The scam of the century. Famous scammers and scammers

The twentieth century entered history as a century of fraud and grandiose deceptions. The sale of the Eiffel Tower, financial pyramids, MMM, robberies, medical charlatanry is an incomplete list of machinations that shocked humanity. So, we present to your attention the TOP-10: the most grandiose frauds of the century.

10 place. A duet who does not know how to sing

The rating of the great scams of the 20th century is discovered by the popular in the 80-90s. German pop group Milli Vanilli. Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan went down in history as a duo who can not sing.

Milli Vanilli is a protégé of the famous German producer Frank Farian. The duo was created in the early 80-ies of the last century and quickly gained recognition throughout the world. Grandiose shows, performances in the biggest cities of Europe, millions of fans - all this became a reality for the former dancers Rob and Faris. The peak popularity of the duo was in 1990, when Milli Vanilli received the prestigious Grammy award in the nomination "Best New Artist". However, the group's activity was soon 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 phonogram 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 speeches, Pilatus and Morvan mimicked the singing, and the original voices belonged to American vocalists Charles Shaw, Brad Howell and John Davis.

After the scandal, a long trial followed. As a result, the duo was forced to abandon all awards. In addition, the deceived listeners were reimbursed for the cost of the purchased records of Milli Vanilli and tickets for their concerts.

9 place. The Miracle of John Brinkley

9th place in our rating "The most grandiose scams of the century" are occupied by medical frauds of John Brinkley. This man has managed in a few years to turn from a poor village boy into a multimillionaire!

John Brinkley was born in a small American village. In the youth he had to work hard. It was at this time that John began to think about illegal earnings. "Teachers" Brinkley became famous in North Carolina scammers and con artists.

In 1918, John bought a doctor's diploma and began to implement a variety of frauds. The false leader took up solving problems associated with male potency. He offered his patients "miracle cures" from tinted distilled water. Then John Brinkley had another brilliant idea. Soon the false leader persuaded all men that the sexual potency of the goat would help to resolve the problem with potency. Two years later, Mr. Brinkley's new business began to generate incredible revenues. In a month he and his colleagues conducted at least 50 operations! In 1923, a successful businessman bought his own radio station, on the waves of which he advertised Dr. Brinkley's clinic.

In the 30-ies. The false doctor was forced to complete medical practice. Mr. Brinkley received several lawsuits because of the death of former patients. In 1941, the famous swindler was declared bankrupt.

8 place. Offender-artist

At the beginning of the 20th century, a wave of bank fraud swept the Russian Empire. The largest banks in the country have lost large sums. The problem was held back for a long time, as the organizations did not want to lose the confidence of their millionaires. Later it turned out that all these robbery scams were conducted under the direction of a certain Mikhail Tsereteli. In different parts of Russia he was known by different names: Prince Tumanov, Eristavi, Andronnikov.

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

Another line of Tsereteli's activity was the robbery of wealthy women in European resorts. The young man quickly rubbed himself into confidence, and then lured out large sums of money 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 crook turned over more than 10 big scams! Nevertheless Tsereteli never looked for excuses, he only declared: "I'm not a criminal, I'm an artist".

7 place. Catch Me If You Can

Frank Abignail for 5 years has committed a huge number of grandiose scams. This man went down in American history as the biggest rascal. In addition, based on the life of a brilliant scam, Steven Spielberg's film "Catch Me If You Can" was shot. So, what is Frank Abigneyle famous for?

The great scams of Mr. Abignale were related to the forgery of bank documents. His criminal activities Frank began at the age of 16, deceiving his own father. Until the age of 21, the young man "tried on" a lot of professions. He was a pediatrician, a professor of sociology and even a public prosecutor of Louisiana! From the machinations of Mr. Abigneyl, depositors of banks of 26 European states suffered.

At 21, the swindler was arrested. But after 5 years, he was released ahead of time on condition that the former swindler will cooperate with the FBI. As a result, for more than 40 years, Frank Abigneyle has advised the Bureau of Investigations and assisted in exposing speculators.

6 place. The Fake Rockefeller

Christopher Rokankurt was born in a small French village. At the age of 20 he committed his first crime - the robbery of the Geneva Bank. After that, Mr. Rokankurt goes to the United States. At first, Christopher was in the confidence of wealthy women, posing as his son Sophia Loren or nephew of Dino de Laurentiis. Soon Mr. Rokankurt invented a new legend. He became a member of the family of American banker James Rockefeller, the famous founder of Standard Oil. The rich life, the attention of women, the personal helicopter - all this became a reality for the former poor man. Christopher Rockefeller quickly takes root in the credibility of the most famous people. His friends were Jean Claude Van Dam and Mickey Rourke. But the fame of the fake Rockefeller was short-lived. In 2000, Christopher Rokankurt was arrested. After making a pledge, the fraudster went to Hong Kong, where he continued his fraud. In 2001, he was again arrested and charged with misappropriating $ 40 million.

