The best scammers of all time. Catch me if you can: the most famous scammers in human history. Ferdinand Demara: a talented doctor without medical education

To provide for themselves, people are forced to work. But some people prefer not very legal ways of earning money. Some rob, some extort, some deceive. Scams are very popular among scammers. It is enough to come up with some kind of scheme, and people themselves will bring the money. Many people try to do this, but not everyone succeeds. But real swindlers receive not only profit, but also worldwide fame. Fraud can be an art and a source of admiration. Below is a list of the most notorious scams in the history of mankind.

10. Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan - a duo that can't sing

The Milli Vanilli duo was created in 1988. Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan were very popular, they received many awards, their songs often hit the top. In 1990, the group was awarded a Grammy in the category “Best New Artist”. At that time, very few stars managed to reach such heights. In 1989 the group performed in Bristol. Then the soundtrack of their song “Girl You Know It’s True” began to jam. No one gave it credit of great importance, but even then rumors about this group began to circulate. These were not rumors at all. The duo's producer, Farian, created the project and found wonderful vocalists. But they did not fit the group format, they were already over 40, and the duet was positioned as a youth duo. This is how Rob Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan became stars. In November 1990, Farian was forced to admit that the voices of other performers were indeed heard on the recordings. The group was hit with 26 lawsuits and had to return the Grammy Award.

9. John Brinkley's Medical Fraud

Fraudster John Brinkley began his career in Greenville. There he treated men who doubted their masculinity. An injection that restores male strength cost $25. Instead of a miracle cure, they injected ordinary water. But the business did not last long, 2 months. After some time, John began to help men by transplanting the gonads of a goat into them. The first client was so pleased that word of the miracle doctor spread like lightning. There were a large number of people interested. Those for whom the operation did not help remained silent. Brinkley argued that men with low intelligence would not thrive on goat eggs. Soon the business reached universal proportions. He brought John a fortune of 12 million dollars. Then Brinkley’s medical license was taken away, and patients began to complain. He closed his clinic and declared bankruptcy.

8. Criminal-artist Mikhail Tsereteli

Although Tsereteli was born into a princely family, it was very poor. Mikhail wanted big money, he was attracted beautiful life. He began to engage in petty fraud, but ended up in prison. When he got out, he returned to criminal activity. For many years he was involved in financial scams. He withdrew money from banks using forged or stolen documents and coped well with the roles of princes and princes. He easily changed his appearance and brilliantly played the wealthy worthy people. Tsereteli acted, not only in Russia, but also abroad. In 1915, Mikhail was caught.

7. Frank Abagnale

He began his criminal activities at the age of 16. Forging checks and cashing them became his main source of income. Over five years, $2.5 million worth of checks were circulated in 26 countries. He managed to transform himself so that no one could catch him. He tried on the roles of a pilot, professor, and doctor. In 1969 he was caught and served time in different countries. 12 countries demanded his extradition after his arrest. Later he opened his own agency providing consulting services on financial security issues.

6. Christopher Rockancourt - Fake Rockefeller

Christopher Rockancourt was born into a dysfunctional family. At the age of 5 he was sent to an orphanage. And when he grew up, he began to engage in robbery and making counterfeit money. I went to jail. Afterwards he decided to change his occupation. He made false documents and sold someone else's property. He introduced himself different people, deceived many wealthy people, defrauding them of money. Even Jean-Claude van Damme fell for his bait. He often introduced himself as a member of the Rockefeller family and advertised himself in the media. He even wrote a biography where he ridiculed the people he deceived. According to unconfirmed reports, the damage from his activities amounts to $40 million. In 2001 he was arrested.

5. MMM - Sergey Mavrodi

Sergey Mavrodi is the founder of the largest financial pyramid, MMM. He was born into a prosperous family, studied at the institute, and worked for 2 years at a closed research institute. He began to engage in illegal activities while still in college. This was the distribution of illegal videos. In 1989 he founded the MMM company. Until 1994, she was engaged in trade and finance. And in 1994, the company began issuing shares. People bought them and invested all their savings. Meanwhile, Mavrodi was making plans to create similar pyramids in America, and then throughout the world. On August 19, 1994, Sergei was arrested. The investors demanded that the money be paid to them and that Mavrodi be released; they still believed him. However, people were unable to return their savings. But after the arrest and a quiet reclusive life, nothing prevented Mavrodi from creating a new pyramid in 2011, already on the Internet.

4. Charles Ponzi

Charles Ponzi is another creator of a financial pyramid, more ingenious and original. Born in Italy. In 1903, Ponzi went to the USA, borrowed a small amount from a friend and created a company. The company was engaged in securities. Its founder promised to give out 1,500 in 90 days for every $1,000 invested. The company existed for quite a long time. Some of the funds went to investors, and Charles appropriated some for himself.
But due to a lawsuit from one of the investors, the company’s activities had to be stopped. People ran to get their money back. The company was declared bankrupt, and Charles was sentenced to 5 years. After serving his sentence, Charles continued his machinations. Soon he was deported to his homeland.

3. Martin Frenkel

Martin was a child prodigy from childhood. He even went to university, but dropped out. The young man was attracted to finance and investment. In 1991, Frenkel created a fund that bought Insurance companies. Their insurance reserves were used to purchase new insurance, as well as the luxurious lifestyle of the fraudster. To cover up its illegal activities, it organizes a charitable foundation. This is Martin's way of diverting the authorities' attention from his business. But as time passed, people still became interested in the insurance empire. Frenkel fled, taking with him a huge fortune, but after 4 months he was caught by the FBI. Dozens of insurance companies were left with nothing and could not explain to their clients where their money went.

