The most notorius scammers

[00:00:00] I would say I'm 14 because I would be younger, so people would care more. I would speak with a smaller voice. And because I was still looking younger, physical appearance wasn't a big problem at the beginning. And then I received that picture where I saw a big blonde boy with blue eyes. And I said, oh, this is it. I'm going to prison.

[00:00:32] There are con artists who pulled off major cons. What they do is ballsy. It's hard to believe anyone would fall for them, yet in the annals of history, they live on. I'm Jim Grinstead, and today on Scams and Cons, we're looking back at some of the most notorious scams that were not only attempted, but were successful.

[00:01:03] These scams couldn't work in today's world, but seemed like a great idea to earlier generations. We begin with rabbits. When someone told Mary Croft to hop to it, she did. She gave birth to rabbits. Seriously, she gave birth to rabbits.

[00:01:29] Now, of course, there were tricks involved, but she was able to collect quite a bit of money from people who wanted to see for themselves. Let's start with the birth of this scam. In 1726, King George I learned about a woman who gave birth to rabbits.

[00:01:46] From Guildford comes a strange but well-attested piece of news that a poor woman who lives at Godalming, near that town, who has a husband and two children now living with her, was, about a month past, delivered by Mr John Howard, an eminent surgeon and man midwife living at Guildford, of a creature resembling a rabbit.

[00:02:08] So the newspaper reports that Mary Croft has given birth to a rabbit in October 1726. So during September and October of this year, 1726, Mary, Joshua's wife, as the article said, gave birth to, in fact, not one rabbit, but several rabbits and several parts of rabbits.

[00:02:32] And that local surgeon, John Howard, who was called often by people in Godalming to tend to difficult or unusual childbirths, he was called by the women to help them find out what on earth was going on. And he believed that the deliveries were genuine. And he even claimed to have delivered some of these rabbits himself.

[00:02:57] That's Karen Harvey, a member of the staff in the history department of the University of Birmingham, where she focuses on 18th century Britain and researches women, gender, the home and material culture. I have no idea how she could put that on a business card. In any event, not unlike today, the press jumped on the story. There were reports that she also gave birth to other unusual things, such as cat's legs and a hog's bladder.

[00:03:27] People flocked to see this amazing woman and hopefully witness a birth, and they were willing to pay for the opportunity. As kings do, George sent a bevy of physicians to investigate. Among them was Sir Richard Manningham, a fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the College of Royal Physicians. This elite medical team examined Toft, and some of them believed she delivered rabbits or parts of rabbits.

[00:03:56] Tales of the story moved quite fast. And in November, the king moved her to London. It'll come as little surprise as to what came next. It looked like the deliveries were going to continue. She kept crying out in pain. Her tummy remained swollen and appeared to be moving with something inside. But in fact, she never delivered a rabbit again. Now, there are lots of questions to ask about this case.

[00:04:25] The first question might be, was it true? Did Mary Toft really give birth to rabbits? Well, it's history. It's not biology. But the spoiler is, no, it's not true. Women can't gestate rabbits. I hope you know that. Surprise, surprise. Women can't give birth to rabbits. So what happened?

[00:04:56] Medical opinion was divided until a man was caught sneaking a rabbit into Toft's room. She was eventually forced to admit that she had manually inserted the dead rabbits and then allowed them to be removed as if she was giving birth. Now, that's a thought I don't want in my mind, and I can't imagine how our women listeners are cringing at this. We've now covered the obvious, but as an historian, Harvey still has questions.

[00:05:25] So the first one is, how could this case even happen? How is it that John Howard and those three other doctors could believe that this might be happening? What kind of ideas made that possible? The second question is moving from ideas to society. So what's the social context of this case? Who were the people involved and why? And the third question is really about politics. I've already mentioned the king and the Prince of Wales. They were involved.

[00:05:55] What is the political context of this case and why did it attract the attention of some of the most powerful men in early 18th century England? These are valid questions. So Harvey tackles the first one. The reason that they could believe this case, though, was because of ideas about the body and about pregnancy. So scientists, medics, doctors had really robust methods at this time for examining the body.

