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George Parker (1870–1936) was one of the most audacious con men in American history.
He made his living selling New York's public landmarks to unwary tourists.
His favorite object for sale was the Brooklyn Bridge, which he sold twice a week for years.
He convinced his marks that they could make a fortune by controlling access to the roadway.
More than once police had to roust naive buyers from the bridge as they tried to erect toll barriers.
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Butterfly Labs (2012–2014) was one of the most audacious long con "companies" in Bitcoin history.
They made their living pre-selling Bitcoin mining hardware to unwary community members.
Their favorite object for sale was revolving 'new mining hardware', which were pre-sold every
few months for the years they were in operation. BFL convinced their marks that they could make a
reasonable "ROI" by pre-ordering hardware, that was delivered in some case 12 months late.
More than once the community had to start threads and warn naive buyers from
buying BFL products as they continued to buy units that were merely vapourware,
and were hard pressed to get refunds from PayPal, Credit Cards and rarely if ever if they paid in
BTC or wire transfer, in direct conflict with FTC regulation.