2. 419 scam or Nigerian letters

This is the most popular type of financial fraud. With the advent of the Internet and email, it became even more widespread. Although it first appeared long before the invention of the Internet. Mailing started in 1980 in Nigeria. Recipients were asked for help, promising victims large rewards. There were many options for deception, but most often they needed help in transferring wealth from Nigeria to another country. The letters were from kings, presidents and other high-ranking personalities who were allegedly persecuted in their homeland. People bought in, sent money, opened accounts and lost everything.

1. Selling the Eiffel Tower

Victor Lustig is rightfully considered the most unique swindler. Of course, this man sold the Eiffel Tower. May 1925, the press publishes information that the Eiffel Tower is in terrible condition and needs to be repaired. At the same time, Victor, introducing himself, organized a meeting of large businessmen involved in recycled metal. There he announced that they were going to demolish the tower and sell the scrap metal at a closed auction. The buyer was Andre Poisson. Not wanting to be considered a fool, he did not tell anyone about this situation. After some time, Lustig came to France again. Surprisingly, he repeated this trick - he sold the Eiffel Tower again. But this time his luck ran out and the buyer contacted the police. Lustig fled to the United States, but was soon arrested.

The 20th century has gone down in history as a century of fraud and grandiose deceptions. The sale of the Eiffel Tower, financial pyramids, MMM, robberies, medical quackery - this is an incomplete list of frauds that have shocked humanity. So, we present to your attention the TOP 10: the most ambitious scams of the century.

10th place. A duet that can't sing

Milli Vanilli is a protégé of the famous German producer Frank Farian. The duet was created in the early 80s of the last century and quickly gained recognition throughout the world. Grand shows, performances in the most big cities Europe, millions of fans - all this became a reality for former dancers Rob and Faris. The duo’s popularity peaked in 1990, when Milli Vanilli received the prestigious Grammy award in the “Best New Artist” category. However, the group's activities were soon interrupted due to a loud scandal. During a concert in Bristol (USA), where Rob and Faris sang live, a technical failure occurred on the disc on which the phonogram was recorded. As a result, the phrase from the famous song “Girl You Know It’s True” was repeated many times, and the duo was forced to leave the stage. It turned out that during their performances Pilatus and Morvan imitated singing, and the original voices belonged to American vocalists Charles Shaw, Brad Howell and John Davis.

The scandal was followed by a long trial. As a result, the duo was forced to refuse all awards. In addition, the deceived listeners were reimbursed for the cost of purchased Milli Vanilli records and tickets to their concerts.

9th place. The Miracle of John Brinkley

John Brinkley was born in a small American village. In his youth he had to work a lot. It was at this time that John begins to think about making illegal money. Brinkley's "teachers" became famous in

In 1918, John bought a medical degree and began to implement various frauds. The false doctor began to solve problems related to male potency. He offered his patients “miracle cures” made from colored distilled water. Then John Brinkley had another brilliant idea. Soon the false doctor convinced all the men that a transplant of genital organs from a goat would help solve the problem with potency. Two years later, Mr. Brinkley's new business began to generate incredible profits. He and his colleagues performed at least 50 operations per month! In 1923, he acquired his own radio station, on the waves of which he advertised Dr. Brinkley’s clinic.

In the 30s the false doctor was forced to end his medical practice. Mr. Brinkley has been the subject of several lawsuits over the deaths of former patients. In 1941, the famous swindler was declared bankrupt.

8th place. Criminal artist

At the beginning of the 20th century Russian Empire There was a wave of banking scams. The country's largest banks lost large sums. The problem was kept silent for a long time, as organizations did not want to lose the trust of their millionaire investors. Later it turned out that all these robberies were carried out under the leadership of a certain Mikhail Tsereteli. In different parts of Russia he was known under different names: Prince Tumanov, Eristavi, Andronnikov.

Tsereteli invited the richest people of the empire to cooperate, took their passports and appropriated their bank deposits. In 1913, the fraudster managed to carry out a large-scale scam in Germany. He organized a fundraiser for the construction and repair of the fleet, and then embezzled a large sum.

Another area of ​​Tsereteli’s activity was the robbery of wealthy ladies at European resorts. The young man quickly gained confidence and then cheated out of the sum.

In 1914, under the name of Prince Tumanov, Tsereteli settled in Odessa. A year later he was arrested. It turned out that only in 1914-1915. The fraudster has pulled off more than 10 major scams! Nevertheless, Tsereteli never sought an excuse for himself; he only declared: “I am not a criminal, I am an artist.”

7th place. Catch Me If You Can

Over the course of 5 years, he committed a huge number of grandiose scams. This man went down in American history as the largest swindler. In addition, Steven Spielberg's film Catch Me If You Can was based on the life of the brilliant swindler. So, what is Frank Abagnale famous for?

Mr. Abagnale's great scams involved forging bank documents. Frank began his criminal activities at the age of 16, deceiving his own father. Until the age of 21, the young man tried on many professions. He was a pediatrician, a sociology professor, and even the Attorney General of Louisiana! Bank depositors in 26 European countries suffered from Mr. Abagnale's machinations.

