The con man who sold the Eiffel Tower — twice
In 1925, con artist Victor Lustig posed as a French government official, told scrap dealers the Eiffel Tower was being sold for scrap metal, and collected a bribe from businessman André Poisson before fleeing the country. Convinced Poisson would be too embarrassed to go to police, Lustig returned to Paris later that year and tried the exact same scam again.