story of the disappearance of Nicholas Barclay. Frederic Bourdain plays himself in it.

Anna Anderson - daughter of Nicholas II (1896 - 1984)

Birth name Franziska Schanzkowska

According to the generally accepted version, the entire imperial family was shot on July 17, 1918. According to Anna, it was she, Princess Anastasia Nikolaevna, who managed to survive and escape.

Anna Anderson (Anna Anderson) - perhaps the most successful false Anastasia, Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of the executed last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. According to the generally accepted version, the entire imperial family was shot on July 17, 1918. According to Anna, it was she, Princess Anastasia Nikolaevna, who managed to survive and escape.

This story began on the night of February 17, 1920, when a young woman tried to throw herself from the Bendlerbrücke bridge in Berlin. The unknown woman was rescued - a policeman was on duty not far from the scene of the tragedy. In the hospital, where she was taken after drawing up a protocol at the police station, the unknown woman was found to have many gunshot scars on her back, as well as a star-shaped scar on the back of her head. The woman was severely emaciated - with a height of 170 cm, she weighed only 44 kg, and, in addition, she was in a state of shock and gave the impression of not quite normal mentally. Later, she said that she came to Berlin in the hope of finding her aunt, Princess Irene, the sister of Empress Alexandra, but they did not recognize her in the palace and did not even listen to her. According to "Anastasia", she attempted suicide because of shame and humiliation.

The young woman was assigned to a psychiatric clinic in Dalldorf, where she spent a year and a half. It was not possible to establish the exact data, and even the name of the patient - the "princess" answered the questions at random, and although she understood the questions in Russian, she answered them in some other Slavic language. However, someone later claimed that the patient spoke in perfect Russian.

The girl suffered from severe melancholy and could spend whole days in bed. She was often visited in the hospital by various people who had ever been related to the Russian royal court, but it was still not possible to unambiguously establish the identity of the strange patient. Someone came to the conclusion that this was Princess Anastasia, someone assured that this was a 100% impostor.

Meanwhile, the patient was on the mend, but this still did not help the investigation - the stories of her salvation were always different and contradictory. So, once "Anastasia" said that during the execution she lost consciousness and woke up in the house of a soldier who allegedly saved her. Together with his wife, she arrived in Romania, after which she fled to Berlin. Another time, she said that the soldier's name was Alexander Tchaikovsky, and he had no wife, but from Tchaikovsky "Anastasia" herself gave birth to a son, who at the time of the story should have been about three years old. Alexander, according to the patient, was killed in a street shootout in Bucharest.

Later it was established that none of the firing squad had the surname "Tchaikovsky", and none of the people whom the "princess" called as her saviors could be found.

After the hospital, "Anastasia" enjoyed the hospitality of several houses, all of which eventually refused to take care of her - partly because of the falsity of her stories, partly because of her bad temper. However, be that as it may, everyone, without exception, agreed that the manners, behavior and etiquette of the unknown clearly betrayed in her a person of high society.

Soon, thanks to the press, which actively covered the history of the "princess", Alexei Volkov, the former valet of Alexandra Feodorovna, arrived in Berlin. After the meeting, Volkov openly announced that "he cannot say that he is not in front of the Grand Duchess."

By the way, "Anastasia" herself continued to get sick - she was tormented by bone tuberculosis, and her health was under great threat. In 1925, she was declared an impostor by Pierre Gilliard, a Swiss who had previously been a teacher of imperial children. Moreover, Gilliard led his own investigation, tracing the history of the "princess" from her very appearance in Berlin. In addition to him, several other people were also investigating.

In 1928, "Anastasia", at the invitation of the Grand Duchess Xenia Georgievna, moved to the United States, but again, due to her unbearable nature, she did not stay in the princess's house for a long time and moved to the Garden City Hotel. By the way, it was here that she registered under the name "Anna Anderson", and subsequently it was this name that was finally assigned to her.

So, Anna Anderson remained in the United States, and from time to time she had to be a patient in psychiatric hospitals. I must say that the "last Russian princess" was warmly received almost everywhere - many tried to show her hospitality and help. In turn, Anderson accepted help without much embarrassment.

