10 famous liars, one of them was put on the big screen

liar refers to a person who deliberately misleads others for personal financial gain. In modern history, there are many swindlers who easily accumulated a lot of wealth by deceiving others.

Here are 10 famous liars in modern history.

Frank · Abagnaer-'s deeds were adapted into the movie

Frank Abagnale, born in 1948, is a cheque fraud artist, counterfeiter and impostor In the five years of the 1960s, he successfully spent more than $2.5 million in bad checks in 26 countries. The recent sensational movie "Cat and Mouse Game" was adapted from his life.

"Cat and Mouse Game" poster

His first fraud experience can be traced back to his childhood when he used his father's Mobil card to buy auto parts and then sold them back to the gas station at a lower price. He didn't realize that his father had to pay for it, and eventually his mother sent him to a juvenile correctional institution for four months. After

moved to New York, Frank lived on income from fraudulent activities. One of his most famous tricks is to put his account on a fake bank deposit slip so that when a bank customer deposits money, the money will enter his account. By the time the bank realized what had happened, Frank had taken 40,000 dollars and fled.

In the following two years, Frank pretended to be a Pan American pilot and flew a passenger plane around the world for free. Then, after disgusting with the life of a pilot, he pretended to be a doctor and worked as a medical supervisor for 11 months, and he was not found. Since then, he has also worked as a lawyer and teacher.

"Cat and Mouse Game" stills

Finally, he was arrested in France and spent 6 months in prison there. Later, he was extradited to Sweden, where he was jailed for another 6 months. On his way back to the United States, he successfully escaped from prison and was eventually arrested and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Dramatically, he pretended to be an undercover agent for the Bureau of Prisons and escaped from prison, but was arrested again in New York shortly afterwards. After serving only five years in prison, the U.S. federal government provided him with freedom. In return, he helped the government combat unpaid fraud and fraudulent artists.

He currently runs Abagnale and Associates, a financial fraud consulting company, and is a multi-millionaire.

Charles · Ponzi - Ponzi fraud source

Charles Ponzi, born in 1882, later immigrated to the United States from Italy, is one of the most famous scammers in American history. Although many people don't know this name, no one knows the Ponzi scheme, and it continues with the effect of fast money making on the Internet.

His early life is not well known, because he often made up some stories. What we do know is that he spent a short period of time at the University of Rome. After dropping out, he took a boat to Boston in the United States. He arrived with only $2.50 in his pocket.

His early life in the United States was not smooth. At first, he worked in a restaurant, but was soon fired for cheating and cheating customers. He then worked in a Canadian bank that served Italian immigrants. With his knowledge of numbers, he did well there. Unfortunately, the original owner of the bank stole money from the newly opened savings account to pay the interest on the interest-bearing account, concealing bad investments, and finally fled to Mexico. Pang Qi was left without a job. After writing a fraudulent check and spending several years in prison, Ponzi decided to become rich at all costs.

Once, he found a reply coupon sent from a letter sent to him from abroad. He realized that he could buy foreign coupons at significantly depreciated prices (because of post-war price adjustments) and then resell them in the United States for a 400% profit. So Pang Qi began to collect funds from friends and acquaintances-promising to give them a 50% return, or to double their money within 90 days.

He founded his own company, a stock exchange company, to promote this plan. The news of this huge investment spread quickly, and soon Pangqi moved into a luxurious mansion. He brought huge cash at an alarming rate, but the simplest financial analysis showed that he did notMake money, but lose money quickly. For every dollar he earns, he gets into debt. But as long as money continues to flow in, Ponzi will maintain the status quo before the eventual collapse.

Madoff, the mastermind of the famous Ponzi scheme

people soon began to suspect, and the media also published negative articles about him. Inevitably, people began to demand their money back. Soon after, federal agents raided his office. As expected, no stock of stamps was found. He may have spent millions of dollars in investment.

Pang Qi admitted to mail fraud and was sent to prison. After another failed escape, he was sent back to prison to complete his sentence. He was eventually deported back to Italy and died of poverty in 1949.

