| | The neutrality or factuality of this article or section may be compromised by weasel words.
You can help Wikipedia by improving weasel-worded statements. | Victor Lustig
| | Born: | January 4, 1890
Bohemia | | Died: | March 11, 1947
Springfield, Missouri | | Occupation: | con artist | Victor Lustig (January 4, 1890 – March 11, 1947) is held to have been one of the most talented confidence tricksters who ever lived. He is best known as "the man who sold the Eiffel Tower". Image File history File links Broom_icon. ...
Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
January 4 is the 4th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ...
March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (71st in leap years). ...
1947 (MCMXLVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1947 calendar). ...
A confidence trick or confidence game, also known as a con, scam, grift, bunko or flim flam, is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ...
The Eiffel Tower (French: , ) is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the River Seine in Paris, France. ...
Biography
Early Years Victor Lustig was born in Bohemia, but soon headed west, demonstrating his talents even in his early twenties. He was a natural conman, glib and charming in multiple languages. He established himself by working scams on the ocean liners steaming between Paris and New York City, but eventually decided to stay in Paris for a while and see what he could find there. Flag of Bohemia Bohemia (Czech: ; German: ) is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western and middle thirds of the Czech Republic. ...
City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Paris Eiffel tower as seen from the esplanade du Trocadéro. ...
New York, NY redirects here. ...
Lustig's first con involved a money-printing machine. He would demonstrate the small box to clients, all the while lamenting that it took the device six hours to copy a $100 bill. The client, sensing huge profits, would buy the machine for a high price, usually over $30,000. Over the next twelve hours, the machine would produce two more $100 bills. After that, it produced only blank paper. Its supply of $100 bills had been exhausted. The client would inform the police, only to find that Lustig had closed up shop and moved on.
The Eiffel Tower Scam In 1925, France had recovered from World War I, and Paris was booming. Expatriates from all over the world went there to enjoy being at the leading edge of the latest trends. It was flashy, fast moving, and an excellent environment for a con artist. 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar). ...
Combatants Allied Powers: Russian Empire France British Empire Italy United States Central Powers: Austria-Hungary German Empire Ottoman Empire Bulgaria Commanders Nikolay II Aleksey Brusilov Georges Clemenceau Joseph Joffre Ferdinand Foch Robert Nivelle Herbert H. Asquith D. Lloyd George Sir Douglas Haig Sir John Jellicoe Victor Emmanuel III Luigi Cadorna...
This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...
Lustig's master con began one spring day when he was reading a newspaper. An article discussed the problems the city was having maintaining the Eiffel Tower. Even keeping it painted was an expensive chore, and the tower was becoming somewhat run down.
Lustig saw a story behind this article. Maybe the city would decide the Eiffel Tower was not worth saving any longer. Lustig outlined the possibilities and developed them into a remarkable scheme.
Lustig adopted the persona of a government official, and had a forger produce fake government stationery for him. Lustig then sent six scrap metal dealers an invitation to attend a confidential meeting at the Hotel de Crillon on Place de la Concorde to discuss a possible business deal. The Hotel de Crillon, one of the most prestigious of the old Paris hotels, was a meeting place for diplomats and a perfect cover. All six scrap dealers replied and came to the meeting. The Hôtel de Crillon, located on the foot of the Champs-Élysées at No. ...
The Place de la Concorde seen from the Pont de la Concorde; in front, the Obelisk, behind, the Rue Royale and the Church of the Madeleine; on the left, the Hôtel de Crillon. ...
There, Lustig introduced himself as the deputy director-general of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs. He explained that the dealers had been selected on the basis of their good reputations as honest businessmen, and then dropped his bombshell.
Lustig told the group that the upkeep on the Eiffel Tower was so outrageous that the city could not maintain it any longer, and wanted to sell it for scrap. Due to the certain public outcry, he went on, the matter was to be kept secret until all the details were thought out. Lustig said that he had been given the responsibility to select the dealer to carry out the task.
The idea was not as implausible in 1925 as it would be today. The Eiffel Tower had been built for the 1889 Paris Exposition, and was not intended to be permanent. It was to have been taken down in 1909 and moved somewhere else. It did not fit with the city's other great monuments like the Gothic cathedrals or the Arc de Triomphe, and in any case at the time it really was in poor condition. 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar). ...
The Exposition Universelle of 1889 was a Worlds Fair held in Paris, France from May 5, to October 31, 1889. ...
