“Even when I am rallied at, I get my quota of renown”
— Pietro Aretino
There is a reason why we are more likely to read about frauds and scams in newspapers than any other type of article and why we love to watch crime fiction. We take momentary refuge in them from our bland reality, for they appear larger than life and tap into the fantasy of the masses—the fantasy to seduce others into moving in your direction, for it’s better to be slandered than ignored.
Some people succeed in fulfilling this wild desire. These are the people who know how much to conceal to create an air of mystery and how much to reveal to make people follow their direction. That’s why they are called artists. They create the perfect illusion—an illusion that you are in control. And before you realize it, you are already lured into the scam.
Modern-day scams are often online, and the main reason why victims fall for them is a lack of information. However, scams and hoaxes of the past—where you could see everything happening around you—were much more difficult to pull off. Yet the infamous con artists are those of the past. They remain etched in our memories, celebrated for their cunning and creativity in a time when deception felt much closer to home. Here is a list of some notorious con artists and their craftiest cons:
The Yellow Kid Weil
Yellow Kid Weil was an extraordinary con artist. One of his most audacious cons involved the recreation of a bank in Indiana. The Merchants Bank in Muncie had moved, which Weil saw as an opportunity too tempting to pass up. He rented the original bank building, which still had some of its furniture. He bought money bags and stencilled an invented bank name on them. He prepared fake bills and hired gamblers, call girls, and other junkies as the staff and made-up customers.
Claiming to be the broker for the certificate investment the bank was offering, he targeted a wealthy sucker and brought him to the bank. He asked an officer to meet the “president,” who told them to wait while the bank bustled with customers depositing and withdrawing money—like a regular bank. Lulled by this perfect smokescreen, the sucker would deposit $50,000 without a second thought. Over the years, Yellow Kid pulled the same trick with a deserted yacht club, an abandoned brokerage office, a relocated real estate office, and a gambling club.
He faced several legal disputes over his creation, including a notable case against Hearst’s New York Journal over copyright infringement. He did not face significant criminal consequences, but the battles over intellectual property were important. He ended his career as a relatively successful cartoonist, though financial difficulties marred his later years.
Anna Sorokin
This woman took the dream of being a heiress to a whole new level. Anna pretended to be a German heiress in New York’s elite social circles. She attended exclusive events and defrauded luxurious hotels, claiming her “trusts were tied up.”
To open her private art club, the “Anna Delvey Foundation,” she secured a huge loan by submitting forged documents. Her charm seduced people to the point where they saw nothing but what she wanted them to see. She once convinced a friend to pay for her luxurious Moroccan vacation.
In 2019, she was convicted of multiple felonies, including grand larceny and theft of services, for scamming businesses and individuals. Sorokin was sentenced to 4-12 years in prison. Sorokin served her prison sentence and was released in 2021 after serving about four years. After her release, she was placed under house arrest for immigration violations and was later ordered to be deported to Germany. Her story has continued to attract media attention, as she has tried to capitalise on her notoriety.
Margaretha Zelle
Beginning in 1905, rumours began to spread in Paris of a young girl from the Far East who danced wrapped in veils that she gradually discarded. Soon, everyone knew her name—Mata Hari. A select audience gathered to see her dance to music inspired by Hindu and Javanese melodies.
She would make her audience wait before appearing, swaying her body like never seen before. Her fame skyrocketed, and soon her name was on everyone’s lips. In interviews, she spoke of her past, recounting her time spent in India and Java, though her story would change now and then, making her even more intriguing to the masses.
Ambassadors from far-off lands would compete for invitations to the salon, where she was rumoured to perform sacred dances in the nude. In August 1905, she performed publicly for the first time, becoming a cult figure. “If India has such unexpected treasures, all Frenchmen would emigrate to the Ganges,” people said. However, as her fame grew over the years, the truth came out: she had nothing to do with the East. On the contrary, she was a German named Margaretha Zelle. She was considered a German spy. She was one of those beautiful girls who flocked to Paris with great ambition. She had no experience in dance and had never performed in the theatre. She had merely observed local dances in Java. Though not a skilled dancer, she understood the importance of creating mystery. In a world where everything is banal and familiar, what seems enigmatic instantly draws attention.
Despite denying being a spy, Mata Hari was convicted of espionage for allegedly passing secrets to the Germans, leading to the deaths of French soldiers. She was sentenced to death by firing squad.
Philip Arnold and John Slack (The Great Diamond Hoax of 1872)
If you think only the powerless middle class gets robbed, you may want to look into the biggest scam of the century. In the winter of 1872, the U.S. financier Asbury Harpending was visiting London when he received a cable from a reliable source claiming that a diamond mine had been discovered in the United States. He initially thought it was a practical joke, likely inspired by the then-recent discovery of diamond mines in Africa. He showed the cable to his fellow financier, Baron Rothschild (one of the richest men in the world), who wasn’t as pessimistic as Harpending.
Harpending took the first ship back to the U.S., eager to investigate. The diamond mine was reportedly found by two men, Philip Arnold and John Slack. They took Harpending and a mining expert to the site using a circular route to conceal its exact location. The expert examined the site and found the diamonds to be real.
Harpending, seeking to verify their true value, convinced Arnold and Slack to accompany him to New York, where Charles Tiffany himself would appraise them. The two countrymen, wary of being swindled by city slickers, hesitated. To allay their fears, Harpending gave them $100,000.