At the age of 21, the swindler was arrested. But after 5 years he was released early on the condition that the former fraudster would cooperate with the FBI. As a result, for more than 40 years, Frank Abagnale advised the Bureau of Investigation and assisted in exposing swindlers.

6th place. Fake Rockefeller

Christopher Rocancourt was born in a small French village. At the age of 20, he committed his first crime - robbing a Geneva bank. After this, Mr. Rockancourt leaves for the USA. At first, Christopher gained the trust of rich women by posing as the son of Sophia Loren or the nephew of Dino de Laurentiis. Soon Mr. Rockancourt invented a new legend. He became a member of the family of American banker James Rockefeller, the famous founder of Standard Oil. A rich life, the attention of women, a personal helicopter - all this has become a reality for the former poor man. Christopher Rockefeller quickly establishes himself in the confidence of the most famous people. Jean Claude Van Dame and Mickey Rourke became his friends. But the fame of the fake Rockefeller was short-lived. In 2000, Christopher Rockancourt was arrested. After posting bail, the fraudster went to Hong Kong, where he continued his scams. In 2001, he was arrested again and accused of embezzling $40 million.

5th place. MMM

5th place in the ranking of great scams is occupied by the MMM financial pyramid. Mavrodi Sergei is considered the organizer of the largest scam in Russian history. The structure was founded in 1989 and continued active work until 1994. When organizing MMM, Mavrodi decided to make a name from the first letters of the surnames of its founders (Sergei Panteleevich himself, his brother and Olga Melnikova). Initially, the company was engaged in the sale of computers. Since 1992, the organization began to issue its own shares, which were sold very rapidly. Then Mavrodi introduced the so-called MMM tickets into circulation. The price of one ticket was 1/100 of the share. Outwardly, they were similar to Russian rubles, but in the center of the paper there was a portrait of Mavrodi himself. In 1994, MMM had more than 12 million depositors. In August 1994, the scandalous founder of the financial pyramid was arrested, and MMM's activities were discontinued. According to various sources, about 10 million investors suffered from Sergei Mavrodi’s scam.

Financial fraud is one of the main problems of the 20th century. The structure of Sergei Mavrodi was not just one of the few companies from which millions of people suffered. You can see a list of financial pyramids of the 20th century below.

The most famous financial pyramids

• Pyramid of Dona Branca. In 1970, Portuguese citizen Donna Branque opened her own bank. To attract investors, she promised a monthly rate of at least 10% to each client. Thousands of people from all over the country entrusted their deposits to the bank. But in 1984, Dona Brank was arrested for fraud, and the grand scheme collapsed.
• Lou Perlman's diagram. The resourceful swindler became famous for selling almost $300 million worth of shares in non-existent companies.
• "European Royal Club" is a company created by Hans Spachtholz and Damara Bertges. As a result of the activities of the fraudulent organization, thousands of investors from different countries lost about $1 billion.

Financial pyramids XXI

Financial pyramids are not only a problem of the 20th century. Various criminal schemes continue to be implemented to this day. We present to your attention a list of the most famous financial pyramids of the 21st century.

• “Double Check” is a scheme developed by an ordinary teacher from Pakistan, Syed Shah. First, he made a lucrative offer to his neighbors, promising to quickly double their investment. Soon the pyramid expanded throughout the country. As a result, Shah managed to defraud investors of more than $800 million.
• The Barnard Medoff pyramid is a major scam organized by an American businessman and is considered one of the biggest financial frauds in history. As a result of the activities of Medoff's investment fund, more than 3 million people were deceived. The damage suffered by investors is estimated at $65 billion.

4th place. Financial genius Charles Ponzi

4th place in our ranking of “The Greatest Scams of the Century” is occupied by the financial fraud of Charles Ponzi. Mr. Ponzi is considered one of the biggest scammers in US history. The future financial swindler came to the country in 1903. According to Ponzi himself, he had “2 dollars and a million dollars of hope” in his pocket. In 1919, he borrowed $200 from a friend and founded his own financial pyramid, SXC. Ponzi offered its investors earnings from selling and buying goods in different countries. In addition, the scammer promised his clients 50% of the profit from the deposit for 3 months. The Ponzi scheme began to work successfully. However, the brilliant plan fell apart when a friend of Charles's, who had once lent him money, demanded half of Ponzi's income. A long trial followed, during which the “financial genius” was declared bankrupt and deported to his homeland. Charles Ponzi died in Rio de Janeiro, where he was buried with his last $75.

3rd place. Rascal Prodigy

3rd place in the ranking of “The Greatest Scams of the Century” is occupied by Martin Frenkel’s scams. This man, along with Charles Ponzi, is considered the largest swindler in US history. From childhood, Martin was denigrated as a successful businessman. The boy graduated from school early and then entered the university.

The brilliant swindler began his criminal path in 1986, founding the investment firm Creative Partners Fund LP. As a result, Martin Frankel managed to defraud his investors of about $1 million. A few years later, the swindler founded another investment fund and thereby significantly increased his income.

A few years later, Frenkel came up with a new scam and began buying insurance companies in different states.

In 1998, the brilliant swindler made two very useful acquaintances: with the American ambassador to the USSR and with the famous Catholic priest Father Jacob. With their help, he organized a charitable foundation in support of the American church, which, in fact, was another financial pyramid.

