I Often Read About People Being Conned,

with fake watches, diamonds, or art amongst many things,

but this is the first time I have read about people being sold a fake country!, meet Gregor MacGregor, 1786 – 1845. Adventurer, by George Watson, 1804. (Photo by National Galleries Of Scotland/Getty Images), MacGregor told folks he was the Prince, or “Cazique”, of Poyais. The territory, supposedly part of Central America, featured lush and astonishing sights, an abundance of juicy fresh fruit, exotic local wildlife, and clear water was ready and waiting for those bold enough to open their wallets. Historic UK writes that MacGregor pursued “an extensive infrastructure project”. He produced a substantial guidebook to further flesh out his vision, MacGregor also revealed that “chunks of gold lined the riverbeds.” There were rich pickings out in Poyais, quite literally,

shares brought in hundreds of thousands of pounds for the silver-tongued salesman. By today’s standards, he wound up a billionaire, according to BBC Future. They posted an excerpt from Maria Konnikova’s 2016 book The Confidence Game, above a Bank of Poyais “dollar”, printed in Scotland. (Photo Credit: National Museum of American History – Image by Godot13, Public Domain, accessed via Wikimedia Commons), a reported seven boatloads of people made for Honduras. When they finally reached their destination, it was more Buyer’s Remorse than Utopia, Historic UK writes that passengers found “a vast jungle with only natives for company and the poor and bedraggled passengers of the previous voyage.” as with many high profile confidence tricks, people wonder how the victims were taken in, eventually He wound up behind bars, though had a habit of evading justice, once, when brought to court, he got off Scot-free, he was, if you read the story, well connected, His Poyais plot served him well between 1821-37, regarded as arguably the greatest con in history you can read the fascinating story here, grab a coffee, what a great read it really is.