Joseph · Weir - reveals the essence of successful fraud

Joseph Weir, born in 1877, was one of the most famous liars of that era. It is said that in his career, he has defrauded more than 8 million US dollars. In

's first job as a collector, he learned that his colleague had kept a small part of the money but had not turned it in during the collection of debts. As a result, he began to blackmail colleagues, to charge a certain fee as compensation for not reporting colleagues.

He also used false oil deals, women, race, and endless other tricks to steal benefits from the trusted crowd.

He commits illegal fraud by changing his image every day: The day before, he was a famous geologist, Dr. Henri Reuel, who walked around and told his customers that he was a member of a large oil company At the same time, he persuaded them to hand over the cash to him for "investment fuel." The next day, he served as a director of the Elysium Development Company, promising land to innocent believers, and at the same time charging them abstract fees for operations. One day, he was a brilliant chemist again and invented a method of copying US dollar bills. Promises can increase your wealth, then take your money away and run away before the police arrive.

He wrote in his autobiography:

"For many people who have dealt with me and other scammers, the cost of getting something for nothing is very high. But I found that this is the norm in society. According to my estimation, the average person,% Ninety-nine are animals, and one percent are humans. But ninety percent of animals cause little trouble, and one percent of humanity creates all our disasters. When people realize—I doubt them It can’t be done-when they can’t get something for nothing, crime will be reduced and we will live more harmoniously.”

Victor · Lastig - The man who sold the Eiffel Tower

Victor· Lastig, born in 1890, is famous for selling the Eiffel Tower. He was born in Bohemia, but later moved to Paris, deceiving others during frequent trips between Paris and New York.

His first scam was to sell people a device that could print $100 bills and told them that they could only print one bill every six hours. Many people paid him huge sums of money (usually more than $30,000) to buy this equipment.

In fact, this device contains two hidden, real $100 bills-once they are spit out by the machine, it can only print out white paper. When the buyers discovered this, he had disappeared with their money.

movie "Walkers" stills

In 1925, France had just recovered from the war, and the maintenance of the Eiffel Tower was almost an unbearable expense for Paris. When Rustin read this in the newspaper, he came up with his smartest scam idea. After forging government documents, he invited six scrap metal merchants to a hotel to participate in a secret meeting. He explained that the city could not afford to keep the tower and the government had to sell it as scrap. He told them that this meeting and all future transactions were conducted in secret, because the public might be upset about the idea of ​​demolishing the tower.

Obviously, this is impossible, and the tower has only been built 18 years ago. So Rustin used a luxury car to drive merchants around the tower, and successfully got a man named Andre Poisson (Andre POisson's drug dealer believed it was legal, and he handed over the money.

Eiffel Tower

When he realized that he had been cheated, he was ashamed to tell the police that Rustin ran away with the money. A month later, he returned to Paris and tried the scam again. This time, he was seen through and wanted by the police, but he managed to escape.

Rastig also persuaded a man named Al Capone to invest $50,000. He kept the money in a vault and returned it to him two months later, claiming that the investment had failed. Capone was impressed by Rustin's honesty and gave him a $5,000 reward.

In 1934, Lustig was convicted of forgery and sentenced to 20 years in prison on Alcatraz. In 1947, he died of pneumonia at the Springfield Prison in Missouri.

George · Parker - One of the boldest liars in American history

George Parker was born in 1870 and is one of the boldest liars in American history. He makes a living by selling public landmarks in New York to careless tourists. His favorite thing to sell is the Brooklyn Bridge. For many years, he has sold it twice a week.

Brooklyn Bridge

He convinced his buyers that they could make money by controlling access to the bridge. The police have driven naive buyers off the bridge more than once because they have tried to set up toll roadblocks.

Other public landmarks he sells include Madison Square Garden, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Grant's Tomb and Statue of Liberty.

George has many different sales methods. He often impersonated General Grant's grandson and then sold the general's grave; he even set up a fake "office" to deal with his real estate fraud. He produced impressive forged documents proving that he was the legal owner of the property being sold.

