10 Notorious Fraudsters Who Scammed Their Way Into History.
Throughout history, various swindlers have turned trust into personal fortune, only for their deceptive schemes to eventually crumble. As the world evolved, so did the methods of these tricksters, who adapted to technological advances and shifting economic landscapes. From classic scams to digital cons, notorious figures like Charles Ponzi, Anna Delvey, and Amanda Riley have captivated the public's imagination, leading to a cultural fascination with their exploits.
The internet, digital currencies, and social media have made it easier for con artists to deceive others on a larger scale. The likes of Belle Gibson and Amanda Riley, as well as crypto schemer Sam Bankman-Fried, have emerged in the digital age, pulling off sophisticated frauds that caused immense harm to unsuspecting victims. Their stories have been chronicled in podcasts, documentaries, and films, offering a glimpse into their unscrupulous ways.
Here are 10 of the most infamous con artists in history and the details of their schemes.
Princess Caraboo
In April 1817, Almondsbury, England, was mystified by the appearance of a woman wrapped in a shawl, wearing a colorful dress, and speaking a strange, incomprehensible language. The woman, who introduced herself as "Caraboo," claimed to be a princess from the Indian Ocean island of Javasu. She convinced many of the villagers that she had escaped from kidnappers, and her knowledge of exotic fruits like pineapples seemed to add weight to her story.
She was taken in by a local magistrate’s family, where she entertained visitors with native dances and religious rituals. However, her ruse was exposed when a landlady in nearby Bristol revealed that Princess Caraboo was actually Mary Willcocks, a young woman from Devon. Rather than facing punishment, Willcocks managed to avoid imprisonment, even convincing the magistrate’s wife to fund her trip to America. Eventually, she returned to England, married, and found stability by starting a legitimate business importing and selling leeches for medicinal use.
Phoebe Cates famously portrayed Mary Willcocks in the 1994 comedy-drama film Princess Caraboo.
George C. Parker: The Man Who Sold New York's Brooklyn Bridge
The phrase “If you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you” is believed to trace back to one of America's most notorious con artists, George C. Parker. Active during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Parker developed a reputation for selling the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City—a monument that he didn’t own and had no authority to sell. According to Carl Sifakis’ Hoaxes and Scams, Parker had a remarkable ability to deceive unsuspecting immigrants, often luring them with promises of employment at an unbuilt toll booth. Once he had their trust, he would then convince them that they could purchase the bridge outright.
On occasion, Parker's scams led to chaotic and humorous situations. Victims, believing they had successfully acquired the bridge, would often attempt to build toll booths, only to have construction work halted by confused police who were unaware of the fraudulent transactions taking place.
Although his most famous scheme involved the Brooklyn Bridge, Parker's con artistry didn't stop there. He also sold fake deeds to other iconic landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty, Madison Square Garden, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. However, he was most proud of his success in convincing people they could own the famed Brooklyn Bridge.
Parker’s fraudulent activities eventually caught up with him. It was a forged check that led to his arrest, marking the beginning of the end for his grifting career. In 1928, after years of deception, Parker was sentenced to life in prison. Ironically, he reportedly enjoyed his time behind bars, as younger inmates looked up to him and treated him with considerable respect.
Elizabeth Bigley, aka Cassie Chadwick: The Heiress Who Defrauded the Rich
Elizabeth Bigley, a woman who would come to be known by many names, spent more than two decades swindling banks and wealthy investors across the Northeast and Midwest. She first caught attention in the 1890s when she served time in Ohio for forging checks. Bigley, who also went by aliases like Cassie L. Chadwick, led a life of deception that began with a stint as a clairvoyant before she embarked on an even bolder scheme.
After her release from prison, she resurfaced in Cleveland and married a wealthy widower, quickly spending his money on extravagant purchases like clothing, jewelry, and fine furniture. But living a lavish lifestyle wasn’t enough to satisfy her ambitions. In a daring move, she fabricated a story claiming to be the illegitimate daughter of steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, a rumor that opened doors to an increasing number of loans and cash advances from unsuspecting lenders.
