History's Greatest Fraud


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Don't Fall For It


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Learn financial and business lessons from some of the biggest frauds in history Why does financial fraud persist? History is full of sensational financial frauds and scams. Enron was forced to declare bankruptcy after allegations of massive accounting fraud, wiping out $78 billion in stock market value. Bernie Madoff, the largest individual fraudster in history, built a $65 billion Ponzi scheme that ultimately resulted in his being sentenced to 150 years in prison. People from all walks of life have been scammed out of their money: French and British nobility looking to get rich quickly, farmers looking for a miracle cure for their health ailments, several professional athletes, and some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. No one is immune from getting deceived when money is involved. Don’t Fall For It is a fascinating look into some of the biggest financial frauds and scams ever. This compelling book explores specific instances of financial fraud as well as some of the most successful charlatans and hucksters of all-time. Sharing lessons that apply to business, money management, and investing, author Ben Carlson answers questions such as: Why do even the most intelligent among us get taken advantage of in financial scams? What make fraudsters successful? Why is it often harder to stay rich than to get rich? Each chapter in examines different frauds, perpetrators, or victims of scams. These real-life stories include anecdotes about how these frauds were carried out and discussions of what can be learned from these events. This engaging book: Explores the business and financial lessons drawn from some of history’s biggest frauds Describes the conditions under which fraud tends to work best Explains how people can avoid being scammed out of their money Suggests practical steps to reduce financial fraud in the future Don’t Fall For It: A Short History of Financial Scams is filled with engrossing real-life stories and valuable insights, written for finance professionals, investors, and general interest readers alike.




Firepower


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A magic pill that cuts fuel consumption and reduces emissions ...... that was the miracle promised by Tim Johnsto' s company, Firepower. Everyone believed him; prime ministers and presidents, doctors and diplomats, business leaders and sporting heroe - even ASIC the corporate watch do - went along with the myth. Millions of shares were sold to i...




Rigged


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The largest financial fraud in history wasn't Enron's colossal accounting crimes, Bernie Madoff's record-setting Ponzi scheme or the Libor scandal, in which some of the world's biggest banks conspired to profit by manipulating interest rates. No, the largest financial fraud in history is one most Americans know little to nothing about. It isn't mentioned by politicians, reported on the nightly news or discussed by coworkers during lunch break. The biggest fraud in history is a financial scheme perpetrated by the U.S. government and its banking accomplices. Over the last century, they've used coercion, deception and market manipulation to convince Americans the U.S. dollar is as good as gold and silver. The truth is, it's not.




The Formosa Fraud


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More than 300 years ago, the island of Taiwan was a topic of hot controversy in London, thanks to a stupendous fraud perpetrated by a Frenchman claiming to have been born on the island. He made highly controversial claims about the life and the history of Taiwan, then called Formosa, and his book on the subject was a publishing sensation in London in 1704. His name, George Psalmanazar, was fake, and he never told anyone what his real name was or where he came from. But his Formosan stories of mass killings of young boys, of people living underground, of elephants and camels and gold mines was for a time widely accepted, including even by the Bishop of London who invited Psalmanazar to teach his (fake) Formosan language at Oxford University. This is the story of one of the great frauds in literary history.




History's Greatest Deceptions and Confidence Scams


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Throughout history, there have always been fraudsters and tricksters ready and willing to part people and their money with smooth talking and tall tales, but the first formally recorded “confidence trick” was uniquely American in its origins and set the bar for both simplicity and sheer guts, both hallmarks of the most successful frauds ever perpetrated. From the ancient Egyptians to the modern era, join the authors as they take you on a romp throughout 4000 years of human history to reveal the tricks and schemes that were perfected by colorful characters throughout the ages. Using humor, and wit, the authors paint a tapestry of deception and subterfuge perpetrated by the brilliant minds of each era.




Swindled


Book Description

Bad food has a history. Swindled tells it. Through a fascinating mixture of cultural and scientific history, food politics, and culinary detective work, Bee Wilson uncovers the many ways swindlers have cheapened, falsified, and even poisoned our food throughout history. In the hands of people and corporations who have prized profits above the health of consumers, food and drink have been tampered with in often horrifying ways--padded, diluted, contaminated, substituted, mislabeled, misnamed, or otherwise faked. Swindled gives a panoramic view of this history, from the leaded wine of the ancient Romans to today's food frauds--such as fake organics and the scandal of Chinese babies being fed bogus milk powder. Wilson pays special attention to nineteenth- and twentieth-century America and England and their roles in developing both industrial-scale food adulteration and the scientific ability to combat it. As Swindled reveals, modern science has both helped and hindered food fraudsters--increasing the sophistication of scams but also the means to detect them. The big breakthrough came in Victorian England when a scientist first put food under the microscope and found that much of what was sold as "genuine coffee" was anything but--and that you couldn't buy pure mustard in all of London. Arguing that industrialization, laissez-faire politics, and globalization have all hurt the quality of food, but also that food swindlers have always been helped by consumer ignorance, Swindled ultimately calls for both governments and individuals to be more vigilant. In fact, Wilson suggests, one of our best protections is simply to reeducate ourselves about the joys of food and cooking.




