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New Con Artist Monson Mavunkal

Monson Mavunkal

A self-proclaimed antique dealer, who claimed to have high-profile connections with politicians, celebrities and bureaucrats, was arrested in India’s southern Kerala state for swindling billions of rupees by selling fake antiques.

Monson Mavunkal, a Kerala-based Youtber and a resident of Cherthala, was arrested from Alappuzha district by the crime branch team on Sunday based on a complaint from six people after he duped them of Rs 10 crore ( 100 Million INR ) in 2017.

According to police, the 52-year-old conman told his clients that he will be getting Rs 2400 crore (24 billion rupees) after selling antiques to the royal family in the Middle East and that he needs some money to clear legal hurdles to get the amount transferred from his foreign bank account to his Indian account. He would then lure the victims by promising them a partnership in a huge museum project that he claimed was in the pipeline to be made in Kochi.

For years, he built his identity as that of a social climber. As different state police chiefs took charge over the years, he was always among the first to felicitate them, making sure there was a photograph. These photos he later used in his world of truth, half-truths and lies, making people believe that he knew people across the world, from the Sultan of Brunei to PM and president of many country

According to reports, the conman was planning a new fraud where he had convinced people that he was planning to buy 93 antiques worth Rs 15,000 crores for the antique museum in Qatar.

But his plan got backfired this time and he was arrested. The police have been on the hunt for a few months after six cheated victims filed a complaint with the state’s Chief Minister Pinari Vijayan in July this year.

The complaint against Mavunkal by victims said he showed them the so-called staff of Moses,Lord Krishna’s favourite “dahi handi”, Paintings by someone in Kochi sold as Pablo Picasso’s art,  the sword of Mysore King Tipu Sultan, scriptures inscribed in gold, Bhagwad Gita of Chhatrapati Shivaji, India’s Mughal king Aurangzeb’s ring among others. 

There are 14 FIRs registered against Mavunkal in various police stations across the state, with the sections ranging from 450 (cheating), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (impersonation) and 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) to 471 (using forged documents) of the Indian Penal Code.

Mavunkal’s shenanigans weren’t limited to him to posing as an antique collector alone. It is being said that Monson also dipped into other professions to find unique ways to con people. He used to pretend as a doctor, philanthropist, actor and promoter of world peace and considered himself to be a ‘jack of all trades’.

For close to a decade, 52-year-old Monson Mavunkal used a mixture of deceit, charm, and carefully cultivated influence to make the implausible possible. His sway spread far and wide in Kochi as he played constantly shifting roles. Motivational speaker, doctor, cosmetologist, art promoter, antique collector, YouTube star – he was everything. Until Sunday, when the Kerala Crime Branch arrested him.

In an operation that fit perfectly with the dramatic story of his life, he was arrested at a function to mark his daughter’s engagement, even as the local police station was kept in the dark.


The man who sold the Eiffel Tower Victor Lustig

Victor Lustig sold Eiffel Tower Conman con artist

Born in 1890 in a wealthy family from the Bohemian region (former Austria-Hungary), Victor Lustig studied rather brilliantly. But work do not interest him, and the young man prefers to use his intelligence for a much more lucrative activity: swindling.

Victor left Bohemia in 1909 and settled in Paris. He started out as a pimp, then embarked on Atlantic cruises and rip off wealthy old ladies. He settled for a few years in New York, gangland’s ElDorado, and returned to Paris in 1925. There came up the idea of ​​a scam that was as crazy as brilliant.

The Eiffel Tower, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1889, is declining. The visitors are fewer, and the criticisms still strong. To counterbalance its lack of tourists, Gustave Eiffel is trying to make it essential by carrying out scientific experiments. But in 1925, Eiffel died, and the City of Paris, owner of the monument since 1910, does not know what to do with it

In May 1925, an article appeared in a Paris newspaper about the decaying condition of the Eiffel Tower. Thirty-some years after it had been erected, the city’s signature piece of architecture was in need of extensive repair. There was a passing comment in the piece about how the French government had considered that it might be cheaper to tear down the Eiffel Tower than to fix it. 
   Most people reading that article would have said, “C’est la vie,” and moved on. But Victor Lustig was not most people. He was the world’s most notorious con artist. And when he read it, he heard the ka-ching of inspiration for what would become his greatest caper.

It is by reading an article in the press, which traces the financial difficulties to maintain the structure and submits the hypothesis of a sale of the monument, that Victor Lustig imagines his Machiavellian plan. With the help of an accomplice, he obtains false letterhead from the City of Paris and a false access card to the tower. After having listed the biggest scrap dealers in the region, he sent them an invitation for a meeting at the Crillon hotel. An interview which must, of course, remain secret.

The Czech-born Lustig—who was fluent in five languages, had more than 20 aliases, and possessed an almost hypnotizing charm—had been swindling people out of money and property for years. He began by plying his shady trade on cruise ships full of wealthy travelers. One of his favorite ruses was to pose as a producer of Broadway musicals, then prey on people’s secret desires to be in show business by getting them to invest in nonexistent productions. By 1925, Lustig had racked up more than 40 arrests, and was wanted by law enforcement agencies around the world.