[00:06:24] They did subscribe to standards that we would recognize, standards of empirical knowledge. But knowledge about the body at this time was particularly limited because the body is opaque. They didn't have technology which allowed them to see inside the body. So the body and its internal workings were impossible to observe, at least impossible to observe until people died,

[00:06:50] when medics and scientists could look inside the body through dissection. So looking at external symptoms were absolutely crucial to medical diagnosis. There was something else that was crucial to medical diagnosis, and that was a patient's own narrative, a patient's own description, the words that they used to describe what was happening on the unseen inside. I'll skip over the second question because it's largely philosophical,

[00:07:20] a bit confusing, and I don't want you skipping ahead to the next podcast. Harvey now deals with the third question, which has to do with politics. The first and maybe the most important issue is that Mary came from a small town, which was losing its major employer. Jobs were scarce, people were scared, and they were hungry. Mary came up with an idea that put food on her table and other places as well.

[00:07:47] Despite all of this, Mary walked away a free woman. But the case simply fell apart, and she was released ultimately without prosecution, without charge. Why? Well, pretending to give birth to rabbits didn't meet the requirement of the crime of fraud, because in this case at least, there'd be no financial loss, or at least nothing could be proven. Nobody had been defrauded of anything.

[00:08:16] And in posture? Well, there's no crime of pretending to be a rabbit breeder on the statute books, so that wouldn't work either. The rest of Mary's life is lost to history, and it's assumed she went back to her previous life. You ever finish a true crime episode and immediately need another? That's why you'll love Morning Cup of Murder.

[00:08:43] It's a daily true crime podcast that gets straight to the story. No extra chatter. Just the crime, the details, and the history. With more than 2,000 episodes in the catalog, you'll never run out of cases. Big crimes, obscure ones, to downright strange. There's always something new to learn. Go listen to Morning Cup of Murder today. Just search for it wherever you get your podcasts.

[00:09:13] But fair warning, you might not stop at just one episode. On to the next scoundrel. Nicholas Barclay went missing at age 13.

[00:09:40] He was last seen playing basketball with his friends in San Antonio, Texas. He would be found four years later in Lena, Spain. But along the way, he claimed to have impersonated 500 children. Do I have your attention yet? Then let me continue. I would say I'm 14 because I would be younger, so people would care more.

[00:10:09] I would speak with a smaller voice. And because I was still looking younger, physical appearance wasn't a big problem at the beginning. And then I received that picture where I saw a big blonde boy with blue eyes. And I said, oh, this is it. I'm going to prison. But because of who I am, I said, okay, at least I got to try to be that person. All my life I've been pretending to be someone else. And I discovered by changing identities, I could do whatever I wanted.

[00:10:37] I am Frederic Bourdain and I had over 500 identities. Bourdain really was his real name. I'll let 60 Minutes Australia pick it up here. Frederic invented a truly harrowing story about what had happened to Nicholas in the years he'd been missing.

[00:11:05] He said he'd been kidnapped and flown overseas in a military aircraft and abused by a pedophile ring who injected his eyes to change their color. He'd also been told to stop speaking any English. He was forced to. And that explained his French accent. It was in every way an unbelievable story. But incredibly, he was believed. He wasn't the same Nicholas that disappeared four years before. He had been held and tortured and God knows what else.

[00:11:34] He wasn't that same person. It took about half a second for her to be grabbing me, kissing me, hugging me. Just this sense of immense relief. Just seeing, touching, kissing, holding him. I felt like ice. Just cold. Cold ice body. Cold ice mind. Nothing.

[00:12:02] With Kerry's positive identification, Frederick was issued an American passport. He was now legally Nicholas Barclay. But awaiting him here in San Antonio, Texas, was the one person who would almost certainly expose him. Nicholas's mother. Surely she would know her own son. For me, it was over. Just like with the sister, I thought, this is it. You can't be lucky at once. You're lucky once, you aren't going to be lucky for eternity, you know?

[00:12:31] So I walked down the ground to San Antonio. And having an adult, I miss him. He had changed so much. It was like mind-boggling. But then I realised, you know, you tell yourself, well, he's been through all this horrendous stuff. So he's absolutely going to be different. Against all odds, all logic, the street kid from France has passed the ultimate test,

[00:12:58] convincing the entire Barclay family that he is their long-lost Nicholas. Now, a new life and identity in America are Frederick's. At that point, you're home free. You've got a new life in America. The family's welcomed you into their home as their long-lost son. It's now time to meet Charlie Parker, the investigator who was looking for Nicholas. CNN had a chat with him. I got hired by a show called Hard Copy.

