Showing titles in Con Artists, Hoaxes & Deceptions

We live in a secular, skeptical, and cynical age. Americans have lost faith in its institutions - including the church. Although the vast majority of Christian leaders serve faithfully, examples of financial fraud, greed, sexual and emotional abuse, and other systemic problems are almost everyday occurrences. And a watching world has a right to ask even those who are faithful ministers of the Gospel: “If you knew this was happening, why didn’t you say something?”

Enfance ou folie? Cette collection d'histoires commence avec un jeune garçon dont l'intelligence, la capacité et la détermination sont plus en accord avec un adulte plutôt qu'avec un enfant de six ans curieux, qui nous est présenté dans la première histoire.La normalité ne fera jamais partie de la vie de Marcel Pontbriand. Orphelin à l'âge tendre de 14 ans et avec seulement quelques centimes à son nom, vous découvrirez comment il s'est rendu sur les routes de glace du Nord du Canada et a fait face à la peur.

Esta historia real muestra un caso de robo de banco innecesario en el que los criminales no estaban obligados a hacerlo. Simplemente abrieron la boca con el olor del dinero. El equipo de policía utilizó una técnica innovadora e increíble para rastrear a los ladrones. Continúa leyendo para descubrirlo

Are you afraid of things that go "bump" in the night? Don't look now, but some of the most gruesome serial murders occurred in your neighborhood. Fourteen-year-old Jesse Pomeroy had a long history of terrorizing and brutalizing young boys around Boston, then his thoughts turned to murder. Meet America's youngest serial killer. When asked why he did it, all he could say was: "I don't know. I had to." Belle Gunness, the La Porte, Indiana, serial killer, lured men to her murder farm by advertising for a husband in Scandinavian matrimonial magazines.

There has never been a con-man trickster in American history as devious, or as likeable, as Randolph "Soapy" Smith. He was a sociopath with a smile that could melt the hardest heart. He was a man without a conscience, a natural criminal quite willing to steal from the hapless poor and the greedy rich with an equally shameless eagerness. Soapy’s only measure of man was the wallet he could empty from the day he learned how to cheat at cards, hide the pea in a shell game, or invent a scam.

On February 20, 1926, landlady Clara Newman (60) opened her door to a potential tenant who enquired into the availability of one of her rooms. Despite his grim and bulky appearance, he introduced himself politely and in a soft-spoken voice whilst clutching a Bible in one of his large hands. She invited him in. The moment he stepped into her home, he lunged forward, wrapping his oversized fingers around her throat and forced her to the ground.

Wie gelang dem "Ausbrecherkönig" Carl August Lorentzen seine legendäre Flucht aus dem Staatsgefängnis im dänischen Horsens kurz vor Weihnachten 1949? Mit dieser Frage beschäftigt sich Niels Ole Frederiksen, der als Dreijähriger als Sohn des damaligen Vize-Inspektors diese spektakulärste Flucht aller Zeiten aus einem dänischen Gefängnis quasi hautnah miterlebte. Ein hochspannender True Crime-Fall aus Dänemark!

Diego Armando Maradona diceva: "Chi ruba a un ladro ha cent'anni di perdono". È davvero così? In modo sprezzante e semplicistico la si chiama truffa. Spesso però si tratta di prodotti di ingegno, colpi di genio, macchinazioni da grande attore, manipolazioni da ipnotista. In una sola parola: opere d'arte. Alcuni studi scientifici hanno rilevato un aumento esponenziale delle truffe nei Paesi occidentali in concomitanza con periodi di crisi economica. Questo, quindi, è il momento giusto per ogni truffatore di talento.

At 23, William Simon Baekeland was well on his way to becoming the world’s best traveled person. The “billionaire” heir to a great plastics fortune had already visited 163 countries, but his real passion was finding ways to visit the world’s most challenging destinations. He earned rock-star status in the world of extreme travel. But when his story began to unravel, an eccentric group of hyper-well-traveled country collectors were left wondering how they had allowed their obsession to blind them to the warning signs that William Baekeland wasn’t who they thought he was.

Late-1970s Los Angeles was rampant with killers and shady characters, but all the go-getters at Space Matters saw was possibility. Richard Kasparov was handsome and charismatic; his younger associate, Jerry Schneiderman, brilliant and nerdy. When the pair hired a veteran contractor to oversee construction, the space planning firm they operated out of a hip mansion in LA's Miracle Mile district appeared poised to transform the boundless skyline into their jackpot. After the promising team imploded, however, the orderly lines on their blueprints succumbed to treachery and secrets.