Tomb of General Grant

Parker was convicted of fraud three times. After his third conviction on December 17, 1928, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and spent the last eight years of his life in prison. He is very popular among prison guards and inmates, who like to hear his deeds.

George is considered to be one of the most successful liars in American history and one of the most talented liars in history. His deeds have spread in popular culture, giving birth to phrases such as "If you believe, I have a bridge to sell to you", which is a popular way of expressing that someone is easily deceived.

" soap " Smith - American fraud artist

"Soap" Smith (formerly known as Jefferson Randolph Smith), born in 1860, is an American liar and gang boss, in 1879 By 1898, Denver, Colorado, Creed and Skagway, Alaska played an important role in organized crime. At some point in the late 1870s or early 1880s, Smith began to deceive the crowd with the tactics used in Denver newspapers as a "soap sales scam".

Jefferson opened his "tripod" (a display case on a tripod) at the corner of a busy street. He piled ordinary soap cakes on top of the keister, and when the crowd grew, he would take out his wallet and wrap notes ranging from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars in paper strips.

Then, he prepared ordinary notes without any money and mixed them together. Then, he sold it to the crowd of onlookers at a price of $1 per cake. The prearranged person in the

crowd first bought a piece of cake, opened it, and then announced loudly that he had won the prize, waving it so everyone could see it. This method is very tempting and infectious. Victims often buy a few pieces of cake before the transaction is completed. During the sale of

, Smith will announce that one hundred dollar bills are still in backlog and have not been purchased. He then auctioned the remaining soap bars to the highest bidder.

through skilled manipulation and ingenious techniques, the soap cake wrapped in money has long been hidden, and all the cakes sold are cashless.

"Soap". Smith was eventually beaten to death by a group of people in a card game fraud.

Eduardo · Germany· Valfierno - planned the theft of the Mona Lisa

Eduardo de Valfilno was an Argentine liar, suspected of planning the theft of the "Mona Lisa". Valfilno paid to hire some people, including Perugia, an employee of the museum, and stole the artwork from the Louvre.

On August 21, 1911, Perugia hid the "Mona Lisa" in his coat and went straight out. Before the theft, Valfilno commissioned the French art restorer and forger Yves Chaudron to copy six of the Mona Lisa.

Mona Lisa

These fakes were then shipped all over the world to prepare for the buyer's deal he arranged in advance. Valfilno knew that once the "Mona Lisa" was stolen, it would be extremely difficult to smuggle copies through customs. After the

theft, these copies were delivered to the buyers, and everyone thought they had the authentic ones. Because Valfilno just wanted to sell the fakes, he only needed to make the original Mona Lisa disappear, so he never contacted Perugia after the incident. In the end, Perugia was found trying to sell the painting, which was returned to the Louvre in 1913.

James · Hogg - An imposter who has a prestigious school complex

Hogg (Hogue) is a famous American impostor, the most famous being a self-taught orphan who entered Princeton University. In 1986, Hogue attended Palo Alto High School as a 16-year-old Nevada orphan, Jay Mitchell Huntsman. He adopted the identity of a dead baby, and eventually a suspicious local reporter exposed him.

In 1988, Hogue entered Princeton University using the identity of Alexi Indris Santana, a self-taught orphan from Utah. Hogg claimed in his application that he slept in the Grand Canyon, raised sheep and read philosophers.

was convicted of theft of a bicycle rack in Utah, and he was postponed for one year. However, he violated parole and entered the class. For the next two years, he lived as a member of Santana and the track team, and was accepted by the Ivy League.

Princeton University

In 1991, Palo Alto High School student Renee Pacheco (Renee Pacheco) recognized him and revealed Hogue's true identity. He was arrested for defrauding the university’s $30,000 in financial aid, and was sentenced to three years in prison, suspended for five years, and provided 100 hours of community service.

On May 16, 1993, Hogue once again made headlines because of its association with Harvard University. By lying, he became one of the security guards of the Harvard University campus museum. A few months after his tenure, museum officials noticed that several of the gems in the exhibition had been replaced by cheap fakes. Somerville police arrested him at his home and accused him of stealing $50,000.