In 1932, Anderson returned to Germany, where preparations were underway for a trial that was supposed to recognize her as Grand Duchess and give her access to the Romanov inheritance.

In 1968, she returned to the States, and, already in her 70s, she married her longtime admirer Jack Manahan (Jack Manahan). It is known that by that time her character was already more than unbearable, but the faithful Manehan happily endured all the antics of the "princess".

At the end of 1983 An
Derson was again in a psychiatric hospital, her condition at that time was very unimportant.

Anna Anderson died on February 12, 1984, her body was cremated, and on the grave, according to her will, it was written: "Anastasia Romanova. Anna Anderson."

The opinions of experts about whether Anderson was the real daughter of the emperor, or a simple impostor, remained controversial. When in 1991 it was decided to exhume the remains of the royal family, two bodies were missing from the common grave - one of them was Princess Anastasia. DNA examinations did not show Anderson's belonging to the Russian royal family, but they completely coincided with the Shantskovsky family (Schanzkowska), and according to one version, the woman was just Franziska Schanzkowska, a worker at one of the Berlin enterprises.

So, the false Anastasia is considered one of the most successful impostors in the world, who managed to hold out in her role for half a century.

George Parker (1870-1936)

Parker was one of the most daring criminals in American history. He made his living selling New York attractions to unlucky tourists. His favorite item was the Brooklyn Bridge, which he sold twice a week for several years. Parker assured buyers that they could make a fortune by controlling access to certain attractions. Police have had to remove naïve shoppers from the bridge many times while trying to set up barriers to collect entry fees. Other public attractions "sold" by Parker included Madison Square Garden, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grant's Tomb, and the Statue of Liberty. George used a variety of ways to market his sales. So, when he sold Grant's grave, he often pretended to be the grandson of the famous general. He even opened a fake office to run real estate scams. He created forged documents impressive in their "credibility" to prove that he was the rightful owner of all the property that was offered for sale.

Three times Parker was found guilty of fraud, and the third time, on December 17, 1928, he was sentenced to life in Sing Sing Prison. There he became incredibly popular among the guards and other prisoners who had heard a lot about his "exploits". They even entered American pop culture, giving rise to the famous phrase: “You probably think I have a bridge to sell you.” These words are addressed to overly gullible people who are ready to do anything to get rich.

Joseph Weill (1877-1975)

Joseph Weil, or "Yellow Kid", was one of the most notorious swindlers. Over his entire career, he is believed to have stolen over $8 million. While working as a tax collector, Joseph realized that his colleagues, when collecting debts, kept a small part of the money for themselves. Weil then offered himself to them as a "roof", promising not to report the illegal activity in exchange for a share of what they get from it.

His many machinations involve fake oil deals, women, running and an endless list of other ways to fool a gullible public. Weil could change his appearance almost daily and always matched the role he played in yet another fraudulent scheme. He posed as a well-known geologist, then as a representative of a large oil company in order to get the cash he was given to "invest in fuel." The next day, he was already a director of the Elysium Development Company, promising land to gullible investors and collecting initial contributions from them. He was also a great counterfeiter of dollar bills.

In his autobiography, Weill writes: “The desire to earn money without doing anything cost a lot for those who dealt with me and my “colleagues”. The average person, in my estimation, is ninety-nine percent animal and only one percent human. Ninety-nine percent are no problem. But this one percent is the cause of all our troubles. When people realize (which I highly doubt) that they cannot get something for nothing, crime will decrease and we will live in a more harmonious world.”

Charles Ponzi (1882-1949)

The Italian immigrant Charles Ponzi is also firmly entrenched in the history of the United States. To most people, Ponzi himself is not well known. But the so-called "Ponzi scheme" is well known, which is still widely used in various "quick money making" schemes, including through the Internet.