Mr. Frenkel's activities were suspended only in 2001, when he was arrested and sentenced to 200 years.

2nd place. Scam 419

The 419 scam started back in the 80s. last century. At this time, a group of criminals formed in Nigeria who began to implement the old technique of deceiving gullible citizens. Soon this fraud technique spread across the Internet. What is the essence of Nigerian letters?

People from different countries receive letters from Nigeria or other African countries. The sender begs the recipient to help with multi-million dollar transactions, promising a hefty percentage. As a rule, the sender introduces himself former king, a wealthy heir or banker. The letter contains a request for assistance in transferring a large sum to another country or in obtaining an inheritance. If the recipient agrees to assist the sender, then not only does he not receive the promised money, but he also loses his own.

1 place. Sale of the Eiffel Tower

At the beginning of the 20th century, a native of the Czech Republic settled in Paris. Here he pulls off several scams and then moves to the USA. In 1925, Lustig returned to Paris. There, on the pages of one of the newspapers, I read a message that the Eiffel Tower had practically fallen into disrepair and needed repair or demolition. This information served as the basis for a new ingenious scam. Lustig, posing as a French minister, sends telegrams to the richest tycoons in Europe inviting them to take part in the discussion future fate the main symbol of Paris. At the same time, he assures them of the need to keep this information secret. As a result, Victor Lustig sold the right to dispose of the Eiffel Tower to Andre Poisson for 50 thousand dollars. The French authorities hushed up the scandal that followed soon after.

Lustig emigrated to the USA, but a few years later returned to Paris and again sold the Eiffel Tower (this time for 75 thousand dollars).

Hello, today we will talk about the most famous scammers in the world who easily stole money in different countries, just out of nowhere.

One of the most famous scammers in the world is Victor Lusting. One day in 1925, he arrived in Paris and the United States of America, just in search of adventure. Quite by chance, he read in the local newspaper that the Eiffel Tower was falling apart and needed repairs. Having realized that, Victor Lysting sent out several letters to dealers of “vtorchermet” stating that the government of Paris wants to demolish the property of Paris and sell it for scrap metal at a closed auction. Only one dealer “bought” this letter, so Victor sold him the “right” to demolish the tower, and he himself went to Vienna, then when Victor realized that the dealer had not disclosed the scam, Lusting came and told him again sold the tower. When the dealer realized that he had been deceived, he reported to the police, then our hero went back to the United States. Exactly 10 years later he was sent to prison for counterfeiting money, and 12 years later he died in prison.

Arthur Fergusson

Another one of the most famous scammers in the world is Arthur Fergusson, he is one of the greatest scammers in history, during his life he managed to sell The White house to one banker for 2 million dollars, under the pretext that the government somehow needed to recoup its costs on him, he was also able to sell Buckingham Palace, Big Ben in Great Britain, as well as the Statue of Liberty. Of course, this man served time in prison for his illegal sales, and died in 1935 without a single cent in his pocket.

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Frank William Abagnale

This man also went down in the history of the most famous scammers in the world. He forged bank checks in the 60s, and with these checks he was able to steal more than $5 million from banks. He managed to forge a diploma at Harvard University and got a job in the office of the Attorney General in the State of Louisiana, for 5 years he changed jobs, and during his entire life, more than 25 banks around the world suffered from him. Some modern films about thefts formed the basis in America.

Christopher Rocancourt

Christopher Rockancourt, posed as a member of the Rockefeller family, although he was not from a prosperous family, his father was an alcoholic, and his mother was a prostitute. He also pretended to be a personal friend of Bill Clinton. With the help of such transformations and scams, Christopher managed to steal more than 40 million dollars. When he was tried, he confessed to all the crimes. He also stole money from American rich people, posing as an influential person, for example, a film producer. He was tried and tried to be caught many times, and was caught only in 2002. And as I wrote above, he himself admitted in court about his scams.

It is so accepted that crime is the lot of men. However, over the course of history, women have also mastered the world of crime. They could not afford to become bandit raiders, and famous women- there are not so many murderers. Using their charm, beauty and feminine cunning, women from crime have always liked fraud and deception, and this is where they have achieved impressive success. Some of them became famous throughout the world and wrote themselves forever in the history of the criminal world.

1. Sonya Golden Pen

It would be wrong to start our rating with someone else, because this woman was called the queen of the underworld, and this title was rightfully given to her. All her life she lived by deceiving dozens of men, stealing big and small, and pulling off cunning combinations, charming men, despite the fact that she did not have outstanding external characteristics.

Sofya Ivanovna Bluvshtein was from a family of buyers of stolen goods. The first time, after marrying an innkeeper, she ran away from him abroad, leaving him without money. Then she will marry a rich old Jew to do the same with him, the third time - to a card sharper. Sonya had a craving for diamonds and furs, she had a special dress - a bag into which she could sweep the skin, and she took a trained monkey with her to jewelry stores - she swallowed stones while the scammer distracted the owners, and at home Sonya gave the animal an enema.

Knowing how to dress well and present herself, speaking five languages, Sonya traveled around Europe and stole from expensive hotels and trains, posing as a fellow traveler. What was the cost of her clever robbery of a jeweler when, having selected a significant amount of diamonds, she remembered that she had forgotten the money at home and went to get it, leaving her “old father” and “sister and child” as collateral at the jeweler’s house.

