Hustles, Hoaxes and HeistsLike this list

15 items

• Never Saw Me Coming

  How I Outsmarted the FBI and the Entire Banking System--and Pocketed $40 Million

  Smith, Tanya, 1960-

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  A riveting true story of an unsuspecting woman who creates an ingeniously clever white-collar scheme that manipulates the Federal banking system out of millions—who eventually loses everything that is most important to her.

• The King of Diamonds

  The Search for the Elusive Texas Jewel Thief

  Pederson, Rena

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  An award-winning journalist follows in the tracks of a high-profile jewel thief dubbed "the King of Diamonds" and discovers beneath the glittering surface of the Swinging Sixties was a world of sex trafficking, illegal gambling and political graft.

• The Impostor Heiress

  Cassie Chadwick, the Greatest Grifter of the Gilded Age

  Reed, Annie,

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  In the dusk of the Gilded Age, she swept from town to town, assuming fresh identities to swindle a fortune so large that it rivaled the robber barons of the time. Her sensational trial made her a household name. The newspapers called her the 'Queen…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Last Counterfeiter

  The Story of Fake Money, Real Art, and Forging the Impossible $100 Bill

  Kersten, Jason

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  “The heart of this wonderful book, which reads like the script for a caper movie, takes us through the whole painstaking process—false starts, dead ends, and cliffhanger setbacks—as Williams improvises his way to becoming an expert counterfeiter. .…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• There Is No Ethan

  How Three Women Caught America's Biggest Catfish

  Akbari, Anna,

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  Part memoir, part explosive window into the mind of a catfisher, a thrilling personal account of three women coming face-to-face with an internet predator and teaming up to expose them. “I did not expect to be shocked by There Is No Ethan. Online…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• All That Glitters

  a Story of Friendship, Fraud and Fine Art

  Whitfield, Orlando,

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  “A juicy inside look at the meteoric rise and fall of an ambitious young art dealer. . . . compulsively readable . . . If the art world's primary currency is access—to art, capital, and buzz—this insider's account offers readers an enticing entry.”…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• I Did It

  Senturia, Neil • Bry, Barbara

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  "I Did It is the story of Gina Champion-Cain, the mastermind behind the largest woman-led Ponzi scheme in US history—$400 million. This real-life story includes a multitude of participants, banks, hedge funds, egomaniacs, and small-time crooks, all…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Devil's Coin

  My Battle to Take Down the Notorious Onecoin Cryptoqueen

  McAdam, Jennifer,

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  “Swayed by the enigmatic business tycoon Dr. Ruja Ignatova, [McAdam] didn’t realize she was giving her money to one of the world’s most sinister scams. . . . A poignant dive into the rabbit hole of financial fraud and mysterious scammers.” — Kirkus…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Man Who Hacked the World

  A Ghostwriter's Descent into Madness with John McAfee

  Alex Cody Foster

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  After parting ways with the eponymous McAfee Antivirus software company in 1994, McAfee embarked on innumerable business, political, and criminal enterprises. From investing in cybersecurity and cryptocurrency, to accusations of murdering his…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Art Thief

  a True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession

  Finkel, Michael,

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  “The Art Thief, like its title character, has confidence, élan, and a great sense of timing. It is propelled by suspense and surprises....This ultra-lucrative, odds-defying crime streak is wonderfully narrated by Finkel, in a tale whose trajectory…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Anansi's Gold

  The Man Who Looted the West, Outfoxed Washington, and Swindled the World

  Yeebo, Yepoka,

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  The astounding, never-before-told story of how an audacious Ghanaian con artist pulled off one of the 20th century's longest-running and most spectacular frauds.

• The Con Queen of Hollywood

  the Hunt for An Evil Genius

  Johnson, Scott C.,

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  The spellbinding tale of an epic international manhunt for a psychopathic con artist who exploited the dreams of creators to steal dozens of identities and millions of dollars. Blending years of deep reporting with distinctive, powerful prose, Scott…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• Con/artist

  the Life and Crimes of the World's Greatest Art Forger

  Tetro, Tony,

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  “Written with wit and disarming frankness….Mr. Tetro is a charming crook-scoundrel, a self-educated Runyonesque character who makes a fortune before he finally gets caught….Con/Artist reads like a step-by-step handbook for forgers, delivering a…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• My Friend Anna

  the True Story of the Fake Heiress

  Williams, Rachel DeLoache,

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  Sex and the City meets Bad Blood and Catch Me if You Can in the astonishing true story of Anna Delvey, a young con artist posing as an heiress in New York City—as told by the former Vanity Fair photo editor who got seduced by her friendship and then…Read moreRead more of this annotation

• The Forger's Spell

  A True Story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the Twentieth Century

  Dolnick, Edward

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  “Dolnick brilliantly re-creates the circumstances that made possible one of the most audacious frauds of the 20th century. And in doing so Dolnick plumbs the nature of fraud itself . . . an incomparable page turner.” —Boston Globe