Good Morning America/YouTube
10 of the World’s Most Notorious Con Artists
The rise of true crime has seen more and more notorious con artists get their 15 minutes of fame. Streaming platforms love nothing more than exposing the horrid trickery used by individuals to swindle millions from not only major companies and unsuspecting victims but their friends and family. Not that running a con is anything new. The shell game, where an object is placed under one of three “shells” and moved around and people wager which “shell” it is under, is a con game that originated in Ancient Greece.
Then you have William Thompson, the first “confidence man” who somehow got people to give him money or watches to gain their trust. He wasn’t that much of a con artist though and was quickly arrested, but he gave birth to the “confidence game” which we now call a con.
Since Thompson’s exploits con artists have thrived, preying on the weak and less fortunate to make their money. While a simple con like the shell game won’t bring much long-term reward, there are accounts of people who have put in the hard work and spent days, weeks, and even months trying to pull off a scam.
The big scams often require a great deal of planning along with people who are very confident and outgoing, which is why they make for great stories.
10 of the World’s Most Notorious Con Artists
1. William Thompson
As mentioned at the beginning of this article, William Thompson was the well-dressed gentleman who inspired the term “confidence man.” Running his cons in New York City, Thompson would approach rich people in the street and pretend he knew them. After a short conversation and gaining their trust, he would ask for their watch or money. Thompson must have been a real charmer because plenty of people handed over their things to Thompson, who then simply walked away.
Thompson was eventually arrested when one of his marks noticed him in the street and altered the police. He was charged with theft and sentenced to The Tombs in 1849. An article in the New York Herald detailing Thompson’s exploits described how he used his natural confidence to sweet talk his victims, with the paper calling him the “confidence man.”
2. Charles Ponzi
Wikimedia Commons
Ever been caught up in a Ponzi scheme? Well, you can thank Charles Ponzi for that. The Italian con artist made waves in North America with his get-rich-quick scheme, but before he made his money, Ponzi got locked up for cashing a forged check. He was then caught up in a people-smuggling organization and spent more time behind bars before he stumbled upon a way to make himself rich without having to do very much.
The basic idea of the scheme was to convince people to invest in something with the promise of high returns. Those returns are actually rewards from new investors, with money continually being taken from new investors to pay the old ones. Ponzi offered investors 50% interest in just 45 days and quickly had people on the hook. He was buying and selling international reply coupons, and although it seemed suss, investors appeared to be making stacks of cash, so nobody questioned Ponzi’s methods.
Over the span of around eight months, Ponzi cheated investors out of around $32 million. He began living a lavish lifestyle, purchasing a mansion and a Locomobile while also investing in legitimate businesses so he could take the profits and give them to investors. Things started to come crashing down when people began asking questions about how Ponzi managed to become a millionaire overnight. He was sued by Boston furniture dealer Joseph Daniels for not paying for goods he had purchased. That’s when several newspapers took an interest, with the Post running a series of articles looking into Ponzi’s scheme.
It didn’t take long for Ponzi’s dodgy dealings to be unearthed and he was charged with mail fraud. He was in and out of jail for the next 15 years before being deported and finally settling in Brazil. He spent the last few years of his life in poverty before finally passing away in 1949.
3. Sylvia Browne
It’s incredible how many people will put their faith in the words of a stranger. Sylvia Browne called herself a medium with psychic abilities who could talk with the dead and predict the future. She claimed to have begun seeing visions as a child and wanted to use her powers for good, for a price of course.
Browne made a fortune from charging exorbitant amounts for psychic readings. She charged $700 for 30-minute readings over the phone and appeared on a cruise ship where people paid thousands for a ticket. She also wrote close to 40 books about the supernatural, with several appearing on the New York Times best sellers list. Browne was a regular on several popular TV shows, including Larry King Live and The Montel Williams Show, where she made predictions and talked with other mediums.
Despite her claims that most of her predictions were 85% correct, a 2010 article by the Skeptical Inquirer found that of the 125 predictions she made on television, not a single one came true. Talk show host John Oliver and scientific skeptic James Randi were two of her biggest detractors, but that didn’t stop people from believing what she said.
Sadly for Browne, she couldn’t predict her own death correctly. After telling Larry King she would pass away at the age of 88, Browne carked it while living a life of luxury in Hawaii at 77 in 2003.
4. Anna Delvey
Somehow Russian immigrant Anna Delvey managed to convince New York’s elite she was a wealthy heiress and defrauded friends, businesses, and organizations out of $275,000 between 2013-2017. During that period of time, she popped up at high-profile events wearing designer clothes and acting like an aristocrat. She would make friends with famous people and trust fund babies and when her credit card was mysteriously declined when paying for expensive dinners, luxury hotels, and even an overseas holiday to Morocco, she get her new acquaintances to settle the bill, promising she would pay them back.
It all fell apart in 2017 when Delvey ran out of money and was kicked out of the luxurious Howard Hotel in Soho for not paying her bill. Former friend Rachel DeLoache Williams, who Delvey convinced to pay the $62,000 bill for their Moroccon trip, worked with police to bring down Delvey in a sting operation in 2017.
Delvey was found guilty of eight charges relating to fraud in 2019 and sentenced to between four and 12 years in state prison but was out on parole in 2021. She is now confined to home detention and waiting to see whether she will be deported back to Germany.