As it turned out later, these were hired beggars, well dressed by Sonya for such an important scam. When she was finally caught, she was sent to Sakhalin, from where she escaped three times. Someone says that a figurehead served time for her, and Sonya returned to Odessa and lived until 1921, at least 2 times she managed to escape from Sakhalin until she was shackled, maybe she succeeded the third time?

2. The general is a fraud

As it happens, a girl from the outback in the capital goes to great lengths. So 25-year-old Olga, realizing that life married to a university professor was boring, began going out to restaurants, soon divorced and married General Stein, who had connections in high society. Soon Olga places an ad in the newspaper, saying she is looking for a manager for a large company, which she is establishing with her husband’s money in Siberia.

Gold mines have been discovered there and they are being developed, the salary for the position is 45 thousand rubles, a lot of money at that time. Olga collected money for the position for many years, while the applicants traveled around Siberia and looked for mines, and if someone returned, they frightened her husband with connections and the deceived ones left with nothing. When she was finally convicted in 1907, she fled abroad until in 1920 she was arrested in the USA and brought to Russia.

There she charms the head of the colony, Krotov, and leaves a year later, and Krotov, blinded by this femme fatale, begins to pawn the property of the colony for her pleasure. Even after Krotov’s capture, Olga managed to get out of it and was given bail to her relatives.

3. Maria Tarnovskaya

This woman was a professional in seducing men and lived at their expense all her life. An aristocrat by birth and the daughter of a count, she destroyed men one after another. A certain Vladimir Stahl, driven into a frenzy by her, committed suicide near the theater, having insured his life in her name for the amount of 50 thousand the day before. With this money she went to South Palmyra, where she found a new lover - a certain Prilukov, in whose hands she put out her cigarettes and forced him to tattoo her name.

As soon as his money ran out, she began an affair with the widower Count Komarovsky, and then with his friend, the provincial secretary Naumov. Naumov had money, and the fraudster convinced Komarovsky to kill him - an impressive sum of 500 thousand rubles was at stake, but the count last moment got scared and handed her over to the court. Maria Nikolaevna was sentenced to 8 years in the salt mines, but rumors came from there that a millionaire from the USA found her there and took her to his homeland.

4. Doris Payne

The most famous diamond thief, born in 1930, and who lives to this day. She was the most extravagant criminal in the USA, she even visited strangers trials, in order to feel better at the trial, and at her own meeting she introduced herself to the judge: “I steal jewelry and I steal professionally.” France demanded her extradition. Italy and Switzerland, since she ransacked stores all over Europe, doing this for six decades, until she was very old.

She was in prison in six states, and many joked that she would give up stealing jewelry only when she could not move independently. Her method of theft was based on decorum and good manners. She forced the sellers to lay out jewelry in front of her, and during small talk she quietly hid the rings, or forgot to take them off her fingers when she took them home; few could suspect the elderly black lady of dishonesty.

5. Cassie Chadwick

Born Elizabeth Bigley, she was first caught at age 22 when she forged a bank check. Pretending to be in prison psychological illness, she got out, got married a couple of times, but then, realizing that an honest life did not appeal to her, she organized her most successful scam. She became the daughter of cattle dealer Carnegie from Scotland, concocted a counterfeit bill for $2 million, and collected $20 million from various banks to organize a slaughterhouse.

She continued to deceive people for a long time and live on the money she received, until the real industrialist Carnegie was surprised to learn about the tricks of his “daughter” and went to court because he wanted to protect his honest name. Cassie could not stand it in captivity and died in prison two years later.

6. Valentina Solovyova

The notorious fraudster from the era of the 90s came to court as if to a theater - in furs and diamonds, and assured that she was pure both before God and before people. Her “Vlastilina” was an ordinary financial pyramid, people were promised returns of up to 200%, and at first this was how it was, when the first investors came for money - Solovyova regally waved her hand to the corner where the boxes of money stood and said: “Take from the box as much as you need "

The fame of the rich and generous “ruler” spread far, the mafia and government officials brought money to her, and Solovyova herself promised everyone apartments in Moscow at bargain prices. People were taken to new buildings, and they said that all this was being built by “Vlastilina”. Solovyova explained her arrest by saying that the authorities do not want people to get rich, and she is a clear victim in this whole matter. Meanwhile, 16.5 thousand investors suffered at her hands, and the damage exceeded 530 million rubles. and 2.5 million dollars

After serving seven years, Solovyova was released in 2000, and, apparently inspired by the fate of Mavrodi, again launched a new pyramid, for which she is being sued to this day.

Timofey Dementievich Ankudinov

A native of Vologda, the son of a small cloth merchant. In 1643, Timofey, having squandered the monastery treasury, burned his house together with his wife and fled abroad with the government money. Everyone believed that he died in a fire, so no one looked for Timofey. In Europe, he was first introduced as the Prince of Great Perm, then as the son of Tsar Vasily Shuisky, Prince John of Shuisky. He asked European monarchs and aristocrats for material and political help, and made friends with many important foreigners. After Moscow learned about his antics, the impostor Ankudinov was put on the international wanted list, but he found temporary protection from the Swedish Queen Christina, who believed in him. In 1654 he was extradited to the Russian government and, after a short investigation, quartered.

