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The 5 Ballsiest Con Artists Of All Time

cracked.com — Yeah, they've screwed over thousands of innocent people. But some of them had balls the size of hot air balloons and for that, we must salute them.

Who dugg this? Made popular Feb 13, 2008

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  • itguy84, on 02/13/2008, -3/+110no scientology?
  • lowfalls, on 02/13/2008, -0/+64"there's always the chance that this whole phase of his life is also a scam somehow, one so convoluted that the world won't figure it out until Abagnale is leaving orbit in a spaceship full of all of the world's gold."---This is the funniest...and yet strangely plausible...line of the whole article.
  • toppgun, on 02/13/2008, -2/+60No Scientology and L. Ron Hubbard?
  • sonofman1984, on 03/03/2008, -1/+59Wait....no politicians?
  • yohnstoppable, on 02/13/2008, -25/+55No Catholic Church?
  • JezusGhoti, on 02/13/2008, -1/+27It's sad that the biggest idiots on the list of duped people aren't the uneducated 19th century commoners who fell for stories about a fictional island and ghosts that make clicking sounds, but the educated 21st century people who believe in faith healing.
  • ricksite, on 02/13/2008, -0/+26How about Kevin Trudeau? (Natural Cures book, etc...)

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Trudeau
  • moskaudancer, on 02/13/2008, -0/+23Well, obviously the author didn't want to be sued out of house & home.
  • staffell, on 02/13/2008, -1/+21No balls.
  • dunnylovehun, on 02/13/2008, -4/+21Prediction: there are going to be a million comments to the effect of "What, no L Ron Hubbard?"
  • yohnstoppable, on 02/13/2008, -0/+15Knock knock
    Who's buried?
    You are
  • yohnstoppable, on 02/13/2008, -0/+15I hate waking up at 3 am with the tv on, and seeing that douche bag talk about how the cure for aids is some home remedy being hidden by the fda.
  • inactive, on 02/13/2008, -0/+14I really like the Frank Abagnale, but the story of him escaping from a moving aircraft (via the toilet as stated in his book and the movie) is likely his exaggeration. Aircraft septic systems are closed systems and the plumbing is only inches wide. I guess after all the stuff that he did pull off, he is entitled to some embellishment.
  • flaflashr, on 02/13/2008, -0/+14Frank Abagnale's story is great - the book better than the movie. It details that he took a bunch of blank deposit slips from the bank customer counter, coded the MICR number of his own account, then replaced them on the counter. All of the following customers who used those slips to make a deposit had the amount automatically credited to Abagnale's account. After a couple of days, he withdrew many thousands of dollars and quietly slipped away.

    I give him an A+ for ingenuity and simplicity.
  • Misinformant, on 02/13/2008, -0/+14Scary thing is all those lunatics in the Benny Hinn clip ARE ALLOWED TO VOTE.

    How f---ed up is that?
  • macjaeh, on 02/13/2008, -0/+11You could make a career out of that.
  • macjaeh, on 02/13/2008, -0/+11I hate it here.
  • thephosphorbox, on 02/13/2008, -4/+14Bah no L.Ron Hubbard :(
  • borez, on 02/13/2008, -0/+10There was a guy I read about ( can't remember his name - I'll look into it ) who basically set up a shipping office, bought an old freight ship, sold a fictitious cargo of millions of pounds worth of cigarettes 3 times over to different buyers then sunk the ship in the middle of the sea and claimed insurance for the lot.

    Now that's balls.
  • chris9902, on 02/13/2008, -1/+10what? that was just a random collection of words.
  • boxybrzown, on 02/13/2008, -0/+9There are three...
  • OrangeTide, on 02/13/2008, -1/+10why do you eat so many ***** donuts ?
  • parax, on 02/13/2008, -0/+8It doesn't take balls to scam people. People are largely idiots. If people with working faucets living in a first-world country can be convinced to buy bottled water, any other scam you can think of is dog meat in comparison. Next up: selling canned sand to Saudis.
  • Zipko, on 02/13/2008, -0/+8My rule is anything that's eaten while in the store grocery shopping is considered advertising and I shouldn't have to pay for the store's ads.
  • pbaehr, on 02/13/2008, -0/+8You need to work on your noticing skills.
  • knelto, on 02/13/2008, -0/+8I've had a friend who swapped IBC root beer bottles with a red capped beer with no label on the neck and did the self check out. Pay for IBC, get beer! Another friend actually worked at that store and said they didn't know what to do with the 6-pack of beer with IBC bottles they found.
  • yohnstoppable, on 02/13/2008, -0/+7ah, touche.
  • praisethelard, on 06/06/2008, -0/+7It's a vicious cycle.
  • neocr0n, on 02/13/2008, -0/+6That video for Benny Hinn is one of the most insane things I've ever seen.
  • ryan83189, on 02/13/2008, -1/+7I used to exchange canadian quarters for american, but that became less and less lucrative. I think it is around 1 to 1 now, so no point.
  • omgtehgus, on 02/13/2008, -6/+11I don't understand why L. Ron Hubbard isn't on there.
  • Aerandir, on 02/13/2008, -4/+9What, no Xenu?
  • inactive, on 02/13/2008, -0/+5hmmm Jim Jones anyone?
  • eosp, on 02/13/2008, -0/+5I think it was Deuteronomy that said that the way to check for false prophets was to wait for their stuff to happen. If it didn't, you stoned them.
  • moskaudancer, on 02/13/2008, -0/+5 I'm not sure "educated" would be the right word for the followers of a faith healer.
  • irgeorge, on 02/13/2008, -0/+4I thought he just took off a panel in the toilet and scarpered through the cargo hold or something... (unsure of aircraft topology)
  • Gotar, on 02/13/2008, -0/+4But,but, but, what about all the gnomes that slaved making that candy?
    Will someone please think of the gnomes!
  • GhostyBoy, on 02/13/2008, -1/+5Neo-cons.
  • OrangeTide, on 02/13/2008, -1/+5Gregor MacGregor had some seriously huge balls
  • crashkg, on 02/13/2008, -0/+3You forgot John Smith the prophet of the Mormons. He was a well known con man who started a religion.
  • pbaehr, on 02/13/2008, -0/+3Actually, I think you'd be losing money at this point. In a few years you'll probably be able to start up your operation again by reversing the steps.
  • moskaudancer, on 02/13/2008, -0/+3Just you watch, he'll buy the whole freaking moon and then proceed to overcharge us all for Helium-3.
  • mal1964, on 02/13/2008, -0/+3I know, Nice!
  • GhostyBoy, on 02/13/2008, -0/+3The best part of his scam was that all he did was talk about the constitution and civil liberties and everyone got so stoked up they just started donating money to him. All those people wanted to do their part to try and stop the wars, because they figured it was the right thing to do. Ha! Suckers.
  • iidestined, on 02/13/2008, -0/+3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_umVSfPkOQ

    Frank Abagnale tells the story of his life. Long but fascinating.
  • Petrarch1603, on 02/13/2008, -0/+3wow that wikipedia entry is huge!
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