Roger Cook's Ten Greatest Conmen: True Stories of the World's Most Outrageous Scams

From the very first recorded con—the Elizabethan-era "Spanish Prisoner Scam"—to today’s hi-tech online swindles, grifters have become ever-more inventive in their scope, scale, and ambition. This enthralling collection surveys the men and women who invented the most extraordinary scams of all time. Their stories are remarkable, including the tale of Gregor McGregor, the man who invented a fictional South American country, raised international loans on its behalf, and sold much of its nonexistent land to would-be settlers in the 1820s. Also included are the tales of Eric Hebborn, the master forger who conned the art world into buying thousands of his fakes; Arthur Ferguson, who sold Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, and the White House to gullible American investors; and Frank Abagnale Jr., the real-life Catch Me If You Can conman who successfully impersonated a pilot, a teacher, a lawyer, and a pediatrician while swindling $5 million across 26 countries. This insightful guide unveils how these professional swindlers fooled countless individuals into handing over their cash, and reveals the techniques developed by the police to bring them to justice.