1909 (MCMIX) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ...
Interior of Cologne Cathedral Gothic architecture is a style of architecture, particularly associated with cathedrals and other churches, which flourished in Europe during the high and late medieval period. ...
A cathedral is a religious building for worship, specifically of a denomination with an episcopal hierarchy, such as the Roman Catholic, Anglican and some Lutheran churches, which serves as a bishops seat, and thus as the central church of a diocese. ...
Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe is a monument in Paris that stands in the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly the Place de lÉtoile, at the western end of the Champs-Élysées. ...
Lustig took the men to the tower in a rented limousine to give them an inspection tour. The tower was made of 15,000 prefabricated parts, many of which were highly ornamental, and Lustig showed it off to the men. This encouraged their enthusiasm, and it also gave Lustig an idea who was the most enthusiastic and gullible. He knew how to be attentive and agreeable, and let people talk until they told him everything he wanted to know.
Back on the ground, Lustig asked for bids to be submitted the next day, and reminded them that the matter was a state secret. In reality, Lustig already knew he would accept the bid from one dealer, Andre Poisson. Poisson was insecure, feeling he was not in the inner circles of the Parisian business community, and thought that obtaining the Eiffel Tower deal would put him in the big league. Lustig had quickly sensed Poisson's eagerness.
However, Lustig knew he was walking over dangerous ground. Fraud was bad enough, but the authorities would be very displeased at his having put over the fraud while impersonating a high government official. And Poisson's wife was suspicious. Who was this official, why was everything so secret, and why was everything being done so quickly?
To deal with the suspicious Poisson, Lustig arranged another meeting, and then "confessed". As a government minister, Lustig said, he did not make enough money to pursue the lifestyle he enjoyed, and needed to find ways to supplement his income. This meant that his dealings needed a certain discretion.
Poisson understood immediately. He was dealing with another corrupt government official who wanted a bribe. That put Poisson's mind at rest immediately, since he was familiar with the type and had no problems dealing with such people.
So Lustig not only received the funds for the Eiffel Tower, he also got a bribe on top of that. Lustig and his personal secretary, an American conman named Dan Collins, hastily took a train for Vienna with a suitcase full of cash. He knew the instant that Poisson called the government ministries to ask for further information that the whole fraud would be revealed and the law would intervene. Vienna (German: , see also other names) is the capital of Austria, and also one of the nine States of Austria. ...
Nothing happened. Poisson was too humiliated to complain to the police. A month later, Lustig returned to Paris, selected six more scrap dealers, and tried to sell the Tower once more. This time, the mark went to the police before Lustig managed to close the deal, but Lustig and Collins still managed to evade arrest.
Later Years Later, Lustig convinced Al Capone to invest $50,000 in a stock deal. Lustig kept Capone's money in a safe deposit box for two months, then returned it to him, claiming that the deal had fallen through. Impressed with Lustig's integrity, Capone gave him $5,000. It was, of course, all that Lustig was after. “Capone†redirects here. ...
There were others who made a profit selling civic landmarks, of course. In the early 1920s, a rival to Lustig was the fast-talking Scotsman Arthur Ferguson. The 1920s is a decade sometimes referred to as the Jazz Age or the Roaring Twenties, usually applied to America. ...
Arthur Ferguson (1800s–1938) was a Scottish con artist. ...
In 1934, Lustig was arrested by federal agents on charges of counterfeiting. The day before his trial, he managed to escape from the Federal House of Detention in New York City, but was recaptured 27 days later in Pittsburgh. Lustig pled guilty at his trial and was sentenced to 20 years in Alcatraz. On March 9 1947, he contracted pneumonia and died on March 11 at the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri. Nickname: Steel City, Iron City, City of Champions, City of Bridges, City of Colleges, P-Burgh, The Burgh Motto: Benigno Numine Location in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Coordinates: Country United States State Pennsylvania County Allegheny County Founded 1758 Mayor Luke Ravenstahl (D) Area - City 151. ...
Alcatraz Island is located in the middle of San Francisco Bay in California. ...
Springfield is the third largest city in Missouri. ...
Books - James F. Johnson and Floyd Miller, The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower, 1961, Doubleday & Company Inc., 216 pages, Congress Catalog Number 61-9522
External links - THE CONFIDENCE ARTISTS from Greg Goebel's IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
| | | Terminology A confidence trick or confidence game, also known as a con, scam, grift, bunko or flim flam, is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ...
| Confidence trick • Mark • Shill • Sucker list •
A confidence trick or confidence game, also known as a con, scam, grift, bunko or flim flam, is an attempt to intentionally mislead a person or persons (known as the mark) usually with the goal of financial or other gain. ...
