8 of History’s Most Famous Charlatans, Con Artists, and Tricksters
Mary Carleton: Born in Canterbury, England, about 1635, Mary Carleton was a crafty trickster.
Count Alessandro di Cagliostro: Was an Italian charlatan famous for his fraudulent alchemy.
Dr. Sebi: Alfredo Bowman, better known as Dr. Sebi, developed a following as an herbalist healer.
Comte de Saint-Germain: The so-called comte de Saint-Germain was a French adventurer of mysterious origin.
Amy Bock: A New Zealander born in Tasmania in 1859, Amy Bock came to be one of the most successful female con artists in New Zealand’s history.
False Dmitry: The moniker “False Dmitry” denotes a number of people rather than a single person.
Baron Münchhausen: Born in Germany in 1720, remains a legend in global folklore.
Natwarlal: Natwarlal, India’s most-celebrated con artist, was born Mithilesh Kumar Srivastava in Bihar about 1913.