You can't talk about confidence artists and their games without talking about one of the classics: the shell game. It's been called a lot of things over the decades, and during the time and place we're going to visit in this episode, it was 'thimblerig'. It's often portrayed as a gambling game, but it's actually a con used to fleece unsuspecting bettors. Samuel Bennett was one of the best-known 'thimbleriggers' – perhaps ever, depending who you ask – and he made a fortune scamming passengers on steamboats along America's waterways in the 19th century.

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In January of 1881, the Cincinnati Examiner described Charles Lewis Blood as a "very affable" man, but questioned his right to the title M.D. And the Boston Globe described him as having a, "national reputation for crooked work.” In fact, he did have career in crooked work. "Dr." Blood ran a long con peddling patent medicine he called, oxygenized air -- which was actually nitrous oxide. And it's not the only crime he was involved in during his confidence career.

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Jefferson 'Soapy' Smith had a different sort of destiny than his siblings, who were doctors and lawyers. Soapy led a dishonest life that included bribery and graft, fraud, theft, and extortion. When he discovered that he could make more money with less effort by being clever, he changed his line of work to running confidence games on gullible westerners, from soaps scams Colorado to fleecing prospectors in Alaska.

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During the 19th century it seemed like the American West held endless possibilities for great wealth, and Americans were looking for that next big thing. Two Kentucky swindlers, taking advantage of gemstone fever, lured some of the country's biggest bankers and businnessmen -- and the founder of Tiffany & Co. -- into a jewel con with claims of having discovered a large deposit of diamonds. The value of their diamond mine would have exceeded $86 million in today's money. If it had been real.

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Calling herself a financial agent, Sarah Emily Howe introduced the women of the greater Boston area to the Ladies’ Deposit Company, which potentially sounds a lot better than what it really was: a swindle. The Ladies' Deposit was a savings bank that promised women a very high interest rate on deposits – so high, it seemed to impossible. It relied on referrals, and Sarah used the deposits she collected from those new customers to pay the large returns she'd promised to early customers. If that sounds like a Ponzi scheme to you, you're right -- but it happened about 40 years before Ponzi, himself, tried it.

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Psst, buddy, want to buy some cheap gold? It may appear to be a gold bar on the surface, but in reality, what's for sale is something far less valuable. American Reed C. Waddell is credited with one of the most celebrated cons among cons – the goldbrick swindle. You'll never find a better deal!

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Poyais: a magical place, and the picture of Caribbean paradise. And according to Scottish swindler Gregor MacGregor, it could all be yours … if you invested in his land, Poyais. In the early 19th century, MacGregor invented his own country, and then conned investors into buying the bonds of a country that did not exist.

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Between the years 1869 and 1874, a man calling himself Lord Gordon-Gordon swindled the wealthy populations of Scotland, England, the United States, and Canada. Until he began pulling cons in the late 19th century, though, there isn't much information about this guy. We don't even know what his real name was. But we do know he had endless charm and charisma that helped him bilk people out of millions of dollars, including one of the richest and most ruthless railroad tycoons in American history.

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Ann O'Delia Diss Debar was a medium and a fortune teller who was once described by the famous performer Harry Houdini as, quote, “one of the most extraordinary fake mediums and mystery swindlers the world has ever known.” She made her name -- well, her many names -- as a spiritualist with occult powers, but she was 100 percent fraud. And from 1870 to 1910, she bilked people for millions of dollars around the world.

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Back in the mid-20th century, a widow named Susanna Mildred Hill began placing newspaper ads posing as a much younger woman looking for love. Once she had fraudulently won the affection of hundreds of pen pals, she asked each for a gift of money -- and she successfully did so for years. Known as the Lonely Hearts Scam, this con continues to be big criminal business. We're going to talk about romance scams, and how to keep yourself safe from falling for it.

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