The victim of a confidence game or magic trick is often called the mark, or the vic. ...
A shill is an associate of a person selling goods or services who pretends no association to the seller and assumes the air of an enthusiastic customer. ...
A sucker list is a list of persons who have previously been successfully solicited for something. ...
| | Notable Confidence Tricks | Badger game • Black money scam • Bogus escrow • Booster bag scam • Clip joint • Drop Swindle • Embarrassing cheque • Employment scams • Hustling • Penny and Dime Scam • Pig in a poke • Pigeon drop • Reloading scam • Shell game • Slavery Reparation Scam • Spanish Prisoner • Thai gem scam • Three-card Monte • White van speakers •
The Badger game is an extortion scheme, often perpetrated on married men, in which the victim or mark is deliberately coerced into a compromising position then threatened with public exposure of his acts unless blackmail money is paid. ...
To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ...
The Bogus Escrow scam is a straightforward confidence trick in which a scammer operates a bogus escrow service. ...
The booster bag scam was a scam demonstrated in the TV show The Real Hustle. ...
A clip joint is an establishment, usually an entertainment bar or strip club, in which customers are tricked into paying money and receive poor or no goods or services in return. ...
The Drop Swindle was a con game commonly used during the 19th and 20th centuries. ...
The Embarrassing Cheque is a confidence trick which may also be an urban legend. ...
Employment scams, also know as job scams, are a form of advance fee fraud scamming where certain unscrupulous persons posing as recruiters and/or employers offer attractive employment opportunities which require the job seeker to pay them money in advance, usually under the guise of work visas, travel expenses, and...
Hustling is the deceptive act of disguising ones skill in a sport or game with the intent of luring someone of probably lesser skill into gambling with the hustler, as a form of confidence trick. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Pig-in-a-poke refers to a scam originating in the late middle ages, when meat was scarce, but apparently rats and cats were not. ...
Pigeon drop is the name of a confidence trick in which a mark or pigeon is convinced to give up a sum of money in order to secure the rights to a larger sum of money, or more valuable object. ...
Reloading is a form of fraud, whereby a victim of one scam is repeatedly approached with more aggressive con artists, often until sucked dry. This form of fraud is especially hurtful for senior people, because they are more susceptible to pressure after the first losses, partly because of hopes to...
A shell game is performed with bottle caps on a cardboard box, on Fulton Street in New York City. ...
The Slave Reparations Act (also called the Slavery Reparation Tax Credit, Black Tax Credit or Black Inheritance Tax Refund) is a tax fraud related to the concept of Reparations for slavery. ...
The Spanish Prisoner is a confidence game dating back to 1588 [1]. In its original form, the confidence artist (con-man) tells his victim (the mark) that he is in correspondence with a wealthy person of high estate who has been imprisoned in Spain (originally by King Philip II) under...
The Thai Gem Scam is a confidence trick performed in Bankok, Thailand. ...
Three-card Monte, also known as the Three-card trick, Follow the lady or Find the lady, is a confidence game in which the victim, or mark, is tricked into betting a sum of money that he can find the money card, for example the queen of spades, among three...
White van speakers is a scam sales technique in which the buyer is convinced he is getting a good price on merchandise on the premise that it has been stolen or embezzled from the salesmans employer. ...
| | Internet Scams This article does not cite its references or sources. ...
| Advance fee fraud • Bidding fee scheme • Click fraud • CyberThrill • Domain slamming • E-mail authentication • E-mail fraud • El Gordo de la Primitiva Lottery International Promotions Programmes • Employment scams • Grapefruit seed extract • Internet crime • Internet vigilantism • Lottery scam • PayPaI • Phishing • Referer spoofing • Ripoff Report • Rock Phish • Romance scam • Safernet • Scam baiting • Spear phishing • Spoofed URL • Spoofing attack • Stock Generation • Username theft • Web-cramming • Whitemail •
An advance fee fraud is a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance relatively small sums of money in the hope of realizing a much larger gain. ...
A bidding fee scheme is a grey area business model for online auction sites that allow them to make large profit margins on goods by charging non-refundable fees for bidding. ...
Click fraud is a type of internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script, or computer program imitates a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in...