[00:13:28] And the producer wanted me to go along for some reason. And when I went to the house during the interview, I was fortunate enough to have the real Nicholas Barclay's photograph sitting right by me. And the imposter was being interviewed. I noticed that the real Nicholas Barclay had blue-gray eyes. The imposter's eyes were brown. And I asked the cameraman to zoom in on his ears. His ears?

[00:13:54] It's a technique Scotland Yard uses to identify people. The ear is the only part of the human body that doesn't age. And I knew if I could compare the ears, I could know what I had here. So I got to my office, compared the ears, and I knew instantly I had an imposter. Parker kept digging to get the proof he needed to unmask the chameleon. Well, the eye test, what happened is he claimed that he had chemicals injected into his eyes by his captors.

[00:14:24] I telephoned an ophthalmology school. They said it's not possible. The family really wanted, wants to believe. You could not shake these lingering questions, though. Why was it? Because the family was really ready to accept this. One thing we've learned in our business is teenagers are changeling. It's true. Every day they look different. One day they're a rock star. The next day they look like they're a computer nerd working for Apple. So we know that.

[00:14:51] And I think they overlooked a lot of that. Parker told 60 Minutes Australia that as soon as he saw photos of the boy, he knew something wasn't right. It was a cockiness, a no-fair type thing that he exhibited. I think that's what frightened me the most, is he wasn't afraid of anything. He kept up the pretense. He knew that I knew he wasn't Nicholas Barclay.

[00:15:20] And he didn't fear me. Now, 60 Minutes Australia wraps it up. Frederick served six years in an American prison before being deported to France. Nicholas's family was shattered. But for them, there was the constant cloud of suspicion as well. But perhaps most tragically of all, Nicholas's body has never been found. And what happened to him may remain a mystery forever. Next on the list is James Hogue.

[00:15:50] Hogue was already a scammer when he arrived at Harvard in 1992. He was age 33, but he lied about that when he applied to be a museum guard. The Crimson, Harvard's newspaper, said Hogue was arrested for allegedly stealing between $50,000 and $100,000 in precious gems from the Harvard Mineralogical Museum. He was never convicted of that crime.

[00:16:24] Before Harvard, he attended Princeton. Behind the many symbols on this campus, there is an idea. It's the idea that Princeton stands for in American education. The idea that a university is a place where men of learning believe in young men of ambition and are given the opportunity to start them on their way.

[00:16:47] The New York Times said he seemed like to be any other college student, running in track meets and earning money by holding the first down marker at football games. He claimed to be a self-educated branch hand, with a mother dying of leukemia in Switzerland. Princeton, Harvard, and Yale weighed his improbable-sounding life story against his SAT scores and newspaper clippings describing track meets he had won in California.

[00:17:14] Princeton decided the background was unique and impressive and admitted him. Now I'm going to take you on a short trip back to 1985, when Hogue was around 25 years old. He attended Palo Alto High School in California under the name J. Mitchell Huntsman. He had already attended multiple schools under a variety of names. He was actually a 1977 graduate of Washington High School in Kansas City, Kansas, where he was born and raised.

[00:17:44] School officials confirmed Hogue was an alumnus. Hogue then enrolled at the University of Wyoming, where he remained for two years as a member of the cross-country team. Hogue transferred to Austin, Texas Community College, then in the early 1980s, the University of Texas. At UT, Hogue studied chemical engineering. At that point, he was claiming to be an orphan who'd been raised at a commune.

[00:18:11] Hogue surfaces next in Utah, where he was arrested for theft. Our time machine now brings us back to Princeton. Following his admission, Hogue asked for him was granted a one-year deferment to care for his dying mother in Switzerland. He was actually in jail for violating parole on the stolen property charge in Utah. Princeton, the school where Albert Einstein taught for more than 20 years, didn't know that.

[00:18:39] Apparently, it was spooky action at a distance. Once Princeton realized its error, the school tossed him out. Because he allegedly got financial aid from the school, he was a criminal once again. His arrest came only days after he was recognized by chance at a track meet. A Yale senior and track competitor was sure Hogue was the person expelled from her Palo Alto high school. Get out of here!