In New York, a meeting was held, and Tiffany announced that the diamonds were worth a fortune. The aristocracy then sent a mining expert of their own choosing, Louis Janin, to verify the diamond vein. Janin, a natural sceptic, wanted to ensure the mine wasn’t a fraud. He dug the ground for eight days and found nothing but rubies, sapphires, and, most notably, diamonds. He confidently told the investors that it was “the richest field in mining history.”
The financiers acted quickly, forming a $10 million corporation of private investors. But first, they needed to rid themselves of Arnold and Slack. They convinced the pair that unscrupulous tycoons would fleece them if they stayed involved in the corporation and offered them $700,000 to walk away. The two men reluctantly agreed.
Harpending and his group began spending millions on equipment and labour. A few weeks later, however, they learned the devastating truth: not a single diamond or ruby was to be found. It was all fake. Arnold and Slack had purchased the diamonds in Europe, salted them into the ground, and pulled off the greatest con of the century.
As for Harpending, he had unwittingly drawn the richest man in the world into the scheme. And the conmen?
After their scam was exposed, Arnold was arrested and put on trial for fraud. However, his conviction was later overturned on a technicality. Slack managed to escape prosecution by fleeing the country. Arnold lived out his later years in obscurity and died in relative anonymity. His conviction was a short-lived consequence, while Slack’s escape kept him out of any legal punishment.
Gregor MacGregor
Gregor MacGregor claimed to be the “Cacique” of a new land named Poyais, located on the Mosquito Coast of Central America (modern-day Honduras/Nicaragua). He described Poyais as a utopia eager to welcome European settlers. MacGregor produced maps and even drafted the Poyaisian Constitution. He sold land rights and government bonds, promising investors significant returns and falsely claiming that the British government supported his colonization efforts.
In 1822, 250 settlers sailed to Poyais, expecting a paradise. Instead, they found swamps. Only 50 of them returned, as the rest succumbed to malaria, yellow fever, and starvation.
However, Gregor MacGregor was nothing if not audacious. He fled to France and repeated the scam, recruiting more settlers for the supposed utopia of Poyais. This time, fortunately, the fraud was uncovered before the settlers embarked on their doomed journey. MacGregor, ever resourceful, evaded accountability by shifting the blame onto his associates.
MacGregor lived out his later years in relative luxury, despite the frauds, and died in 1845. His legacy remains one of the most famous scams in history, but his legal consequences were minimal.
Victor Lustig
This con might remind you of the movie Bunty Aur Babli. In May 1925, five of the most successful dealers in the French scrap metal business found themselves at a highly confidential meeting with the deputy director general of the Ministry of Post and Telegraphs. The meeting took place at the Hôtel de Crillon, then the most luxurious hotel in Paris.
The businessmen had no idea why they had been summoned. The “deputy director general,” Monsieur Victor Lustig, arrived and informed them that the government was planning to tear down the Eiffel Tower. Citing recent newspaper reports, he explained that the tower required extensive repairs, and the government couldn’t afford the millions it would cost due to a fiscal crisis. Additionally, Lustig mentioned that many Parisians considered the tower an eyesore, and soon even tourists would lose interest.
He then revealed that the government wanted to sell the Eiffel Tower as scrap metal and had invited them to bid for the contract. The businessmen’s eyes gleamed at the prospect of enormous profits. After submitting their bids, one of them, André Poisson, was notified that he had secured the contract. Poisson was instructed to bring a check for 250,000 francs.
Thrilled by the idea of making history, Poisson attended the handover meeting but began to have second thoughts. He was suspicious about the deal, particularly since their discussions were taking place in a luxurious hotel rather than a government office. Sensing Poisson’s hesitation, Lustig deftly shifted the conversation to his own personal struggles—his meagre salary, his wife’s demands, and the hardships of his work.
Poisson interpreted this as a subtle request for a bribe. Relieved that the deal now seemed authentic, Poisson paid the money, received official-looking documents for the tower, and left dreaming of his newfound fame.
In the days that followed, however, Poisson waited for correspondence from the government, which never arrived. When he finally tried to contact Victor Lustig, he discovered that no such deputy director general existed. Poisson had fallen victim to one of the most audacious scams in history. Embarrassed by his gullibility, he chose not to report the incident, fearing public humiliation.
Lustig was arrested multiple times and was eventually convicted of multiple counts of fraud. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in 1935 for his cons, including his fraudulent activities related to selling the Eiffel Tower. Lustig spent time in prison before his death in 1947. Despite his numerous crimes, he remained a master of deception until his end.
Everything is judged by its appearance; what is unseen counts for nothing. In the fear of getting lost in the crowd or buried in oblivion, these con artists stand out. As Pietro Aretino highlights, people would rather be rallied than be ignored. Con artists use this same fear of others to scam them. They tap into people’s desire to rise to fame or to earn a fortune. Often people who want to find an easy route to their desires fall prey to them. Such people feel that they are the ones controlling their acts but in reality, someone else holds the cards. Con artists use people’s fantasies and enter action into boldness. One of the main reasons such scammers are infamous is their audacity. Everyone admires the bold; no one honours the timid. But however audacious they are, sooner or later they have to pay its price. Even in times when legal consequences were rock-bottom, they faced their fair share of desolation. As for the victims, I believe that they would have appreciated the reality as it is, after getting conned. The truth, irrespective of how boring or unpleasant it may be, is much better than the promise of our wildest fantasies.