Ivan Osipov Cain

Born in 1718 in the village of Ivanovo, Rostov district, Yaroslavl province. At the age of 13, he robbed the master's Moscow house and ran away, but was caught and returned to the owner, the merchant Filatyev. For denouncing him, he received his freedom, after which he went to a den of thieves “under the Stone Bridge.” He soon became a reputable thief, pulled off a number of daring scams, stealing money from wealthy Russian and Armenian merchants by cunning and force. For some time he led a gang of several hundred robbers on the Volga. In 1741, he appeared at the Moscow Detective Prikaz and offered his assistance in catching Moscow thieves. Having received the position of informer and a team of soldiers, he arrested many prominent crime bosses. Soon the Senate appointed him one of the main Moscow detectives. Catching small thieves, he took money from large ones. Exposed in 1749. After a six-year investigation, he was exiled to hard labor in Siberia.

Ivan Gavrilovich Rykov

In 1863, he was appointed director of the Skopinsky City Public Bank, on the basis of which he created the first large financial pyramid in Russia. An advertisement for the Rykovsky bank with the promise of fabulous interest on deposits was published throughout Russia, while the bank did not accept deposits from residents of its native Ryazan province. He led three accounting departments in the bank: official, internal and personal. He established a semi-fictitious “Joint-Stock Company of the Skopinsky Coal Mines of the Moscow Basin”, whose securities he traded on the stock exchange with himself, artificially increasing the rate and creating the appearance of interest in the enterprise, after which he gave the inflated shares as collateral for loans. The Rykov bubble burst in 1884. The total debt to creditors amounted to 12 million rubles, which was three times the value of Skopin’s entire property. By court verdict he was exiled to Siberia.

Alexander Gavrilovich Politkovsky

Born in 1803 into a poor noble Moscow family. In 1829 he entered the service of the General Staff of Military Settlements, where by 1851 he had risen to the rank of Privy Councilor (read: general), received several orders and a memorial Chest sign for 30 years of impeccable service. However, an unexpected audit revealed a shortage of 10 thousand rubles. The auditors requested an extended audit. It took place a year later, but Alexander Gavrilovich died the same night he learned about its beginning. Based on the results of the audit, it turned out that during his service Privy Councilor Politkovsky managed to embezzle and waste 1.12 million silver rubles (approximately 300 million in modern money). This was an absolute record for waste.

"Jacks of Hearts"

The most famous group of swindlers in Russia was formed in 1867 in Moscow, in the underground gambling house of the merchant Innokenty Simonov. The backbone of the group consisted of sharpers who constantly worked in the katran. An employee of the Moscow City Credit Society, the son of artillery general Pavel Speer, was elected chairman. The scammers carried out their first major original operation in 1873. They sent many chests of “ready-made linen” all over Russia, pricing each at 950 rubles and taking out insurance for each cargo. Insurance receipts were issued on stamped paper and were accepted by banks as collateral for loans along with bills of exchange. While the parcels at their final destinations were waiting for their recipients, who never showed up, the scammers managed to cash the receipts and cover their tracks. After the required waiting period had expired, the owner of the chests became the insured " Russian society sea, river and land insurance and transportation of luggage." However, upon opening them, representatives of the insurer did not find any underwear. Each chest contained several more boxes nested inside each other like a nesting doll, the last of which contained a carefully packed book “Memories of Empress Catherine the Second on the occasion of the opening of a monument to her.” The scammers agreed to remove the stale edition of this book from the printing warehouse for little money. From this scam they managed to get a very large sum, a fifth of which went to the main organizer and curator of the operation, Prince Dolgorukov.

Soon the scammers began producing fake documents, promissory notes and bonds on a near-stream basis. The manufacturers of counterfeit papers worked... in the provincial prison castle. The system was extremely simple: a real bill for 100 rubles went to the imprisoned counterfeiters sewn into clean linen, and a few days later it was returned dirty. At the same time, its denomination increased from 100 to 10 thousand rubles.

After some time, Ogon-Doganovsky announced the hiring of 15 office workers. Since the work involved financial responsibility, a deposit of 1,000 rubles was taken from each of them, which was common practice. However, when it was time to pay, it turned out that there was no money in the cash register for this. Doganovsky offered the employees, as moral compensation, to buy the bills pledged from him for half their value. The employees happily agreed, but at the bank where they came to repay them, the clerks were met with deep disappointment: the papers turned out to be the same prison work. In this scam, the “jacks” literally received more than 60 thousand rubles in just one day.

The next high-profile scam was the sale by scammers of the house of the Moscow Governor-General (now it houses the Moscow City Hall). This time the main performer was Pavel Speer. He managed to gain the trust of the general and become almost a friend of the family. Once he asked the general for permission to show the house of a real Russian prince to his friend the English lord. The prince was just about to leave with his family for his country estate and graciously allowed the pleasant young man manage the building. Speer took the lord around the governor's palace all day, showing all the rooms, including outbuildings. A few days later, the lord drove up to the house, accompanied by several carts loaded with belongings, and ordered the servants to bring things in. It turned out that during these few days he not only managed to buy the prince’s house from Speer for 100 thousand rubles, but also executed a deed of sale at a notary’s office. But the lord was unable to find this office again in order to confirm the legality of the transaction. As it turned out, it was opened a few days before the deal and disappeared immediately after it. Pavel Speer, who organized it, disappeared along with it. The Governor-General could not tolerate such a slap in the face. He pulled all possible levers and at the beginning of 1877, almost all members of the Jacks of Hearts gang were caught and brought to justice. Of the 48 swindlers involved in the case, 36 belonged to the highest aristocracy. The main organizers were sent to hard labor, while the performers, for the most part, were sent to prison companies, and only a few escaped with large fines.

