Scam Artists and Their Cons
Notable Scammers and Schemers
May 25, 2009 Christopher Pascale
While Ponzi schemes and 419 frauds are recklessly abound, history shouldn't forget these modern, and not-so-modern, con-artists.
Frank Abagnale, Jr
For those familiar with the story Catch me if You Can this name brings to mind the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio exploiting the weaknesses of banking and airline practices while Tom Hanks is in pursuit.
Abagnale Jr’s first trick was played on his father when he was lent a credit card for emergencies. While pursuing young ladies and often short of cash to entertain them with Abagnale Jr. made arrangements with local station attendants to allow him to charge items for which they could keep to sell at their own profit after splitting the cash of the sale with him. He was found out two months and $3,400 later.
Following this he'd found that he could write checks on his own bank account for more money than he had. When banks wouldn't cash the checks any longer he opened new accounts. From here he moved on to a deposit slip fraud that allowed him to receive funds from bank customers’ deposits without their knowing, netting him $40,000 before it was stopped. His final banking scam involved creating near perfect checks, leading him to the bulk of his $2.5 million fraud that ended when he was 21 years old.
Among these, Abagnale Jr. had also pretended to be an airline pilot (never piloting, just flying and charging hotel stays and meals to the airline). He had also worked as a chief resident physician and staff supervisor in two hospitals over three years prior to an eight-month stint as a lawyer in the Louisiana State Attorney General's office following three attempts at the bar exam.
As romantic as this all sounds, the con at heart is hollow and cares not for the danger he imposes upon others. While serving as supervisor at a hospital he was perplexed when a nurse told him there was a "blue baby” meaning it needed oxygen. The child lived, according to his biography, but the possibility of someone dying did not worry Abagnale, Jr. nearly as much as getting caught.
Gregor MacGregor
According to historian David Sinclair, MacGregor was a 19th century military man. Born in Scotland he served in the Spanish and Portuguese armies, and attained the rank of colonel in the Venezuelan military. MacGregor's scam involved him holding the title of Cazique (or Prince) of Poyais, a fictional principality near Honduras. In 1821 he traveled to England where British merchants were eager to get in on the new economy. The Mayor of London held a special reception in his honor.
Most of his effort was in Scotland, where he sold land at very generous prices, allowing the average worker to purchase up to 6 acres with a week's salary of 1 pound. Additionally he had received 200,000 pounds from the British government in the form of bearer bonds. Nearly 300 settlers traveled to Poyais, purses heavy with new currency as they studied the 350 page guide book, which MacGregor provided.
Upon their arrival the settlers found merely a few ruins. Most left while others who had paid higher fees to hold special posts in the new territory were determined to get to the bottom of the situation. In all, only a fraction survived. Some blamed MacGregor's counsel for providing the Cazique with such false information.
MacGregor, with fresh blood on his hands, relocated to France in 1825. He sold land, titles, and currency to those wishing to relocate to the coastal, rich Republic of Poyais where he served as Head of State. In 1839 MacGregor left Europe to live out his remaining years in Venezuela where he received a military pension for his service as a general in the fight for the nation's independence.
Kevin Trudeau
Kevin Trudeau started off small, much like Frank Abagnale, Jr. Before the age of 30 he'd been arrested for charging over $100,000 to 11 of his customers' credit cards without their consent.
Following his jail sentence he and his cellmate started an illegal pyramid scheme based around the concept of multi-level marketing, selling vitamins. Trudeau then started businesses that sold people cures for hair loss claiming to "finally end hair loss in the human race," and memory loss claiming that within 60 seconds customers could dramatically improve their memory.
But Trudeau's biggest, most dangerous con covered more than 2,000 hours of late night infomercials touting his best selling book, Natural Cures "They" Don't Want You to Know About. In its 273 pages Trudeau does not mention any cures but merely refers readers to his website where they can become members to find out about the cures.
Amazon.com shows the book to have 3.5 stars with more than 1,200 5 star reviews. One claims that Trudeau is "a saint" for having saved his life. The reviewer had a rectal tumor and realized that "the doctors just wanted another sucker" rather than providing him with a cure. Following a two week diet of salt water taffy and multiple enemas, the cancer went into remission rather than spread into his liver.
Trudeau has been fined over $40 million to date, and has since changed his tune. In 2007 he released a book, Debt Cures "They" Don't Want You to Known About, which, upon investigation by CBS MarketWatch, was found to simply be common advice that could be found just about anywhere. The equivalent would be if this article were titled "Scams and Schemes They Don't Want You to Know About." The title would hold much truth so long as it was presented with a disclaimer that excludes all major audio and visual media outlets as "they."
In the end, whether it's the infamous Charles Ponzi, Bernard Madoff, or Gregor MacGregor, the common denominator among the con men that infect the population is that they don't care who gets hurt so long as it’s not them.
Trudeau's Best Selling Book
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