The Foraging Spectrum


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The author wrote this book primarily for his archaeology students, to show them how dangerous anthropological analogy is and how variable the actual practices of foragers of the recent past and today are. His survey of anthropological literature points to differences in foraging societies' patterns of diet, mobility, sharing, land tenure, exchange, gender relations, division of labour, marriage, descent and political organisation. By considering the actual, not imagined, reasons behind diverse behaviour this book argues for a revision of many archaeological models of prehistory. From the reviews "[A]n excellent overview of key issues in hunter-gatherer studies." Alan Barnard in American Ethnologist "Not since Man the Hunter has there been such a synthesis and such a mix of stimulating ideas. This will be the authoritative work on hunter/gatherers for a good number of years." Brian Hayden in Canadian Journal of Archaeology "[A]uthoritative, comprehensive, and highly readable. . . . A well-worn and heavily annotated copy should be the companion of anyone claiming an interest or expertise in present or past hunter-gatherers." Bruce Winterhalder in American Antiquity Prepublication praise "The Foraging Spectrum [is] a well-written, scrupulously researched synthesis of modern approaches to foraging behavior, both past and present." David Hurst Thomas, American Museum of Natural History "A tour de force of scholarship in behavioral ecology." Mathias Guenther, Wilfred Laurier University




Vaccines: The Biggest Medical Fraud in History


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NEW COVID-19 CHAPTER! "Polio is NOT even contagious or infectious (never proven to be). There is NO proof Polio is caused by a virus. There is NO evidence that anyone caught polio from another person in the family. There is NO evidence that any nurse or doctor caught polio from a patient." —Sheri Nakken, RN, MA Listed below are public health statistics (U.S. Public Health Reports) from the four states which adopted compulsory vaccination, and the figures from Los Angeles, California (similar results in other states available from books listed at the back of this booklet): TENNESSEE 1958: 119 cases of polio before compulsory shots 1959: 386 cases of polio after compulsory shots OHIO 1958: 17 cases of polio before compulsory shots 1959: 52 cases of polio after compulsory shots CONNECTICUT 1958: 45 cases of polio before compulsory shots 1959: 123 cases of polio after compulsory shots NORTH CAROLINA 1958: 78 cases of polio before compulsory shots 1959: 313 cases of polio after compulsory shots LOS ANGELES 1958: 89 cases of polio before shots 1959: 190 cases of polio after shots The decline of smallpox, as with many other infectious diseases, including diphtheria and scarlet fever, coincided with the sanitation reforms which were instituted in the late 1880s. Where obtainable, government health records from around the world showed that during the periods of the most intense and widespread vaccination, the incidence of and death rates from smallpox were highest. For instance, in Kansas City and Pittsburgh during the 1920s, lawsuits were initiated, and won, against doctors and medical societies for declaring smallpox epidemics when there were none, and for creating epidemics with their vaccination drives. Before 1903, smallpox was almost unknown in the Philippines, with occurrences in less than 3% of the population, and that in a mild form. The U.S. military went in and began vaccinating, and by 1905 the Philippines had its first major epidemic. Vaccination was made compulsory in 1910. From 1905 to 1923, the mortality rate ranged from 25-75%, depending on the count from the various islands. “The mortality rate was the highest in the cities where vaccination was most intense.” Dr. W.W. Keen reported 130,264 cases and 74,369 deaths from smallpox in 1921. Japan adopted compulsory vaccinations in 1872 when they had only a few cases of smallpox. By 1892 they had the largest smallpox epidemic in their history with 165,774 cases and 29,979 deaths. Australia banned the smallpox vaccine after some children were killed by it, and in the following 15 years in unvaccinated Australia there were only 3 cases of smallpox. The smallpox vaccine was discontinued in the United States after Dr. Henry Kempe reported to Congress in 1966 that fewer people were dying from the disease than from vaccination.




A Treasury of Deception


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We may say that honesty is the best policy, but history—to say nothing of business, politics, and the media—suggests otherwise. In this infinitely citable book, the author of two bestselling treasuries of scandal recounts some of the greatest deceptions of all time. With what forged document did the Vatican lay claim to much of Europe? Who wrote Hitler’s diaries? Why do millions still believe the vague doggerel that Nostradamus passed off as prophecy? Organizing his material by theme (con artists, the press, military trickery, scientific fraud, imposters, great escapes, and more), Michael Farquhar takes in everything from the hoodwinking of Hitler to Vincent “the Chin” Gigante’s thirty-year crazy act. A Treasury of Deception is a zestful, gossipy exposé—and celebration—of mendacity. A Treasury of Deception also includes: Ten tricksters from scripture Ten great liars in literature Ten egregious examples of modern American doublespeak Ten classic deceptions from Greek mythology