5. Frank Abagnale Jr.
If the name Frank Abagnale Jr. sounds familiar, you might have seen the movie Catch Me If You Can. The Steven Speilberg flick stars Leonardo DiCaprio as con man Abagnale Jr., who defrauded several businesses and organizations throughout the 70s. His first scam involved his father’s credit card at 15. He impersonated a pilot at age 17 but was caught writing bad checks, which would become his MO.
After two years behind bars, he was released and back at it again. Getting into more trouble with the law, Abagnale Jr. fled to Europe in 1969 but was deported back to the States less than a year later after fraud charges were brought against him. He spent several years on the run defrauding people to the tune of around $2.5 million before being captured by FBI agent Joseph Shea
Once released Abagnale Jr. finally went straight, becoming a consultant for the FBI and an expert in bank fraud, offering his services to anyone who needed it. He now lives happily in South Carolina with his wife and three children
See more about - The 17 Best True Crime Podcasts You Need To Hear
6. Gregor MacGregor
Scottish fraudster Gregor MacGregor tried to sell a fictional country in a long con from 1821 to 1837. MacGregor, who married into wealth, claimed to rule the fake Central American country known as Poyais. He went all out, creating maps, fake land documents, and even a flag to convince people the country was real. He held interviews with prospective buyers and said the land was fertile and a haven for precious stones and gold.
Hundreds invested and purchased land from MacGregor, who made thousands of pounds out of the deals. When a group of 250 investors left the United Kingdom to start their new lives at Poyais, all they found was untamed jungle. More than half of those who moved there died, with MacGregor fleeing to France before anyone returned. He continued his scheme until he was arrested in 1926 on fraud charges but amazingly got off. He eventually moved back to England and was involved in various schemes before moving to Venezuela for his remaining days.
7. Simon Leviev
Inside Edition/YouTube
The center of Netflix’s hit documentary series, The Tindler Swindler, Simon Leviev used the dating app Tinder to con several women out of $10 million. He would pose as a rich Israeli diamond dealer and present his conquests with lavish gifts and expensive overseas holidays. He even flew a few via private jet.
Once he had gained their trust and their love, Leviev would reveal that his life was in danger from his enemies and he was unable to use money in his bank accounts. His lovers, having already fallen for Leviev, would hand over tens of thousands of dollars for him to use to sort out his problems. Once he had the cash Leviev would disappear, leaving the women in the lurch.
He was eventually caught using a fake passport entering Greece in 2019 and deported to Israel, where he did five months of a 15-month stretch. Wanted by authorities in Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Spain, Leviev remains at large in Israel and is hoping to make it in Hollywood.
8. Bernie Madoff
One of the biggest crooks of all time, Bernie Madoff was the brains behind the biggest Ponzi scheme in history. It’s estimated he stole around $64.8 billion from his clients over the span of close to five decades. Founding a penny stock brokerage in 1960, Madoff then operated an advisory business in 1991 where the Ponzi scheme took place.
Just like Charles Ponzi, Madoff paid off old investors with money made from new investors, creating high returns that stopped people from looking more closely at his business model. As long as the money was being made, nobody bothered to look closely at the details.
It all went tits up in 2008 when the financial crisis hit. People started taking their money out of his firm but Madoff didn’t have enough coming in to cover the large sums going out. He ended up confessing his deception to his brother and two sons, who promptly turned him in. Madoff pleaded guilty to 11 federal felonies and was sentenced to 150 years in jail. He did 11 years before passing away at age 82.
9. Natwarlal
Forgotten Lives/YouTube
You know you’re one of the greatest con artists when you can sell the Taj Mahal to a complete stranger. Natwarlal’s first con was forging his neighbor’s signature and withdrawing 1,000 rupees from his account. His next major scam involved robbing prostitutes, but when it became too dangerous he went for easier marks, like shop owners, small businesses, bankers, and foreigners. He often targeted well-known rich families and is said to have sold not only the Taj Mahal, but also the Red Fort, the Rashtrapati Bhavan, and Parliament House, with the MPs included in the sale.
Natwarlal became a cult figure in India as he was believed to give much of the money he stole to the poor. Because he was stealing from the elite, people regarded him like Robin Hood. Not only was he good a conning people, but he managed to escape from prison nine or ten times. Of the 113 years behind bars he was sentenced to, Natwarlal only served about 20.
His last arrest came in 1996 at the age of 84. Despite being in a wheelchair and almost 100, he managed to escape and was never seen again. While rumors persist that he lived until 2009, his brother came forward to say he had passed the same year of his last escape.
10. David Hampton
After a failed attempt at getting into the famed Studio 54, David Hampton said he was the son of Sidney Poitier. Next thing he knew he was inside and rubbing shoulders with famous celebrities. Going by the name of David Poitier, Hampton would eat at restaurants for free, have access to all the big clubs, and receive free clothes. He also struck up friendships with many celebrities and would con them into letting him stay at their places, including Melanie Griffith, Gary Sinise, and Calvin Klein.
It didn’t take long for his story to fall apart and Hampton was arrested in 1983. He was ordered to pay back his victims but refused, so spent time in jail. John Guare took inspiration from Hampton’s story and wrote the play Six Degrees of Separation, which was later turned into a movie starring Will Smith.
See more about - The 10 Most Evil Doctors The World Has Ever Seen