CyberThrill is one of the first and now-defunct online casinos, which gained it notoriety for one of the largest organised international sponsorship (and gambling) frauds, through its ad serving program. ...
Intellectual property is a very complex area and covers a vast range of diverse subjects. ...
Ensuring a valid identity on an e-mail has become a vital first step in stopping spam, forgery, fraud, and even more serious crimes. ...
Fraud has existed perhaps as long or longer than money. ...
There are very few or no other articles that link to this one. ...
Employment scams, also know as job scams, are a form of advance fee fraud scamming where certain unscrupulous persons posing as recruiters and/or employers offer attractive employment opportunities which require the job seeker to pay them money in advance, usually under the guise of work visas, travel expenses, and...
Grapefruit seed extract (GSE), also known as citrus seed extract, is a liquid derived from the seeds, pulp, and white membranes of grapefruit. ...
Internet crime is crime committed on the Internet, using the Internet and by means of the Internet. ...
Internet vigilantism is the act of vigilantism on the Internet against people who the vigilantes think have committed wrongs. ...
A typical lottery scam is a scam email that tells the recipient they have won a sum of money in a lottery. ...
An example of a phishing email targeted at PayPal users. ...
This phishing attempt, disguised as an official email from a (fictional) bank, attempts to trick the banks members into giving away their account information by confirming it at the phishers linked website. ...
In computer security, Referer spoofing or ref tar spoofing is the sending of incorrect Referer information along with an HTTP request, with the aim of gaining unauthorized access to a web site. ...
The Rip-off Report (ROR) is a privately-owned and operated website with the stated purpose of giving consumers a voice in disputes with corporations and public figures. ...
This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ...
A romance scam essentially occurs when a stranger sweeps you off your feet(or tries to) and worms his/her way into your affections with the sole intention of laying their hands on your money/bank account or by getting you to commit financial fraud on their behalf. ...
Safernet is Brazilian non-governmental organization that combats Internet crimes focusing in human rights and denouncing online pedophilia, defamation, injury and racism. ...
This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
Spear phishing describes any highly targeted phishing attack. ...
A Spoofed URL describes one website that poses as another. ...
In the context of network security, a spoofing attack is a situation in which one person or program successfully masquerades as another by falsifying data and thereby gains an illegitimate advantage. ...
An image of the site Stock Generation was a website that ran from 1998 to early 2000 and is now part of Internet lore as the longest-running, most infamous Ponzi scheme in the history of the Internet. ...
Username theft is the deliberate act of using another users name for a service that he or she does not use. ...
Web-cramming is most often accomplished when criminals develop new web pages for small businesses and non-profit groups for little or no expense. ...
Whitemail is an anti-takeover arrangement in which the target company will sell significantly discounted stock to a friendly third party. ...
| | Pyramid Schemes The unsustainable geometric progression of a classic pyramid scheme A pyramid scheme (also known as Pyramid Scam [1]) is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, usually without any product or service being delivered. ...
| Ponzi scheme • Pyramid scheme • Dona Branca • Caritas • Charles Ponzi • Bernard Cornfeld • Foundation for New Era Philanthropy • High Yield Investment Program • Investors Overseas Service • MMM • Make money fast • Reed Slatkin •
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that involves paying abnormally high returns (profits) to investors out of the money paid in by subsequent investors, rather than from net revenues generated by any real business. ...
The unsustainable geometric progression of a classic pyramid scheme A pyramid scheme (also known as Pyramid Scam [1]) is a non-sustainable business model that involves the exchange of money primarily for enrolling other people into the scheme, usually without any product or service being delivered. ...
Dona Branca Dona Branca (full name: MarÃa Branca dos Santos; often referred to as The peoples banker. ...
Caritas was a Ponzi scheme in the early 1990s in Romania. ...
A mugshot of Charles Ponzi Charles Ponzi (1882–January 18, 1949) was an Italian immigrant to the United States who became one of the greatest swindlers in American history. ...
Bernard Bernie Cornfeld (Istanbul 17 August 1927 - London 27 February 1995) was a prominent businessman and international financier who sold investments in US mutual funds. ...
This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ...
A High Yield Investment Program, or HYIP, is a type of investment scheme normally offered via the Internet. ...
Investors Overseas Services (IOS) was founded in 1955 by financier Bernard Cornfeld. ...