[00:19:07] Hogue was released from prison in 1997, and between then and 2003, he was arrested at least twice for theft. In January 2005, police searched Hogue's home in San Miguel County, Colorado. They found 7,000 items worth more than $100,000 stolen from nearby homes where Hogue had worked as a remodeler and handyman.

[00:19:42] In 2006, he was arrested in Tucson, Arizona by a deputy U.S. marshal and deputies from Pima County. He was identified as he was sitting in a Barnes & Noble cafe. In 2007, Hogue pled guilty to theft in return for limiting his sentence and dropping additional charges. He was released on probation in 2012.

[00:20:11] But Hogue wasn't finished. In 2016, he was arrested in Aspen on a misdemeanor theft charge from Boulder County, Colorado. Aspen police discovered Hogue living in an illegally constructed, camouflaged shack on Aspen Mountain. He was possibly in the midst of building a second illegal structure. Police found a handwritten register that suggested Hogue had been running an online business selling property presumed to be stolen.

[00:20:41] They found nearly $17,000 in cash, mostly in $100 bills. A judge sent him to jail for about nine years. A reporter asked Hogue what his plans were after jail. He said he would probably return to the area. He did. And in 2021, he was arrested again. He was now 61 years old.

[00:21:08] He was found by Aspen police who were investigating a burglary. He was charged with parking illegally and stealing power from a nearby apartment building. Hogue was not taken to jail. Instead, he was issued a summons for trespassing and tampering.

[00:21:44] Now let's take a flight to Scotland in hopes of meeting Arthur Ferguson. Like Parker, Ferguson was one hell of a salesman. The BBC said he was unaware of his talent until one day the perfect opportunity presented itself.

[00:22:12] It happened in Trafalgar Square in 1923. The source of his revelation was a rich American from Iowa who was staring reverently at Nelson's column. If you don't know what Nelson's column is, I've got your back. The column is a memorial to commemorate Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson's victory at the Battle of Trafalgar. He conquered the combined French and Spanish navies and was killed by a French sniper.

[00:22:42] The tower is 169 feet 3 inches tall from the bottom of the pedestal to the top of Nelson's sculpture. It was built in 1838. That's what you need to know about the tower except for one thing. Ferguson sold it to the Rube from Iowa. He casually told his victim that the city was going to sell it because it needed the money.

[00:23:08] The Iowan was a rich guy, and he immediately saw an opportunity to become richer. He was even more excited when he learned that Ferguson was the man the government hired to dispose of the monument. The entire thing was to be kept hush-hush. The Iowan made a bid of about $450,000 in today's money. Ferguson pretended to confer with the city, then came back saying it would accept the Iowan's check,

[00:23:37] but it had to be delivered quickly before word got out about the sale. The sucker complied. Ferguson was amazed at what he had pulled off and proceeded to sell Buckingham Palace and Big Ben. He traveled to America where he leased the White House and the Statue of Liberty. It's a great tale, but for one tiny detail. Ferguson may have never existed.

[00:24:18] The Londonist magazine said Dane Love, author of the book The Man Who Sold Nelson's Column, tried to find the source of the tale, but had no luck. There were no newspaper stories or other records to prove his existence. He was supposedly buried in Los Angeles, but there were no records of that either. His tale may have inspired Victor Lustig, the man who sold the Eiffel Tower twice in 1925.

[00:24:46] The story is still told as truth across England and Scotland and who knows where else. Even the BBC's story about the scam said, quote, Ferguson was jailed for five years, a rather small price to pay for the fortune he had made. He was released in 1930 and moved to Los Angeles where he lived in the lap of luxury until he died in 1938. End quote. The tale is easily found around the internet

[00:25:15] and was even featured on a British game show. As you do your search, you'll likely find photos of the man. You may find several faces to choose from, so you'll have to decide which to accept. If it matches mine, which is the original, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn that might interest you. If you enjoy the podcast, please help us out by telling your friends and encouraging them to listen.

[00:25:45] Scams and Cons is available wherever podcasts are found and at scamsandcons.com. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Just search for Scams and Cons. Lastly, if you could head over to Spotify and leave us a five-star rating, it would be appreciated. Your ratings really do make a difference. Thanks for listening.

[00:26:14] Scams and Cons is part of the Killer Podcast Network.