Ponti started his "career" at a restaurant, but was soon fired for cheating on customers. His next job was a bank serving Italian immigrants. Once, after issuing another bad check, he was imprisoned for several years. In prison in 1919, Charles Ponzi had a brilliant idea. One day he received an answer from Spain to his letter. The envelope contained international exchange coupons. At the post office, anyone could exchange these coupons for stamps and send the letter back. But the most interesting thing was that in Spain one stamp could be obtained for 1 coupon, and as many as six in the USA. The same situation was with other European countries. Ponzi quickly realized that he could play on this.

He bought many of these coupons at low prices due to the post-war devaluation and then resold them in the United States for a 400% profit. It was a form of arbitrage deal, and therefore nothing illegal. Ponzi began to involve friends and acquaintances in his business, promising them a 50% profit or a doubling of capital in 90 days. The company he founded was called the Securities Exchange Company.

However, the scheme began to fail, and money from those who wanted to get rich quick continued to be accepted. The end is known. Investors, as always, began to suspect something was wrong when "the train left." Those who entrusted their money to Ponzi lost every single cent. Ponzi was found guilty of mail fraud and sent to prison. After an unsuccessful escape attempt, he was returned to his place to carry out the sentence, but was subsequently deported to Italy, where he died in 1949.

"Soapy Smith"

"Soapy Smith" (born Jefferson Randolph Smith, 1860-1898) was an American con man and gangster who played the role of "first violin" in organized crime in Denver, Colorado, Alaska and other states of the United States from 1879 to 1898. He is by far the most notorious swindler in the Old West. In the late 1870s and early 1880s, Smith began his career in Denver fooling crowds with a stunt the papers called the Fraud Soap Prize Package.

On the corner of a busy street, Jefferson would open his “magic chest” on a tripod and stack ordinary bars of soap on top of it, painting the audience the miracles to come. Clasping before the growing crowd of curious onlookers, he pulled out his wallet and began to lay out bills from one to one hundred dollars, placing them on several shelves. He wrapped each pile of money in paper. Then he mixed stacks of money with stacks that were just pieces of paper, and put them in packs of soap. Soap sold for a dollar a bar.

At this time, his accomplice, who was in the crowd, bought a package of soap, opened it and shouted loudly, waving the "won" money so that everyone could see it. The performance had the desired effect. People rushed to buy soap. Typically, the victims took several bags, continuing to buy until the sale ended. Toward the end of the trade, Smith announced that the $100 bill was still in the unpurchased pack and auctioned off the remaining packs of soap, selling them to the highest bidder.

Thanks to the art of manipulation and sleight of hand, the soap bags in which the money was hidden were almost all quietly replaced by others in which there was no money. But the auction was publicly won by one of the members of the group.

The scam could have continued for quite a long time if "Soapy Smith" had not been shot and killed by a group of gamblers deceived by him.

Eduardo de Valfierno who stole the Mona Lisa

Eduardo de Valfierno, who called himself the Marquis, was actually an Argentine rogue who is said to have masterminded the theft of the famous Mona Lisa. It is unknown if it was his idea. But he paid a group of people, including museum worker Vincenzo Perugia, to steal this masterpiece from the Louvre. On August 21, 1911, Perugia managed to simply hide the painting under his coat and take it out of the museum.

Before the robbery took place, Valfierno ordered the restorer and counterfeiter Yves Chabrot to make six copies of the painting. The fakes were subsequently successfully sold in different parts of the world. Valfierno knew that once the Mona Lisa was stolen, it would be difficult to get copies through customs. However, the copies were delivered to the buyers, and each of them was sure that he received the original stolen especially for him. Valferno's goal was to sell copies, and therefore he never contacted Perugia again. And his instinct did not fail him. Perugia was subsequently caught trying to sell the original. In 1913, the painting was returned to the Louvre.

James Hogue (b.1959)

og was a notorious American swindler who began by (taking advantage of) enrolling at Princeton University, posing as a self-taught orphan. In 1986, he similarly enrolled at Palo Alto High School. This time, under the name of Jay Mitchell Huntsman, a 16-year-old orphan from Nevada, giving himself the name of a deceased boy. However, a suspicious local reporter uncovered the hoax. Hogue was given a suspended sentence, but decided not to stop there. After another “admission” to a university in Utah, he was arrested for stealing bicycles. Under different names, he also joined various closed clubs.