Lazar Solomonovich Polyakov

In 1889, Lazar Polyakov bought a concession for the monopoly production of matches in Persia, where such production simply could not exist due to the lack of forest. Using loans from his banks, he built a match factory in Tehran, using his own construction company as a contractor. The built plant was sold to the Partnership of Industry and Trade in Persia and Central Asia", thus distributing most of the loan debt among numerous shareholders. Numerous financial scams led to the fact that during the banking crisis of 1900, numerous Polish banks were on the verge of bankruptcy. The audit found that their liabilities (debts, 53 million rubles) were one and a half times higher than their assets (37 million). But, since the weight of these banks in the country's economy was extremely large, the government undertook an operation to save them. True, Lazar Polyakov himself was removed from leadership. All its banks were merged into one “United Bank”, which in 1909 was transferred to the State Bank with all debts.

Brothers Shepsel and Leiba Gokhman

At the end of the 19th century they ran an antique shop in Odessa. The brothers' first big success (scam) was the sale of allegedly antique gold jewelry to Mr. Frishen, a collector from Nikolaev. And in 1896 they managed to sell the unique tiara of the Scythian king Saitafarnes to the Louvre. For it, the brothers and the Viennese antiquarians Vogel and Szymansky, who helped them, received no less than 286 thousand francs. For seven years the whole world came to Paris to see the miracle, and in the eighth year, Odessa jeweler Israel Rukhomovsky unexpectedly announced that it was he who made the tiara. By order of the brothers, who paid him 1800 rubles for the work. The Gokhmans and their assistants managed to avoid punishment, and the creation of the jeweler Rukhomovsky can still be seen. Not in the Louvre, but in the Parisian Museum of Decorative Arts.

Nikolay Maklakov

The son of a general, he graduated with honors from the Military Law Academy, but the career of an artist attracted him more than that of a military man. After working a little on stage, he began acting in real life. At first, Nikolai made a living by opening offices in different cities, hiring employees, collecting deposits from them against future profits, taking out loans, accruing advances for orders, and hiding. When it became difficult to work in Russia, Maklakov moved to Paris. Here he pretended to be his namesake - a famous deputy State Duma Vasily Maklakov. However, he soon got tired of playing a deputy, and he turned into an important official from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In what capacity, together with another famous swindler, cornet Savin, for a very long time and very successfully blackmailed and “milked” the French ex-minister Clemenceau. After his arrest in Switzerland, Maklakov was sent to Russia, where he was charged with 217 counts of fraud. Until the end of his life, he said that he did not feel like a criminal, and was so proud of his machinations that he even described them in his memoirs, which brought him good fees.

Nikolai Gerasimovich Savin

In the 10-20s of the 20th century, there were no fewer jokes about the cornet Savin in the circles of the Russian aristocracy than there are now about Lieutenant Rzhevsky. Arriving in San Francisco, he rented the best hotel apartments for himself, registering as “Comte de Toulouse-Latrec.” The “count” told journalists who were interested in such an interesting guest that he had come on a special assignment Russian government. He was allegedly tasked with finding good American industrialists who would take over the supply of materials for the Russian construction project of the century - the Trans-Siberian Railway. Such contracts promised enormous profits, and it is not surprising that the very next day, after the publication of an interview with the “count” in the central press, the largest representatives of American business began to invite him to visit them. The good “count” did not refuse anyone and promised assistance and protection to everyone. The delighted entrepreneurs did not know how to thank the guest, so they thanked him with money. In quite large amounts, rightly believing that the larger the size of the gratitude, the greater the hopes for obtaining a concession. Having traveled around California and collected decent capital, Comte de Toulouse-Latrec suddenly disappeared along with big money and big hopes for solid profits.

Cornet Savin did not rest for long. Having learned from the newspapers that Italian War Department wants to renew his equestrian park, he rushed to Rome, where he appeared before the military administration in the guise of a large Russian horse breeder. The conditions seemed attractive, and the government quickly concluded a supply agreement with the Russian horse breeder. However, no deliveries occurred: the supplier simply took the huge advance and disappeared.

He did not reach Russia then. He stopped in Sofia, where he was received as Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, the son of that same Prince Nikolai Konstantinovich, for whom the cornet had once served as an adjutant. At this time, the throne in Bulgaria was empty. After thinking a little for the sake of decency and negotiating decent terms for himself, “ Grand Duke" agreed. Sheer nonsense prevented the successful completion of the matter: the best Sofia hairdresser who came to the “prince”, as it turned out, had previously worked in St. Petersburg and had the pleasure of personally cutting Prince Konstantin’s hair. He immediately recognized the impostor and reported it to the police.

In the midst February Revolution Savin managed to sell the Winter Palace to a rich American. The scheme was the same as that of the “Jacks of Hearts”, only because of the anarchy that reigned in the country at that time, no one began to strain the police. Everyone just laughed at the stupid American.

Already a very old man and living in exile in Shanghai, the legendary cornet made a living by collecting money for the publication of a newspaper, selling “ancient manuscripts” to foreigners, and “golden Swiss watches” to his compatriots. Cornet Savin died in 1937 from cirrhosis of the liver and was buried in a cheap coffin, bought with money from the Russian Orthodox mission in Harbin.