On March 12, 2007, Hogue pleaded guilty to a felony charge of stealing more than $15,000 in exchange for not more than 10 years in prison, and prosecutors withdrawing other theft and criminal charges.

bert · Hendy · Freigard - a man pretending to be an agent

Robert Hendy-Freegard (Robert Hendy-Freegard) is a British bartender, car salesman, liar and imposter The replacement, he disguised as an agent of MI5 (Military Intelligence Division 5), and successfully deceived some people, claiming to protect them from being assassinated by the IRA (Irish Republican Army).

He meets the victim in a social setting, a bar where he works, or a car dealership. He disclosed to them the "role" of his undercover agents from MI5, Special Branch or Scotland Yard against the Irish Republican Army (IRA).

He will persuade them, ask them for money, let them obey his orders, and cut off contact with family and friends, And accept the "loyalty test" to live alone in harsh conditions. He also seduced five women, claiming to marry them.

At first, some of the victims refused to cooperate with the police because he had warned them that the police would be double agents or special agents of MI5. Bert Hendy Flegard also seduce a newlywed personal assistant who takes care of his children. He told her that he was with MI5 and forced her to cut off contact with friends and family to prevent the IRA from killing her.

MI5 logo

He also took a nude photo of her and threatened to give it to her husband if she didn’t cooperate. She had to change her name and told the deed tax official that this was because she had been sexually assaulted as a child. Her loyalty test included sleeping on benches at Heathrow Airport and parks for a few nights, pretending to be Jehovah's Witnesses, so that MI5 bosses would allow them to get married.

In 2002, Scotland Yard and the FBI organized a trapping operation. First, the FBI tapped the phone of her parents. Her mother told him that she was willing to pay 10,000 pounds, but he had to go there in person. Hendy Flegard met the mother at Heathrow Airport and was arrested by the police. He denied all allegations, claimed that they were part of a conspiracy against him, and continued to tell this "story" in subsequent trials.

On June 23, 2005, after eight months of trial, the Black Brothers Criminal Court sentenced Robert Hendy-Flegard to two counts of kidnapping, ten counts of theft and eight counts of deception. On September 6, 2005, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

On April 25, 2007, the BBC reported that Robert Hendy-Frygard appealed against him and won the case. This means that life imprisonment has been revoked, but he will still serve 9 years in prison for other crimes.

Bernard • Kornfeld—— outstanding businessman and international financier

Bernard Cornfeld (Bernard Cornfeld) was born in 1927, is an outstanding businessman and international financier, marketing the United States Mutual Fund. Born in Turkey, he was a social worker when he first moved to the United States and became a mutual fund salesman in the 1950s.

Although he stutters, it does not affect his sales talent. When the father of one of his classmates died, the two of them bought a booth in the Coney Island playground with an insurance premium of $3,000.

In the 1960s, Cornfield established his own mutual fund sales company, Investors Overseas Services (IOS). He incorporated the company outside the United States, with its fund in Canada and its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Although

is headquartered in Geneva, the main business office of international organizations is in Ferney-Voltaire, France. It is only a short drive from the Swiss border to Geneva. This is to prevent many employees from having trouble working in Switzerland.

Geneva

In the next 10 years, IOS raised more than 2.5 billion US dollars in funds, bringing more than 100 million US dollars of personal wealth to Cornfield. Cornfield is also famous for luxurious parties. However, 300 IOS employees complained to the Swiss authorities that Cornfield and its co-founders took part of the income from the issuance of shares to employees in 1969 as their own. Therefore, he was charged with fraud by the Swiss authorities in 1973 and arrested him during his visit to Geneva.

He served 11 months in a Swiss prison and was released on bail of $600,000. After that, he returned to Beverly Hills and led a lower-key life than in previous years. He is obsessed with healthy food and vitamins, does not eat red meat, and rarely drinks alcohol. On February 27, 1995, he suffered a stroke in London, England and died of a cerebral aneurysm.

Which one do you think is the most amazing? Or have you heard about the stories of big liars, share them in the comments~