Meet the world's most cunning con artists

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PONZI SCHEME: Charles Ponzi was the infamous Italian swindler who payed out returns with other investors' money. He had promised his clients profits of 50% within 45 days or 100% within 90 days. The 'Ponzi scheme' is named after him. Ponzi was arrested on August 12, 1920 and subsequently spent 14 years in prison. Ponzi spent the last years of his life in poverty and died in 1949. Image Credit: Wikipedia Commons

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THE MAN WHO SOLD THE STATUE OF LIBERY: George C. Parker was an American con man best known for his repeated successes 'selling' the Brooklyn Bridge. He also ‘sold’ the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grant's Tomb and the Statue of Liberty. His scheme lives on in the expression ‘If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell to you’. On December 17, 1928, he was sentenced to a mandatory life term and spent the last eight years of his life incarcerated at Sing Sing Prison. Image Credit: AP/Twitter

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THE MAN WHO SOLD THE EIFFEL TOWER-TWICE: Victor Lustig has gone down in history as 'the man who sold the Eiffel Tower in Paris – not once, but twice'. The highly skilled con artist from Austia-Hungary was known to have sold the ‘Romanian Box’ that he claimed was a machine that could duplicate any currency bills. Lustig was sentenced to fifteen years in prison. On 9 March 1947, Lustig contracted pneumonia and was pronounced dead two days later Image Credit: Wikipedia Commons

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INDIA'S GREATEST CONMAN: Mr Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava was infamously known as Mr Natwarlal. His high-profile crimes includes ‘selling’ the Taj Mahal thrice and the Parliament House of India along with sitting members to foreigners. He was arrested nine times and each time he managed to trick his captors. It is no wonder that Natwarlal is something of a legend in India, as shown by him continuing to inspire Indian con artists. Natwarlal's lawyer claimed he died on July 25, 2009 but Natwarlal’s brother subsequently claimed to have cremated him in 1996. Image Credit:

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THE GREATEST ART FORGER OF OUR TIME: Wolfgang Beltracchi is a name you may never have heard before. He pulled off the biggest forgery scam in history. The German artist created chaos in the art market with his fake paintings. He wasn't betrayed by his brushstrokes. The forger was so good that even experts also thought the paintings were originals and true masterpieces. On October 27, 2011, Beltracchi was sentenced to six years in jail but was freed on January 9, 2015 having served just over three years in prison. Image Credit: AP

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$591 MILLION DOUBLE-YOUR-MONEY SCAM: In 2008, Filipino rural banker Celso de los Angeles emerged as the mastermind behind the Legacy Group of Companies’ insurance and pension scam. The victims, mostly Filipino small investors, were lured into investing their money in legacy banks, with a 'double your money' offer. The pyramid collapsed the same year, with P30 billion ($591 million) in reported losses. De los Angeles was jailed for syndicated 'estafa', but died of cancer four years later, in 2012. Image Credit: Investorjuan

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THE LARGEST PONZI SCHEME IN HISTORY: The Manhattan investment adviser, Bernie Madoff, promised stellar returns to his A-list clients and instead defrauded them of more than $19 billion in history's largest Ponzi scheme Like all Ponzi schemes, The American fraudster used money from new investors to pay off older ones He pleaded guilty in March 2009 to fraud, money laundering, perjury and theft. The mastermind of giant Ponzi shceme died behind bars on April, 14 2021. He was 82. Image Credit: Gulf News archives

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CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: American Frank Abagnale was the subject of the movie Catch Me If You Can. Between the age of 15-21 years, Frank had assumed 8 identities, including a pilot and a doctor, and had become one of the most famous impostors in history. While imprisoned, he was offered a release provided he would work for the federal government to help identify fraud checks. Image Credit: Wikipedia Commons

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INVENTING ANNA: Dubbed as ‘fake heiress’, Anna Sorokin assumed the name Anna Delvey and pretended to be a German heiress. She was convicted in April 2019 on several counts of larceny and theft tied to a scheme in which she swindled banks and other institutions out of thousands of dollars while she lived in Manhattan. Sorokin was released from prison on February 11, 2021 but was taken back into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and could face deportation. Image Credit: AFP

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THE NEXT BIG THING: Elizabeth Holmes was once lauded as 'the next Steve Jobs' for founding the blood-testing startup Theranos. She was the world's youngest female self-made billionaire and founded a company which was supposed to bring about a revolution in diagnosing disease. She was exposed as a fake when the technology she promoted did’nt work at all. The criminal trial of Holmes began on August 31, 2021 and is expected to last 13 weeks or longer. Image Credit: AP

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