Her fraud was eventually exposed when a bank owner grew suspicious. By late 1904, Chadwick failed to repay a $190,000 promissory note, and her network of lies unraveled. In early 1905, her highly publicized trial even attracted the attention of Carnegie himself, who attended to see the proceedings. Less than a year later, Chadwick died while serving her prison sentence.
Charles Ponzi: The Man Behind the Scheme That Bears His Name
Charles Ponzi, an Italian immigrant seeking a better life in Boston, became infamous for one of the most notorious financial schemes in history. In 1919, Ponzi founded the Securities Exchange Company, claiming that international reply coupons purchased overseas could be redeemed at a much higher value in the United States. Promising investors returns of 50 percent in just 45 days, Ponzi attracted around 20,000 investors who collectively contributed $10 million.
With his newfound wealth, Ponzi indulged in a lavish lifestyle, purchasing a mansion and hiring a limousine driver. However, his success came at the expense of the investors who had trusted him. Ponzi was using the money from new investors to pay returns to earlier ones, a classic sign of a financial pyramid scheme.
His downfall came when his extravagant displays of wealth caught the attention of journalists and federal investigators. In August 1920, Ponzi was arrested on 86 counts of mail fraud. He spent the next 14 years behind bars, eventually dying in poverty in Brazil. Despite his tragic end, Ponzi's name became permanently linked to fraudulent investment schemes, forever etching the term “Ponzi scheme” into the lexicon of financial deception.
Frank Abagnale Jr.: The Legendary Con Artist Who Became a Security Expert
Few stories of deception are as captivating as that of Frank Abagnale Jr. Beginning in the mid-1960s, Abagnale’s own account tells the tale of how, at just 16 years old, he became known as the "Skywayman," successfully hitching rides around the world while posing as a Pan Am pilot. In the process, he managed to cash in around $2.5 million in fraudulent checks. His schemes didn’t stop there, as he also claimed to have worked as a doctor, an assistant district attorney, and a college professor, all while maintaining his elaborate ruse until his capture in France in 1970.
After serving four years in prison, Abagnale made a remarkable transformation. He shared his unique insights at the FBI National Academy, authored a 1980 memoir titled Catch Me If You Can, which later became a 2002 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. Additionally, he launched a successful career as a security consultant and public speaker.
However, according to Alan C. Logan’s 2020 book, The Greatest Hoax on Earth: Catching Truth, While We Can, Abagnale’s exploits may have been less grandiose than he claimed. Logan suggests that Abagnale’s true activities were on a much smaller scale, involving the theft of money from only a few families and businesses. In fact, Logan argues that Abagnale’s greatest deception might have been convincing the world that he carried out the high-profile heists he is famous for.
Lee Israel: The Literary Forger Who Became an Icon
Lee Israel initially gained success as a biographer, even making the New York Times bestseller list with her 1980 book on journalist Dorothy Kilgallen. However, Israel’s real talent lay in impersonating the iconic writers she admired. In the early 1990s, she spent about a year and a half forging hundreds of letters, mimicking the distinct styles of legendary figures such as Dorothy Parker, Ernest Hemingway, and Noël Coward. Using vintage typewriters specific to each writer, she carefully crafted the letters and sold them to memorabilia dealers.
When dealers eventually caught on to her forgeries, Israel began stealing authentic letters from private collections and replacing them with her own replicas. The FBI eventually shut down her operation in 1993, though Israel received a relatively mild sentence of six months under house arrest and five years of probation.
The scandal surrounding her forgeries ultimately led to a book deal. Her 2008 memoir, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, was adapted into a critically acclaimed movie starring Melissa McCarthy, which earned an Academy Award nomination.
