Who is the best scammer in the world

Nigeria uses one play book to dupe unsuspecting people. I believe everybody have seen this somewhere whether in email or Facebook messages where they will probably tell you an elaborate fake story about large amounts of money in the central bank or a large amount of inheritance that is difficult for them to access because of their government restrictions or taxes in their country and in the process they ask for your bank details so as to transfer the money to you and in the process they will use your information to steal your funds.

Sign in. Forgot your password? Get help. Privacy Policy. Password recovery. Home Travel 10 Countries with the highest number of scammers. Top 10 Richest Criminal in the World of all Time. Top 10 Notorious Female Criminals in History. Top 10 of the deadliest street drugs in the world. His initial hustles were restricted to forging checks and assisting illegal migrants, serving a five-year term in U. In , Ponzi discovered arbitrage in the form of international postal reply coupons, each worth 5 cents.

Coupons purchased in Spain at a pre-set exchange rate could be redeemed for a nickel back in the U. He did just that, first recruiting people from the poorer economies in Europe to send him postage coupons, which he then sold in the U.

Ponzi used the incoming cash flow from new investors to pay off old ones, and many people simply reinvested their returns with him anyway. These kinds of outsized returns started to attract scrutiny, and an investigation by The Boston Post revealed that the business was a scam. It was ascertained that Ponzi had swiped up to 20 million USD from investors, which earned him another jail sentence.

Thompson would walk up to people in a friendly way, greet them and give the impression the two had met before. After gaining the trust of a stranger, Thompson would simply ask:. Unbelievably, this worked. Thompson managed to repeat the trick on various people before authorities caught up with him. One woman, Bertha Heyman, even continued to find victims while locked up in jail.

Heyman would claim to have lost access to her enormous fortune, and needed a bit of financial help to get it back. At the time, it was the tallest structure built by humans and kept that title for 41 years until the Chrysler Building in New York surpassed it. In , when Victor Lustig was 35 years old, he learned how expensive the tower had become to maintain. He subsequently came up with the idea to sell the Eiffel Tower to a scrap metal dealer. Lustig presumably found the most gullible scrap metal dealer in France to give a quote and even managed to have a sizable bribe added in.

After the scam, Lustig moved to Vienna in a train with suitcases full of cash. He considered the fraud so successful that he moved back to Paris the next month to do it again with a different scrap metal dealer. Although he did not succeed a second time, he was still able to evade arrest. In the United States, George C. Consumer prices increased by percent in , and the economy shrank by This resulted in widespread unemployment, as well as bare shelves at local businesses.

The combination of these elements, as well as others, resulted in huge scamming operations. The majority of these incidents were reported in Gauteng province, and involved phishing, accessing faked financial websites, and getting bogus SMS alerts of bank withdrawals or payments.

Aside from the typical romantic scams, the Philippines has taken it a step further. One of the most frequent schemes is known as the familiar face, in which someone approaches you and says you seem familiar, prompting them to tour you around, where you are subsequently stolen. Another method they rob you is through horse trading. You agree on a price with the rider, and they switch shifts halfway through the journey, at which point the entrant arrives and pays nearly ten times the initial amount.

Romania sank into poverty and corruption when communism fell. Personal Finance Financial Fraud. Table of Contents Expand.

Disaster Relief Scams. Phishing Scams. Fake Shopping Websites and Formjacking. Tech Support Scams. Fake Antivirus Software Scareware. Travel Scams. Grandparent Scams. Pre-Approved Notice. Debt-Relief and Credit-Repair Scams. Lottery Scam. Fake Check or Money Transfer.

The Bottom Line. Some of the most well-known scams, such as the Nigerian letter scam, continue to defraud thousands of people a year—despite widespread warnings.

If you think you've been scammed, change your passwords, delete any questionable software, and contact your local police department. Article Sources. Investopedia requires writers to use primary sources to support their work.

These include white papers, government data, original reporting, and interviews with industry experts. We also reference original research from other reputable publishers where appropriate. You can learn more about the standards we follow in producing accurate, unbiased content in our editorial policy. Compare Accounts. The offers that appear in this table are from partnerships from which Investopedia receives compensation.

This compensation may impact how and where listings appear. Investopedia does not include all offers available in the marketplace. Related Articles. Cryptocurrency Beware of Cryptocurrency Scams.

Bitcoin Beware of Cryptocurrency Scams. Partner Links. Related Terms What Is Phishing? Phishing is a method of identity theft carried out through the creation of a fraudulent website, email, or text appearing to represent a legitimate firm. What Is Social Engineering? Social engineering is the act of exploiting human weaknesses to gain access to personal information and protected systems.

Spoofing Spoofing is a scam in which criminals try to obtain personal information by pretending to be a legitimate business or another known, trusted source. Adware Adware is software that displays advertising on a computer, redirects search results to advertising websites, and collects user data for marketing purposes. Inside the Dark Web The dark web refers to encrypted online content that is not indexed on conventional search engines.