•
Albert Abrams, the advocate of
radionics and other similar
electrical quackery who was active in the early twentieth century. •
Amy Bock, a 19th-20th century New Zealand con artist who began by committing a series of petty scams, such as taking watches for "repair" and then claiming to have lost them, making purchases under her employer or acquaintance's name without permission, and claiming to sell tickets to concerts or events--and eventually became notorious for defrauding families and individuals on a larger scale, through
cross-dressing, presenting as a wealthy man, and courting and marrying a wealthy young woman in an elaborate scheme to gain money and evade debts. •
John R. Brinkley, the "goat-gland doctor" who implanted goat glands as a means of curing male impotence, helped pioneer both American and Mexican radio broadcasting, and twice ran unsuccessfully for governor of
Kansas. •
Alfredo Bowman, who claimed to cure all disease with herbs and a unique vegan, alkaline diet. •
Alessandro Cagliostro, (real name Giuseppe Balsamo) who claimed to be a
count. •
Mary Carleton, a 17th-century English socialite and fraudster, written about by her contemporary
Samuel Pepys, who used a number of false identities, particularly that of a supposed "German princess," to marry and defraud upper-class men. •
Billie Sol Estes, a famous 20th-century Texas conman. •
Elizabeth Holmes, 21st century conwoman who defrauded investors and misled US government regulators by falsely claiming her health technology company,
Theranos, had invented a new blood-testing method. •
Gustavus Katterfelto, an 18th-century Prussian
conjurer who used a solar microscope which he claimed could detect disease. •
Ivar Kreuger, the Swedish "Match King", who ran a worldwide
Ponzi scheme in the 1920s. •
Bernie Madoff, a 20th-century American stockbroker who ran the world's largest
Ponzi scheme, defrauding investors out of $18 billion. •
Elisha Perkins, an 18th-century American inventor of his own quack therapy that utilized "tractors". •
John Henry Pinkard, 19th-20th century Roanoke, Virginia, businessman and purveyor of quack medicines. •
Charles Ponzi, 19th-20th century Italian scammer for whom the "
Ponzi scheme" is named, a scam that relies on a pyramid of investors who contribute money to a fraudulent programme, typically where money from later investors is used to pay unusually high returns to earlier investors, thus allowing and promoting the growth of the scheme. •
Peter Popoff, exposed in 1986 by magician
James Randi •
Gert Postel, a 20th-century German fraud who feigned experience in the field of psychiatry and became a senior physician, despite having no training. •
Grigori Rasputin, a 19th-20th century self-proclaimed holy man and healer who gained considerable influence on the family of
Tsar Nicholas II and was involved in the political turmoil on the brink of the
Russian Revolution. •
Kevin Trudeau, convicted of fraud, larceny, and contempt of court. == See also ==