Anna Delvey: The Heiress Who Fooled New York’s Elite
Russian-born Anna Delvey, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, became a notorious figure in New York City after she arrived in 2013, claiming to be a wealthy German heiress. Delvey had completed fashion internships in Europe, and quickly convinced many of her colleagues in the New York social scene that she was part of a prominent family with an unlimited fortune. Her persona as a sophisticated socialite covered up several glaring inconsistencies, including an inability to pay for lavish dinners and parties.
Despite this, she managed to stay in a luxurious downtown hotel for an extended period and even sought millions of dollars in loans to fund a lavish arts center using fabricated assets. The ruse ultimately unraveled when she failed to pay her hotel bills and a friend she had duped ended up with a staggering $60,000 bill for a lavish vacation they had taken together.
In October 2017, Delvey was arrested in Los Angeles. By April 2019, she was convicted on eight counts of grand larceny and theft of services. After serving two years in prison, she was transferred into the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) upon her parole.
Delvey’s story became a media sensation, with Netflix reportedly paying her $320,000 for the rights to adapt her tale into the 2022 limited series Inventing Anna, where Julia Garner portrayed her onscreen. In 2024, Delvey also appeared on Dancing with the Stars, further solidifying her status as a cultural figure.
Simon Leviev: The Tinder Swindler Who Stole Hearts and Money
Simon Leviev, born Shimon Hayut in Israel, became infamous for his deceptive ways after fleeing his home country in 2011 to escape theft and forgery charges. He was imprisoned for two years in Finland for defrauding three women, but Hayut didn’t stop there. After assuming the identity of Simon Leviev, he posed as the son of Lev Leviev, a diamond mogul, to con several women he met on Tinder into giving him their credit card numbers and granting him loans, which he never repaid.
Leviev’s reign of deception came to an end in 2019 when he was apprehended in Greece and later extradited to Israel to stand trial for the 2011 charges. Despite his involvement in the massive scheme that involved an estimated $10 million stolen from unsuspecting women, Leviev served only five months in prison.
Leviev’s notorious actions were immortalized in the 2022 Netflix documentary The Tinder Swindler, which exposed his fraudulent activities to a global audience. Although the documentary led to his expulsion from dating sites and a lawsuit filed by the Leviev diamond family, Hayut has since signed with a Hollywood agent and expressed interest in starring in his own dating show.
Amanda Riley: The Woman Who Faked Cancer for Donations
Amanda Riley gained attention and sympathy online when she began documenting her supposed battle with Hodgkin’s lymphoma and later lung cancer on her blog and social media starting in 2012. As part of her deceptive scheme, Riley shaved her head to simulate the effects of chemotherapy and solicited donations from friends, family, and strangers to fund her medical care. Over the years, she amassed more than $105,000 in online donations, in addition to other forms of cash and goods.
However, it was all a fabrication—Riley never had cancer. She was ultimately caught, and in 2021, she was convicted of wire fraud for her actions. Riley was sentenced to five years in prison. Doctors have since speculated that Riley might suffer from Münchausen syndrome, a psychological disorder in which a person feigns illness or deliberately produces symptoms to gain attention and sympathy.
Riley’s story became widely known when it was featured on the 2023 podcast Scamanda, which was later adapted into a four-part miniseries that aired on ABC and Hulu.
Sam Bankman-Fried: The Crypto King Who Lost It All
In 2019, Sam Bankman-Fried launched FTX Trading, a platform for cryptocurrency investors. Within just three years, the company—which at its peak was valued at $26.5 billion—collapsed, and Bankman-Fried was left to answer for his actions. Prosecutors accused him of using customer deposits to fund his own hedge fund, purchase real estate, and make political contributions to sway crypto regulations in his favor.
In November 2023, Bankman-Fried was convicted on several charges, including wire fraud conspiracy and wire fraud. He was sentenced to serve 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit more than $11 billion. While his legal troubles continue, reports surfaced that his parents have been consulting with lawyers linked to former President Donald Trump in an effort to explore the possibility of a presidential pardon.