5 place. MMM

The 5th place in the ranking of great scams is the financial pyramid of MMM. Mavrodi Sergey is considered the organizer of the largest fraud 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 (Sergei Panteleevich himself, his brother and Olga Melnikova). Initially, the company was engaged in the sale of computers. Since 1992, the organization has started to issue its own shares, which were sold very rapidly. Then Mavrodi put in circulation so-called MMM tickets. The price of one ticket was 1/100 of the stock. Outwardly, they were similar to Russian rubles, but in the center of the paper was a portrait of the 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 MMM activity was terminated. According to various sources, about 10 million depositors suffered from Sergei Mavrodi's fraud.

Financial machinations - one of the main problems of the XX century. The structure of Sergei Mavrodi was not only one of the few companies that affected millions of people. The list of financial pyramids of the XX century you can see below.

The most famous financial pyramids

• Pyramid of Dona Branca. In 1970, a Portuguese citizen, Donna Brank, 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 entrusted their deposits to the bank. But in 1984, Dona Brank was arrested for fraud, and the grandiose financial pyramid collapsed.
• Lou Perlman's scheme. The resourceful swindler became famous for selling shares of non-existent companies for almost $ 300 million.
• The European Royal Club is a company created by Hans Spahtholtz and Damara Bertges. As a result of the activity of the fraudulent organization, thousands of investors from different countries lost about 1 billion dollars.

Financial pyramids of the XXI century

Financial pyramids are not only a problem of the 20th century. A variety of criminal schemes continue to be implemented so far. We present to your attention a list of the most famous financial pyramids of the 21st century.

• "Double Shah" is a scheme developed by an ordinary teacher from Pakistan Sayed Shah. At first he made a favorable offer to his neighbors, promising to quickly double their investments. Soon the pyramid expanded all over the country. As a result, Shah managed to lure depositors more than $ 800 million.
• The pyramid of Barnard Medoff - a major scam organized by an American businessman, is considered one of the biggest financial frauds in history. As a result of the activities of the investment fund Medoff, more than 3 million people were deceived. The damage incurred by investors is estimated at 65 billion dollars.

4 place. Financial genius Charles Ponzi

The fourth place in our rating "The most grandiose frauds of the century" is occupied by financial fraud of Charles Ponzi. Mr. Ponzi is considered one of the biggest scammers in US history. The future financial rogue came to the country in 1903. According to Ponzi himself, he had "2 dollars and a million dollars in hopes" in his pocket. In 1919, he borrowed $ 200 from his friend and founded his own financial pyramid SXC. Ponzi offered his investors earnings on the sale and purchase of goods in different countries. In addition, the fraudster promised his clients 50% of the profit from the deposit for 3 months. The Ponzi scheme began to work successfully. However, the ingenious plan collapsed when Charles's friend, who had once lent him money, demanded half of Ponzi's income. There was a long trial, during which the "financial genius" was declared bankrupt and deported to his homeland. Charles Ponzi died in Rio de Janeiro, where he was buried at his last 75 dollars.

3rd place. Swindler-prodigy

The third place in the rating "The most grandiose scams of the century" is occupied by frauds of Martin Frenkel. This man, along with Charles Ponzi, is considered the biggest scam in US history. From the very childhood, Martin was ruined by the fate of a successful businessman. The boy finished the school ahead of schedule, and then entered the university.

His criminal path was a brilliant fraudster in 1986, founded the investment firm Creative Partners Fund LP. As a result, Martin Frenkel managed to lure about $ 1 million from his depositors. A few years later, the scammer 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, a brilliant swindler started 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.

The activities of Mr. Frenkel were suspended only in 2001, when he was arrested and sentenced to 200 years.

2nd place. Scam 419

The second place in our rating is occupied by the largest financial fraud of the 20th century. In history, it entered as "Nigerian letters", or "Afera 419". It should be noted that the scheme outlined below, continues to operate until now.

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

Mail to people from different countries come from Nigeria or other African countries. The sender begs the recipient to help in multimillion operations, promising a solid percentage. Typically, the sender is represented by a former king, a wealthy heir or banker. The letter contains a request for assistance in transferring a large amount to another country or obtaining an inheritance. If the recipient agrees to assist the sender, then he not only does not receive the promised money, but loses his.

1 place. Sale of the Eiffel Tower

So, the first place in our rating is occupied by the most original scam of the 20th century. Its organizer is Victor Lustig. This swindler entered the world history as a man who sold the Eiffel Tower.

At the beginning of the XX century, a native of the Czech Republic, Victor Lustig settled in Paris. Here he turns a few scams, and then moves to the US. In 1925, Lustig returned to Paris. There, on the pages of one of the newspapers, he read a message stating that the Eiffel Tower was practically useless and in need of repair or demolition. This information served as the basis for a new ingenious scam. Lustig, introducing himself as the French minister, sends telegrams to Europe's richest magnates with a proposal to take part in the discussion of the future fate of the main symbol of Paris. At the same time assures them of the need to keep this information secret. As a result, for $ 50 thousand, Victor Lustig sold the right to recycle the Eiffel Tower to Andre Poisson. The French authorities who followed the scandal shortly afterwards, were hushed up.

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