Fake it til you make it might be a 21st-century mantra, but a trio of 19th-century rogues who claimed their own kingdoms set a high bar. Meet the Second Baron of Arizona, the Copra King of the South Seas and the Prince of Poyais.
If you’re a fan of financial crime podcasts or money-heist style Netflix Series, here are five of the strangest financial scams you’ve never heard of. From a Metaverse Ponzi, to $134.5bn hidden in a false-bottomed suitcase.
How the three sons of a famous Texan oil billionaire tried to corner the global silver market in the 1970s, and brought the entire financial system close to collapse.
What are the craziest ever money-making schemes? How about mining asteroids for precious metals, cornering the silver market or towing icebergs to release gold? We’ve pulled together some of the maddest money-making ideas.
Prize Linked Savings are a cross between a lottery and a savings account. The chance of a big Jackpot win and the guaranteed return of funds attract depositors but as with anything in life, PLS aren’t a free lunch.
Learn how the Great Recoinage and two of the nation’s greatest thinkers, John Locke and Isaac Newton, saved 17th-century England from running out of money due to coin clippers, counterfeiters & speculators.
What was a Victorian Pure Finder? Believe it or not, Pure Finders made a living by collecting dog poo and selling it to the tanning industry.
Take a peak into the weirdest jobs of the Victorian era, where a world without fixed employment created the Bone Grubber, Sewer Hunter and the Pure Finder, whose business you’ll never guess.
The cult movies that popularised a unique form of computer fraud called salami slicing; stealing by tiny increments.
Have you heard about the US Conscription lottery that randomly selected who went to war or the Taiwanese Receipt lottery trying to improve its tax take? There’s even a new breed of lotteries trying to form habit loops to nudge beneficial behaviours and lotteries using crypto to rework 19th savings schemes. Welcome to the world’s strangest lotteries.
