How A Scammer Sold The Eiffel Tower Twice

you want to hear the best story that somehow has not been adapted into a movie yet well strap in because I'm about to tell you about the man who famously sold the very much not for sale Eiffel Tower twice my man lustig may have run a ton of high-profile scams over his impressive Life Of Crime but let's be real everybody wants to hear about how he

pulled off the Eiffel Tower job where do you even come up with an idea like that turns out it was not quite as insane as you would think I mean it's not like he just looked at the Eiffel Tower one day and was like I don't know what if I sold that thing no no no no he actually got the idea from a newspaper article about

way still costs the French government a fortune it costs them about 1.1 million dollars a year sure it likely brings in a great deal of money for tourists who want to snap a picture of the famous tower so our star of the show Victor got to work scheming and preparing for his biggest job ever he started by going to one of his best foragers to get

him a ton of fake government stationary and other fake documents to make him seem legit he also did Serious Research into the costs of the Eiffel Tower and other concerns parisians had raised over the years he then arranged for an expensive meeting at one of the city's finest hotels which probably was a sizable investment all he needed now were some marks Victor invited several of the

richest scrap metal dealers in the city to his confidential meeting he then put on the soft to spoken charm as he introduced himself as the deputy director general of the ministry of posts and telegraphs lustig explained to them that the cost of the Eiffel Tower was too much for the government that they were tired of footing the bill and that the aesthetic of the modern Tower

clashed with the classic Gothic Cathedrals eventually he singled out Andre poisson an insecure businessman as his primary target all of the other dealers threw in their bids but poisson was able to top them all he presented Victor with a shocking seventy thousand francs to purchase the Eiffel Tower after the deal was done lustig took his cash and then fled to Austria sure that the police would

be on his Trail no one knows for sure but it seems as though Mr Andrei poisson did not report the crime it's likely that he was too embarrassed to admit it regardless Victor lustig was all too happy to realize no one was after him so within the same year he returned to Paris and started the exact same scam you'd never believe it but he managed to

pull it off again just before he scored for the second time on his Eiffel Tower our scheme though one of his targets did catch wise enough to inform the police this time lustig really did have to flee the country that's only one of his schemes too it's not even the one that scammed people with fake Bills or the one he pulled on Capone lustig had all

sorts of small cons he developed over his career most of them involved quick schemes like fooling tourists into investing in theatrical performances that you know didn't exist he made money doing sleight of hand robberies or conning Banks out of bank bonds under the guise of a trustworthy businessman lustig's Stairway to Heaven Was without a doubt the Romanian box job this was a steamer trunk rigged with

fake gears and levers that would supposedly take in any bill of currency and then copy it identically he would then have it authenticated by a bank to completely fool his Mark the trick here was that the box was rigged with several actual bills of real currency that would make it appear to be copied when a fresh bill was entered into it the machine would take six

hours to copy the bill giving lustig plenty of time to make his escape the most brilliant part of this scheme was that he would refuse to sell it to anyone they would have to offer him an obscene amount of money for him to par with his beloved invention he actually convinced a Texas Sheriff to buy the Box off of him for thousands then once the sheriff

figured out that he'd been scammed he chased a lustig across the country only Victor managed to convince the sheriff that he simply wasn't using it right though the counterfeit bills he had to use to convince the sheriff ultimately led to his Doom but we're gonna save that little Golden Nugget right to the end how do you get away with conning one of the most dangerous men

alive Al Capone well according to lustig you do a small con instead of a big con he convinced Capone that he had a huge Eiffel Tower sized a job that he was working on that would require tens of thousands of dollars Capone could keep in a safety deposit box he then spent time getting to know Capone and the two became trusted Associates after a few months

he told Capone that the job fell through but he needed several thousand to hold him over until he put together a new job Capone gladly gave his buddy the cash and lustig gladly took off with his buddy's money how can this man be so trustworthy most con men do not become infamous historical figures lustig was constantly dressed in the trappings of a true gentleman he was

disarmingly charming soft-spoken and kind basically he presented himself as the exact opposite of the image most people had of what a criminal looked like if you ever wanted to be a con man well this is the rule book first be a patient listener it is this not talking fast that gets a con man is Coop people expect a con artist to be a quick talking belligerent

salesman not a thoughtful friend which leads right into rule number two never look bored quietly listening it isn't enough a good con man always seems super interested in whatever is Mark is talking about no matter how boring it is though it's good to always remember to let the other person lead the conversation as his third rule implies wait for the other person to reveal any political

opinions then agree with them this is also coupled with the next rule let the other person reveal religious views then have the same ones as a side note this is also vital advice if you ever want to avoid an argument in the comments section the list features a bit more risk and a risque with his next rule hint at sex talk but don't follow up unless

the other person shows a strong interest so you know don't be James Bond out there just slightly move things in a seductive Direction before leaping back if it is not appreciated unfortunately the next two rules are not as romantic never discuss illness unless some special concern is shown and never pry into a person's personal circumstances they will tell you all that eventually so basically don't stick

your nose into something personal unless the other person brings it up which they probably will because you are patiently seductively listening like a best friend who just so happens to have all of the same political and religious viewpoints the last rules are much more inwardly focused never boast just let your importance be quietly obvious and never be untidy and never get drunk this all goes along

with the gentlemanly demeanor you need to look clean be clear-headed and confident without the need to brag about it honestly I know this all seems pretty obvious but you cannot argue with the man's success rate that is until he found himself in prison for a little while at least all of this crime could only last so long as with criminals like John Dillinger it was his

girlfriend who gave him up she caught wind that he was cheating while he was running a counterfeit scheme the same one that he fooled that Texas cop with and she turned him into authorities he was arrested and thrown in jail though that wasn't the end of it right before his trial he faked an illness and constructed a makeshift rope he leapt to his escape and was

gone while gone for less than a month he was eventually caught where he pleaded guilty to all charges and was shipped off to Alcatraz and perished there due to pneumonia still you gotta imagine everyone on his cell block oh they must have loved that Eiffel Tower story on a completely different note I'm us selling the Statue of Liberty on eBay if anyone's interested just uh keep

it on the DL for obvious reasons