World's Greatest Con

A mysterious woman walks into a small English village speaking a language nobody understands.

She says her name is Princess Caraboo: royalty from a faraway island, kidnapped by pirates and shipwrecked near Bristol.

Soon, doctors, newspapers, and wealthy hosts are all drawn into her story.

But the bigger the legend grows, the harder it becomes to know who is fooling whom.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 1915, San Diego is on the brink of becoming a major American city, if it doesn’t die of thirst first.

Enter Charles Hatfield. He claims a secret chemical process can summon rain, end the drought, and sustain the city as it prepares to welcome the world for a critical international exhibition.

And he’s right.

It rains.

The problem is, it doesn’t stop.

Floods tear through the region. Dozens are dead. Millions of dollars in damage follow. Entire neighborhoods are washed away.
In the aftermath, everything hinges on one impossible question: did he truly believe he was making the rain or was it all a con?
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Charles Ponzi conducted a financial fraud so audacious he became the biggest brand name in crime. Yet most people don’t know what he actually did and those who do are often hard-pressed to explain why it was special.

So why, more than 100 years later, do we call so many financial scams a Ponzi scheme?

Brian tells the story of a poor boy from Italy whose name is still on the lips of everyone worried they’re about to be made a sucker.

BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
110.ScamStuff.com
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eddie has a plan to make millions. It leaves him an international fugitive. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A New York City upstart becomes a legend in the city that never sleeps. But his greed leaves him teetering on the edge of fame, wealth and death. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.