Top frauds and fraudsters, cunning and intelligent

botpro · Mar 17, 2016

What do you think: which frauds/fraudsters were the most intelligent ones?
Why did they work? How did they work?
I think Ponzi ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Ponzi ) is still on top of the list.

destriero · Mar 17, 2016

botpro said:
What do you think: which frauds/fraudsters were the most intelligent ones?
Why did they work? How did they work?
I think Ponzi is still on top of the list.
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You?

Martinghoul · Mar 17, 2016

destriero said:
You?
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Flattery will not get you anywhere with botpro .

botpro · Mar 17, 2016

Martinghoul said:
Flattery will not get you anywhere with botpro .
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I know, I'm not interested in doing any frauds myself.
But one has to know the history, how they tricked the people and why the law and justice failed to react sooner than later...

RRY16 · Mar 17, 2016

botpro said:
I know, I'm not interested in doing any frauds myself.
But one has to know the history, how they tricked the people and why the law and justice failed to react sooner than later...
More...

I hear the jails in South Florida don't take kindly to pasty white dough boys.

botpro · Mar 17, 2016

Ponzi wrote even a book about his scheme:

"The Rise of Mr Ponzi
THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FINANCIAL GENIUS
By Charles Ponzi

Introduction
MEET MR. PONZI, THE CHAMPION GET-RICH-QUICK WALLINGFORD OF AMERICA"
[...]
http://pnzi.com/

I'm currently reading it...

I just wonder why Hollywood didn't make a movie yet about Ponzi. His story is IMO a brilliant idea for a movie...

CHAPTER V
UNCLE SAM, IN THE PERSON OF AN IMMIGRATION INSPECTOR, PLAYS A DIRTY TRICK ON MR. PONZI

[...] "At any rate," he continued, "you have all effected an illegal entry into the United States. None of you had a permit to enter."

"I, for one, did not know a permit was necessary." I explained. "Since I went to Canada three years ago, I have come in and out of the United States half a dozen times without a permit. I was never asked for one. I never met with an immigration inspector on the train. The only officials I ever ran across at the border were custom officers. They would come aboard and inspect the baggage."

"That does not alter the fact that this time you are all in the United States illegally," he went on.

"I won't concede even that," I told him. "We were interviewed on the Canadian side of the border. The train was not in motion. If we were not admissible for any reason, it seems to me that that was the time to exclude us. The inspector should have told us then.

"The inspector does not need to be told by you what he should or should not have done," the attorney interrupted.

"It seems to me that he does too," I poured back at him, losing my head. "It was his duty to warn us. To keep us from violating the law. Regardless of whether or not we were ignorant of the law. Instead, he actually coaxed us, led us, into a violation of the law in order to make a record for himself. I have no earthly use for that sort of public official. He, and not I, is the one who should be charged with smuggling those aliens."

"You will sing a different tune in a couple of months from now," he threatened with a leer.

"Maybe I will and, yet, maybe I won't," I snapped back. By then I was ready to relegate him to the seventh hell. If I didn't tell him so, he certainly read my mind because he brought the interview to a close. [...]
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Pekelo · Mar 17, 2016

botpro said:
What do you think: which frauds/fraudsters were the most intelligent ones?
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The ones who died rich AND free....

The Bishop · Mar 17, 2016

There was this one guy in NY who fleeced a large swath of the NY and Fla Jewish community.

botpro · Mar 17, 2016

The Bishop said:
There was this one guy in NY who fleeced a large swath of the NY and Fla Jewish community.
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And? How did it work and how did the story end?

Cswim63 · Mar 17, 2016

botpro said:
And? How did it work and how did the story end?
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Omg