The Crooks Who Conned Millions

True Stories of Fraudsters and Charlatans.

This lively and engaging book tells the stories of some of the biggest fraudsters of the nineteenth century. From the largest fraud on the London Stock Exchange to the extraordinary story of Mary Baker. Told in an anecdotal style, and including incidents of drama, conflict, pathos and tragedy, Fraudsters and Charlatans reveals the incredible ways in which men and women attempted to con the government or the general public out of millions of pounds and/or to gain fame from their activities - and how they met their comeuppance. Conducted with guile and cunning, these frauds and hoaxes affected huge numbers of people, and scandalized an entire, appalled nation. As pertinent in today's greedy society as ever, these riveting tales of true crime expose the seamier side of life in which corruption, avarice and scandal hold sway.