Scams and Fraud: The World’s Worst 5 Cases

Scams and fraud. Do you hate them? Maybe you’ve paid more than you should have for your products; maybe you’ve bought something online that you never really received. As annoying as such incidents might be, some people have been unfortunate enough to be scammed on a much, much higher level. We would like to present you with a list we have compiled of the 5 biggest scams in history. Let’s take a look; this list has a much more “historical” take then previous coverage of the biggest corporate scandals.

No. 5: The Mona Lisa Scam

Photo Credit: Joaquín Martínez Rosado

In 1911, Argentinean Eduardo de Valfierno paid a Louvre employee to steal the Mona Lisa for him. Valfierno had no use for the original painting as his plan was to sell various forgeries to art collectors throughout the world. He simply needed the painting to be out of the museum so that everyone would think he was selling the actual Mona Lisa; and it worked.

No. 4: Bridges for Sale

Photo Credit: anieto2k

Few men in American history have been so prolific at conning gullible people as George Parker. For years on end, Parker made a living by selling various New York landmarks to unsuspecting tourists. His favorite pieces of “real estate” were the Brooklyn Bridge, Madison Square Garden, Grant’s Tomb, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and even the Statue of Liberty. Eventually, Parker was sentenced to life and he spent his last days in Sing Sing Prison.

Check out the rest of the world’s worst scams and fraud on the following pages: