Top 5 Con Artist Facts
It's a big, scary world out there, with a lot of unscrupulous folks who are out to make a quick buck at someone's expense. Welcome to WatchMojo's Top 5 Facts. In this installment, we're counting down our picks to the Top 5 Facts About Con Artists. For this list, we'll be looking into the shady world of the con, ranging from old school pyramid schemes, to cases of hidden identity as well as the darkest recesses of Cybercrime.
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Top 5 Con Artist Facts
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It's a big, scary world out there, with a lot of unscrupulous folks who are out to make a quick buck at someone's expense. Welcome to WatchMojo's Top 5 Facts. In this installment, we're counting down our picks to the Top 5 Facts About Con Artists. For this list, we'll be looking into the shady world of the con, ranging from old school pyramid schemes, to cases of hidden identity as well as the darkest recesses of Cybercrime. Here are the five most interesting tidbits of information about the art of put-on.
#5: Western Union is a Popular Choice for Con Artists
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Western Union is pretty much synonymous with sending money to anyone, anywhere in the world. Whether they’re perpetrating a lottery scam, a fake emergency, or a good old fashioned long con with a catfish twist, scammers love wire transfers because they are fast and relatively untraceable. Not only will grifters use these services as a means to an end, they will sometimes even dupe the Western Union offices themselves! One particularly popular scam is for a con artist to call a place of business with a Western Union license, and pretend to be from that business' home office or help desk. The caller then convinces the employee of that business to process a fraudulent transaction to a waiting accomplice, getting away with thousands of dollars in the process.
#4: Several Televangelists Are Convicted Con Artists
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Now we can’t say all televangelists are charlatans, but the movie Leap of Faith, where Steve Martin plays a grifting miracle healer was inspired by the well-documented trickery that some of them employed. Several televangelists rose to prominence in the 1980s, foremost among them the husband and wife team of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. The couple were accused of financing a lavish personal lifestyle with donations to their ministry. Jim Bakker was eventually imprisoned for fraud, but not before rape allegations from church secretary Jessica Hahn ruined his reputation. Other televangelists have suffered similar fates, including Texas-based preacher W.V. Grant, who was convicted to 16 months in prison for tax evasion. As Slate Magazine pointed out a little while ago, Grant and Bakker both revived their television ministries after they were released from prison.
#3: Adam West Unwittingly Played a Role in a Prolific Scam
Oh no, not TV’s Batman and mayor of Quahog, Rhode Island! Could have fooled me! I’d totally invest in an EZ Link public internet kiosk that offers cashless ATMs and, uh, telegrams The fascinating story behind this scam was brought to light in a 2012 post on the official AARP website, by a former con artist and EZ Link associate, who was imprisoned for conspiracy to commit mail fraud in 2006. He detailed how having a public persona was crucial to give the air of legitimacy, and so they hired Adam West, who presumably had no idea the business was a scam, bilking thousands from hopeful investors. The scheme was so successful, it reportedly brought in seventeen million dollars from seven hundred rubes in an eight month span.
#2: Charles Ponzi Almost Invented the Yellow Pages
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The term "Ponzi Scheme" is likely to ring a bell, right? It's the sort of scam where money from investors is used to pay off the debts owed to earlier investors, also known as "robbing Peter to pay Paul.” In 1918, Italian immigrant known as Charles Ponzi started a scam involving International Reply Coupons and their exchange rate across the world postal market, eventually raking in over $250,000 a day in returns. This cash flow didn't last forever, of course, and Ponzi's scheme would eventually be discovered by both authorities and angry investors, with the unscrupulous yet convincing Italian serving prison time in 1920 for his efforts. One of the strangest aspects of Ponzi's story, however, is that only two years earlier, a newly married and struggling Ponzi attempted to convince businesses to invest in advertised listing, to be sent to other businesses who were in search of service. This early version of the modern day Yellow Pages didn't catch on, however, and Ponzi's legitimate business dreams were crushed.
#1: Nigerian Prince Scams Date Back to the 16th Century
They're one of the earliest examples of Cybercrime on the internet. They're often referred to colloquially as "419 Scams," taking its name from the criminal code for fraud in Nigeria, which is where many of these con artists commonly, and often falsely, claim residence. The actual history behind these 419 Scams actually dates back to the 16th Century, however, in what was known as the "Spanish Prisoner Scam." In these person-to-person scams, the con artist usually poses as a distant, wealthy relative of the victim, and claims that he's, say, being held prisoner, and needs a sum of money to, say, bride a guard, at which point the will pay back the money tenfold. Most of us probably think of these scams as being email-based, but this "advance fee" scam was going strong for hundreds of years before anyone ever dreamed of the electronic telegram. So, what did you learn about the art of the con? Will you be thinking twice next time you use Western Union or reply to that email? For more seventeen million dollar top tens and cashless ATM top fives, please subscribe to WatchMojo.com!
