Fraud

In the broadest sense, a fraud is a deception made for personal gain, although it has a more specific legal meaning, the exact details varying between jurisdictions. Many hoaxes are fraudulent, although those not made for personal gain are not best described in this way. Not all frauds are hoaxes - electoral fraud, for example. Fraud permeates many areas of life, including art, archaelogogy and science. In the broad legal sense a fraud is any crime or civil wrong for gain that utilises some deception practiced on the victim as its principal method.

Known and alleged fraudsters and various forms of fraud

• Alves Reis, a Portuguese fraudster who forged documents to print official escudo banknotes. He is considered to be the biggest counterfeiter of the 20th century. In 1925 he counterfeited 100,000,000 PTE. Adjusted for inflation, it would be worth about 150 Million USD today.
• Frank Abagnale, US impostor who wrote bad checks
• Ivan Boesky, inside trader in the 1980s
• Cassie Chadwick, who pretended to be Andrew Carnegie's daughter to get loans
• Anthony Di Angelis, "the Salad Oil King"
• John Draper, also known as Captain Crunch, was a phone phreaker (not really a fraudster but he famously known as a fraudster by phone company in early and late 1970's)
• William Duer, accused of embezzlement of $238,000 from US Treasury Department in the 1790s
• Billie Sol Estes - cotton subsidy and loan fraud in 1960s, resulting in the eventual creation of the federal Office of Inspector General
• Megan Ireland, Australian con artist and Lottery scammer
• Ivar Kreuger “The Match King”
• Dennis Levine
• Gregor MacGregor, Scottish conman who tried to attract investment and settlers for a non-existent country of Poyais
• Robert Maxwell, UK newspaper tycoon who milked his companies dry
• Gaston Means
• Michael Milken, "The Junk Bond King"
• Barry Minkow and the ZZZZ Best
• Frederick Emerson Peters, US impersonator who wrote bad checks
• Charles Ponzi, and Ponzi scheme
• Peter Popoff, whose faith healing-based Pentecostal televangelist ministry was debunked by professional skeptic James Randi and television presenter Johnny Carson in the 1980s
• Christopher Rocancourt who defrauded Hollywood celebrities
• Serge Rubinstein, Russian-born diamond swindler
• Richard Whitney, stole from Stock Exchange Gratuity Fund in 1930s
• Robert Vesco, US fugitive financier