His real identity was established in 1991 when Rene Pacheco, a student at Palo Alto High School, recognized him. Hogue was then arrested for stealing $30,000 from the university's financial aid fund and sentenced to three years in prison and 100 hours of community service.

On May 16, 1993, Hoag's name made headlines again. This time, under an assumed name, he managed to get a job as a security guard at a museum on one of the Harvard University campuses. A few months later, museum workers noticed that several of the gemstone exhibits had been replaced with cheap fakes. Somerville police arrested Hogue at his home and charged him with theft of $50,000.

On March 12, 2007, after carrying out a series of regular scams and being re-caught, Hog agreed to plead guilty to only one crime - embezzlement in the amount of 15 thousand dollars, and then only on the condition that the prison term does not exceed ten years. The prosecutor agreed to drop all other criminal charges against him.

Robert Handy-Freegard (b. 1971) - intelligence agent

Oberth Handy-Freegard is a British bartender, car salesman, crook and "great schemer" who disguised himself as an agent of the British secret service MI-5, which is responsible for the country's security. He fooled people into going "underground" so as not to be killed by the Irish extremist organization IRA, who allegedly hunted them. He met his victims at social events, as well as in pubs and at the car dealership where he worked. Freegard revealed his "role" as an agent of the MI-5 secret service (Scotland Yard's anti-IRA unit) and demanded that people cut off all contact with family and friends and live in solitude. They believed him, he lured money from them for valuable information and demanded to comply with the terms of the contract. In addition, he seduced five women, promising to marry them. At first, the victims were hesitant to contact the police, as Freegard convinced them that the policemen were double agents who also worked for the IRA.

In 2002, when real intelligence agencies received information about the impostor, Scotland Yard, together with the FBI, organized a special operation to catch the criminal. He was detained at Heathrow Airport. Freegard denied all charges against him, but on June 23, 2005, after a trial that lasted eight months, Robert Handy-Freegard was found guilty of kidnapping children, ten thefts and eight episodes of fraud. On September 6, 2005, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. On April 25, 2007, according to the BBC, Robert Handy-Freegard's cassation petition regarding the kidnapping of children was granted. Life imprisonment was replaced by nine years in prison.

Bernard Kornfeld (1927-1995)

Bernard Kornfeld was a prominent international businessman and financier who sold credits to American mutual funds. He was born in Turkey. When he moved to the US, he initially worked as a social worker. However, already in the 1950s he became a seller of shares in joint funds. And although he suffered from stuttering, nevertheless, even then he managed to fully show his natural gift as a salesman.

In the 1960s, Kornfeld founded his own mutual fund trading company called Investors Overseas Services (IOS), which he registered outside the United States. However, although the accounts were in Canada and the headquarters were in Geneva, the main operating offices of IOS were in Ferney-Voltaire (France), a short drive from the Swiss border. It was simply a way to avoid the hassle of obtaining a work permit in Switzerland for the numerous employees of the company.

Over the next ten years, IOS "earned" over $2.5 billion, bringing Kornfeld's personal fortune to over $100 million. Kornfeld attracted attention for his ostentatious consumption of luxury. At the same time, as noted, in communication he was a very generous and cheerful person.

In 1969, a group of 300 IOS employees complained to the Swiss authorities that Kornfeld and his co-founders were pocketing some of the profits from the shares distributed to the company's employees. As a result, in 1973 he was charged with fraud by the Swiss authorities. When Kornfeld once arrived in Geneva, he was immediately arrested. He spent 11 months in a Swiss prison before being released on $600,000 bail. Back in Beverly Hills, he no longer lived for show, as before. He was consumed by a passion for healthy eating and vitamins. Kornfeld completely gave up red meat and practically did not drink alcohol. After a stroke resulting in a cerebral aneurysm, Bernard Kornfeld died in London on February 27, 1995.

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