Five Of The Most Impressive Fraud Cases They Almost Got Away With

Most cases of fraud are pretty routine, but every once in a while a scam comes along that's so audacious it almost works. The following con artists took millions from governments, businesses, and private individuals and… almost… got away with it.

Marty McFraud

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Early in 2012, Travis Magdelena Scott falsely claimed lightning damage to the supercomputers at his business for over $11 million. He bought three airplanes, another house, and a 1981 DeLorean. He then faked his own death, and escaped to Canada. He unfortunately was caught before he could find enough plutonium to generate 1.21 gigawats of electricity.

Quite the Handyman

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Would you be dedicated enough to an insurance scam to sever your own hand? One unnamed Florida homeowner was, and convinced two accomplices to cut off his right hand with a garden tool. It would have worked too, but the amputee gave away the scam by continuing to ask for larger payments after the initial payoff.

Magic Potions

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Back in the mid-80's, amateur chemist Wang Hongcheng made news by claiming that he had invented a formula to turn water into gasoline. What's shocking is that the governments of both China and the US believed him, and contributed over $37 million to his research before he was found out.

A Fine Vintage

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In a scam that embarrassed many in the wine connoisseur community, in 2008 Rudy Kurniawan claimed to have found a previously undiscovered wine cellar with rare vintages from across Europe. He sold this wine for over $1.3 million before police investigated, and found that it was being manufactured in Kurniawan's kitchen.

Technically, They're All Scams

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While most people are fairly dubious of so-called herbal male enhancement pills, Steve Warshak took his scam one step further by billing clients for multiple years of pills without ever shipping them. He then made refunds difficult (and embarrassing) to claim by demanding written evidence from a doctor that the pills hadn't worked.

Information credited to Gregory Rod, fraud lawyers Edmonton.