Marina Muravieva Vyacheslav Mavrodi Sergey Mavrodi A certificate for 20 MMM bonds MMM was the company that perpetrated the largest pyramid scheme in Russia in the 1990s, with the possible exception of the GKO government pyramid scheme. ...
Make money fast is a title of an electronically forwarded chain letter which became so infamous that the term is now used to describe all sorts of chain letters forwarded over the Internet, by e-mail spam or Usenet newsgroups. ...
Reed Slatkin is the perpetrator of the largest Ponzi scheme in the United States since that conducted by Ponzi himself. ...
| | Notable con artists | Frank Abagnale • Storme Aerison • Philip Arnold • Nicky Arnstein • Lou Blonger • Ed "Big Ed" Burns • David "Race" Bannon • Tino De Angelis • Louis Enricht • Billie Sol Estes • Arthur Ferguson • Peter Foster • Oscar Hartzell • Kenny Kimes • Sante Kimes • Henri Lemoine • Victor Lustig • Gregor MacGregor • Steven Jay Russell • Soapy Smith • Titanic Thompson • William Thompson • Joseph Weil • Fictional con artists
Frank William Abagnale, Jr. ...
Aerison in drag Storme Aerison is a con artist who gained notoriety in the 1990s for repeatedly impersonating a female highschool student and later representing himself to be a supermodel. ...
Philip Arnold (1829 - 1878) was a con man from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, who was the brains behind a legendary 1872 scam to fool people into investing in western diamond mining operations. ...
Julius Nicky W. Arnstein (??? - October 2, 1965) was an American businessman, professional gambler, and con artist. ...
Lou The Fixer Blonger (May 13, 1849–April 20, 1924), born Louis Belonger, was a Civil War veteran, saloonkeeper, detective and well-known gambler, but is most often noted as the organizer of an extensive ring of confidence tricksters in Denver that operated for more than 25 years. ...
Edward Big Ed Burns, was an american 19th century confidence man and crime boss. ...
David Race Bannon (born 1963) is a pseudonym for David Wayne Dilley, an American fraudster who posed as a former Interpol agent and wrote fictional accounts of his alleged adventures in various Asian countries, as well as other subjects including Asian politics, and computer science. ...
Tino De Angelis was a New York-based commodities trader who bought and sold vegetable oil futures around the world. ...
Louis Enricht (????-1923) was a US inventor who claimed that he had invented a substitute for gasoline. ...
Billie Sol Estes (born 1924) is a scandal-ridden Texas-based financier best known for his association with US President Lyndon B. Johnson and for accusing Johnson with a variety of crimes, including the assassination of John F. Kennedy. ...
Arthur Ferguson (1800s–1938) was a Scottish con artist. ...
Peter Foster addressing the media at the height of Cheriegate. Peter Foster, (born in Australia on 26 September 1962) has been described as the ultimate international man of mischief[1] , a super salesman to some, conman to others, but undoubtedly a person who has lived a champagne lifestyle in the...
On the cover of his step-brothers 2001 book Son of a Grifter: The Twisted Tale of Sante and Kenny Kimes, the Most Notorious Con Artists in America Kenny Kimes (born 1975) is an American con artist serving a life sentence for murder. ...
Sante Kimes (pronounced SHAWN-TAY) is an American serial killer who is most famous for the murder of Irene Silverman, a New York City socialite. ...
Henri Lemoine ( 1905–1908) was a French con artist who claimed to be able to produce synthetic diamonds. ...
Poyais (also known as Principality of Poyais, Territory of Poyais, Republic of Poyais, Cazique of Poyais) was a fictional Central American country and the creation of its supposed cazique Gregor MacGregor who in the 1820s used it to entice investment and even colonization. ...
Steven Jay Russell (born 1958) is a US con artist and impostor who has escaped from prison number of times. ...
Jefferson Randolph Soapy Smith (1860-1898) Jefferson Randolph (Soapy) Smith II (1860-July 8, 1898) was an American con artist and gangster who had a major hand in the organized criminal affairs and operations of Denver, Colorado, Creede, Colorado, and Skagway, Alaska from 1879 to 1898. ...
Alvin Clarence Thomas sometimes known as the character he created, Titanic Thompson, (1892 - 1974), was the legendary American golfer, gambler, and, uniquely gifted, hustler. ...
William Thompson was an American criminal whose deceptions caused the term confidence man to be coined. ...
Joseph Yellow Kid Weil (1877-1975) was one of the most famous American confidence men of his era. ...
| |
Feeds |
Contact