Authorized User is based on the true story involving early '90s Sony hip hop artist Tim Dog. Allegedly, Tim Dog the con artist had been victimizing unsuspecting victims for approximately a decade and a half with little to no attention from law enforcement. Based on the evidence and reports later received by law enforcement, Tim Dog targeted single mothers, young aspiring artists, and even a few men in his fictitious business circle.

In 1989 a woman fishing in Texas on a quiet stretch of the Colorado River snagged a body. Her “catch” was the corpse of Johnny Jenkins, shot in the head. His death was as dramatic as the rare book dealer’s life, which read, as the Austin American-Statesman declared, “like a best seller”. At the time of his death, Jenkins was about to be indicted by the ATF for the arson of his rare books, warehouse, and offices. Another investigation implicated Jenkins in forgeries of historical documents, including the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Would you like to find out how to avoid being manipulated by people you trusted? If your answer to this question is yes, then keep reading to find out more. Human beings have the unique capacity to alter their environment to suit their needs. This capacity to alter the environment can be stretched as far as manipulating others to inadvertently do their bidding. This poses a significant threat to the much-treasured freedoms that ought to be enjoyed by all without external influence.

Dramatizada Claude Buffet, un criminal cínico y sin escrúpulos, haciéndose pasar por taxista desvalijaba a sus indefensos clientes. Por este método robó las joyas y el bolso a una señora de la alta sociedad parisina y terminó asesinándola, poniendo a la policía inmediatamente a trabajar, con lo que inevitablemente acabó en prisión. Harto de las duras condiciones de la vida en la cárcel, convence a otro recluso, Roger Bontemps, para intentar una fuga tomando como rehenes a los trabajadores de la enfermería, exigiendo que les liberen a cambio de la vida de éstos.

Marie Empress was an English singer, dancer, male impersonator, and comedienne who performed in vaudeville and theater around the world at the turn of the 20th century. She achieved her greatest success as an actress in early American motion pictures, circa 1910-1917, and was known as "the sublime vampire woman." She was considered one of the most beautiful women in the world, and for a short period, her star was very bright. But her life, like her sudden appearance on the world stage in 1910, and her disappearance less than a decade later, is cloaked in mystery.

Explore six chilling axe murders and discover how just a regular tool became known as one of most deadly objects. Learn how to avoid the same mistakes made by the victims of these horrific crimes by listening to the court documents, first-hand accounts, and witness testimonies.

Eddie Tipton went to prison in 2017 for masterminding the biggest lottery fraud in U.S. history. In a twisting and bizarre tale, he somehow mixed a cocktail of greed, Bigfoot hunting, deception, cybercrime, and a love of hot dogs on his way to a felony conviction after he and several accomplices scored a series of jackpots from rigged drawings but fell short on the biggest "score" of them all. It's a wild story of greed and misplaced confidence, and a study in public officials whose determination survived a nearly cold trail.

Explore the fascinating and frightening world of conspiracy theories and organized crime with this two book bundle. Get to the bottom of conspiracies and crime groups that have helped “shape” the world we know today, in one way or another. Book #1: Conspiracies: Conspiracy Theories has 20+ conspiracy theories that all get to the bottom of what really happened. Book #2: Organized Crime: True Crime. Learn about the most influential and famous organized crime groups in the world.

Ted Bundy was a handsome, charming, and ambitious man who carried his hatred deeper and more hidden than any other murderers do. He was able to lead a life that included normal friendships and relationships, and he even got far as both a student and a politician. But the hatred was there.... It was always there.... Bundy ended the lives of more than 30 young women, ensuring their final moments were ugly and violent. His torture methods were cruel, and there was no mercy shown to each female as he bludgeoned, strangled, or cut them.

Polygamy. Incest. Vampires. Murder. There are words you might expect to read together in the plot of a gothic horror novel, but not so long ago, in the usually quiet town of Fresno, California, those words were the headlines. What do they have to do with each other? The answer to that question is one man: Marcus Wesson. Chances are you have heard of cults, such as the Manson Family, and Jonestown, but this might be your first time hearing the story of a vampire cult led by Marcus Wesson. The members of this cult were members of Wesson’s own family.