THE EIFFEL TOWER CON
Lustig never went into a con without research and careful preparation. In Paris, his first move was to have a counterfeiter make him official government stationery, with his name listed as the Deputy Director General of the Ministère de Postes et Télégraphes. He then wrote letters to the five most prominent scrap iron dealers in the city. The letters, vague but official-sounding, invited each of the five men to meet with Lustig in the suite of a fancy hotel, to discuss an urgent matter.

After Lustig wined and dined his marks, he announced that the government had decided to tear down the Eiffel Tower, and the resulting 7000 tons of metal would be for sale to the highest bidder among them. As part of his pitch, he reminded his guests that the Tower was built as an entrance arch to the 1889 World’s Fair and was never meant to be permanent. He quoted Alexander Dumas, who had once called the Tower “a loathsome construction,” and writer Guy de Maupassant, who said, “What will be thought of our generation if we do not smash this lanky pyramid.” Lustig gave an emotional performance, and then in a resigned tone, explained that the costs to maintain the Tower were simply too high. Of course, the government’s decision to tear it down was controversial and so must remain hush-hush. The scrap dealers swallowed the story hook, line, and sinker.

A few days later, they submitted their bids. But Lustig had already chosen his mark: André Poisson. Lustig informed Poisson that he had won the right to the Eiffel Tower’s metal. But there was a small problem. Lustig said that while public servants like himself were expected to dress well and entertain lavishly, they made a meager salary. Poisson understood that he was being asked for a bribe to secure the deal, and he obliged.

Lustig, with Poisson's money in hand, fled for Austria. There, as was his custom, he lived the high life, at the expense of yet another unsuspecting victim. For weeks, Lustig checked the French newspapers for reports of his Eiffel Tower con, but there was nothing. He had a hunch that Poisson would be too embarrassed by how easily he fell for the ruse to go to the authorities, and he was right.

Six months later, Lustig returned to Paris and pulled the exact same stunt with five different scrap iron dealers. Amazingly, he sold the Eiffel Tower again. This time though, his mark went to the police, and the story hit the papers. Lustig soon fled Europe for the United States.

INTERNATIONAL SWINDLER
In America, Lustig continued his life as an elegant scoundrel, with cons like selling a miracle box that could supposedly print flawless counterfeit money. He also famously swindled Chicago crime boss Al Capone. Lustig got Capone to invest $50,000 in a con he was working on. Lustig let the money sit for two months, then went back to Capone to say his plan had fallen through. Just as Capone was about to get violent, Lustig handed him back his $50,000. Capone was so impressed that he gave Lustig a $1000 reward, which was exactly what Lustig anticipated.

Lustig was finally arrested in 1936, on a counterfeiting charge, and served 11 years in jail before dying behind bars in 1947.

Before his death, Lustig wrote down his Ten Commandments for aspiring con men:

1. Be a patient listener (it is this, not fast talking, that gets a con man his coups).
2. Never look bored.
3. Wait for the other person to reveal any political opinions, then agree with them.
4. Let the other person reveal religious views, then have the same ones.
5. Hint at sex talk, but don’t follow it up unless the other fellow shows a strong interest.
6. Never discuss illness, unless some special concern is shown.
7. Never pry into a person’s personal circumstances (they’ll tell you all eventually).
8. Never boast. Just let your importance be quietly obvious.
9. Never be untidy.
10. Never get drunk.

Indian Natwarlal Who Sold Taj mahal Thrice 

Natwarlal Indian Conman Indian con artist

Would you ever fall for a scheme that offers you to buy the Taj Mahal? While it may seem difficult to believe it today but just a few decades ago, there was a man who, with his clever shyster and sly ways, sold inconceivable dreams in the form of the Taj Mahal, and actually tricked people into believing him!

Meet India's most popular conman, Natwarlal, who even inspired a movie with the same name, starring Amitabh Bachchan. He stands out for his amusing ways and notoriousness in the history of Indian conmen. 

Born as Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava in Bangra village of Siwan district, Bihar, Natwarlal was a lawyer by profession before he started duping people off their money. He was a clever impostor and used more than 50 aliases to dupe people. The master hoaxer even swindled prominent businessmen, including Tata, Birla, Mittal, and the Ambanis.  

That's not all. He had mastered the art of forging signatures of famous personalities before he set his sight on selling historical landmarks of the country. To everyone's surprise, he successfully sold Taj Mahal, Red Fort, Rashtrapati Bhavan, and the Parliament House of India, along with its 545 sitting members! 

Natwarlal was wanted in more than 100 cases by the police of 8 states across India, which earned him 113 years in prison. Out of this, he hardly served 20 years of imprisonment. 
He was arrested nine times, and every time, he made daring escapes. 

Indian Conman con artist Natwarlal

In one of the incidents, he stole a police-officer's uniform and casually walked out of jail. He was 84 years old in 1996 when he was arrested for the last time. This time too, he managed to escape. During that time, he was being transported from Kanpur jail to the AIIMS hospital for treatment, under police escort, when he disappeared at the New Delhi railway station, never to be seen again. 

Just like his life, his death was also a mystery. While his lawyers claim that he died on July 25, 2009, his brother Ganga Prasad Srivastava claimed to have cremated him in 1996 in Ranchi.