Alexander Zubkov

After the October Revolution, a poor nobleman emigrated to Germany. In 1927, Zubkov was lucky. One of his successful relatives got him an invitation to tea with the Dowager Prussian Princess Frederica Amalie Wilhelmina Victoria, sister and granddaughter of the last German Kaiser Wilhelm II Queen of England Victoria. The twenty-seven-year-old Russian handsome man made an indelible impression on the sixty-one-year-old widow. The marriage lasted less than a year, but during this time the happy husband managed to safely squander Wilhelmina’s considerable fortune - 12 million gold marks and incur an additional debt of more than 600 thousand marks. The ruined princess died shortly after the divorce in a hospital for the poor, and her ex-husband, having left Germany, made a living for a long time by telling journalists for money about his glorious marriage epic.

Veniamin Vaisman

Born in 1914. He traded in theft. In the winter of 1944, Venya escaped from the camp in Vologda region. I wandered through the forest for several days and froze both legs and my left hand. All this had to be amputated. In 1946, he received an award book for being a Twice Hero Soviet Union, put order bars and medals on his jacket and became a “guard captain of tank forces” and a “disabled WWII veteran.” And he went to a reception with the ministers. Venya received very solid help from everyone. In March 1947, the head of the leadership department of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks personally ordered to allocate Vienna an apartment in the center of Kyiv with full furnishings, buy a plane ticket, issue an allowance in the amount of 2,500 rubles, provide 28 sets of American gifts and provide lifelong free sanatorium treatment. During the year of his activity as a war hero, Venya managed to fool 19 Stalinist ministers. For which he received ten years in the camps.

Petr Losyk

This swindler with the ID of a KGB major had a mandate that confirmed the broadest powers to check the mood of workers at any enterprise in the Soviet Union, and was signed not even by Yuri Andropov, but by Leonid Ilyich “himself.” Using this dashing paper in 1976, he traveled throughout the Caucasus and the Volga region. And everywhere he spoke with workers, who told the boss from the center about all the outrages that were happening on the ground. There were a lot of outrages, and local authorities they sought to quickly compensate them with substantial gifts and luxurious receptions. After his arrest, investigators saw that his ID and credentials contained a lot of grammatical errors: “mayor”, “legal”, “commission”, “particularly important”.

Sergey Mavrodi (MMM)

Marina Frantseva and Sergey Radchuk (Chara Bank)

Valentina Solovyova (private entrepreneur “Vlastilina”)

In 1989, MMM was one of the first cooperatives in the USSR to supply foreign computers. The private enterprise “Dozator”, which later grew into “Vlastilina”, was created by Valya Solovyova, a former cashier from a hair salon in the city of Lyubertsy, in 1991 and was engaged in harmless trading and intermediary activities. By 1992, the individual family enterprise “Chara” had grown into a holding company, which included quite successful insurance, transport and financial companies. And all of these companies suddenly switched to the new kind activities. MMM issued securities, the rate of which grew by leaps and bounds, Vlastilina began selling cars and apartments at half price, but with a delay in receipt (first three months, then six months), and Chara Bank began attracting private deposits at crazy interest rates. They did not last long and burst almost simultaneously - in the second half of 1994. Millions of Russians lost their money. It is surprising that this grandiose financial scam, carried out simultaneously by many companies (after all, in addition to the mentioned three leaders, there were hundreds, if not thousands, of similar, but not such large companies in the country), did not lead to mass unrest. In Albania, for example, defrauded investors overthrew the government around the same time.

Grigory Petrovich Grabovoi

The man who declared himself “the second coming of Jesus Christ” was born in 1963 in the village of Kirovsky in Kazakhstan. After graduating from Tashkent State University, he received a specialty in mechanics and worked for some time in one of the defense design bureaus of Tashkent. In 1991 I felt within myself psychic abilities and began “diagnosing and predicting aircraft malfunctions.” Until 1996, he was practically the official psychic of management civil aviation Uzbekistan. In 1995, he met with Vanga, who, according to some witnesses, blessed him to treat people, according to others, kicked him out. That same year he moved to Russia, where he trained as a paramedic and took up healing. He patented a number of inventions, including, for example, “A method for preventing disasters and a device for its implementation.” He hosted the “Formula of Health” program on the TV-6 channel, and published the newspaper “Management Option - Forecast.” He claimed that he could cure cancer up to the fourth stage and even resurrect the dead. On June 5, 2004, at a convened press conference, he declared himself the new messiah. In September 2004, Grabovoi’s students offered the mothers of schoolchildren who died in Beslan to resurrect their children “for a monetary reward of 39,500 rubles.” A year later, Gregory confirmed that he was ready to resurrect the children, but would do it for free. In March 2005, he founded the DRUGG party, from which he planned to run for the presidency of the Russian Federation. In case of victory, he promised to adopt a federal law banning death on the territory of the Russian Federation, as well as to pay 12 thousand rubles monthly to all citizens of the country. In the spring of 2006, Grabovoy was arrested and charged under Article 159, Part 2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“a criminal case for fraud involving the provision of obviously impossible paid services”). The court found him guilty of 11 cases of fraud on an especially large scale with damages exceeding 1 million rubles. On July 7, 2007, he was sentenced to 11 years in prison and a large fine. However, he did not serve his full sentence: in May of this year, the fighter against death was released on parole for good behavior.

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