80 Most Intriguing Scams Ever

Books about the largest counterfeit money deal of all time, named after its organizer, Hauptsturmbannführer SS Bernhard Krueger, have been written, documentaries and feature films have been shot.

It is believed that Major SD Alfred Naujoks, a specialist in performing special tasks, gave the idea to print fake pounds. A brilliant idea visited him in 1939. The proposal immediately interested the chief of SD Heydrich. However, most likely, this idea arose long before the outbreak of World War II. The position of the Reich in relation to the exchange rate and gold reserves has always been tense, so the secret service began to issue fake pounds, banknotes and gold rubles.

Why did the Nazis focus on pounds? The fact is that the English currency maintained a certain stability, it was readily accepted at banks of any European state. The presence of unlimited reserves of counterfeit currency would allow the Nazis to pay for the services of foreign agents, finance sabotage, and to some extent undermine the British economy. This was written by the chief of foreign intelligence of the Third Reich Walter Schellenberg: "A plan was developed, according to which whole tons of fake money should have been dropped from planes into England. The country would be overrun by them. You can imagine what this would lead to. The government would have to withdraw from circulation all banknotes issued by the state treasury, which, in addition to huge expenses, would also cause a huge overload of the administrative apparatus. The population would be confused and lose all confidence in their state bank. However, this plan was not implemented due to the fact that England had a very good air defense system, and our fuel situation was critical. "

The Nazis set themselves the super task: fake banknotes must be of the highest quality so that British experts would take them for genuine. To do this, it was necessary to achieve full compliance of all components.

As a result of long intensive research, it was absolutely possible to establish that the paper is made of linen fiber. Having received what they thought was "real" paper, German scientists tried to master its mechanized production, but failed and decided at first to limit themselves to manual labor. The former counterfeiter in seven months made an absolutely accurate matrix for obtaining watermarks. But the signs themselves did not meet the requirements of absolute authenticity. The thing was that the local flax was different from the Turkish one, from which pounds sterling was made. I had to purchase canvas from the same suppliers through dummies. Scientists from an entire laboratory struggled to find a method for quickly and effectively "aging" paper and ink.

But what is the par value to release pounds? After much debate, they decided to limit themselves to not very large, and therefore the most popular ones: 5, 10 and 20 pounds. As for large bills, they were made extremely few.

With the help of complex formulas, German scientists established a numbering system for English banknotes. "Each fake bill should have its prototype in the English edition. The series, number, release date and signature - everything should have been fully consistent. Any deviation would immediately be discovered by an expert, "recalled a Hagen scam participant later.

Release dates covered a period of more than 20 years. Each date corresponded to several series numbers. "There were three hundred and fifty episodes, and each of them contained numbers from zero to one hundred thousand," continued Hagen. "This alone gives an idea of ​​the scope of work."

The pounds issued by the Nazis always outstripped the numbering of the English bank by 100-200 numbers, due to which complete synchronization was achieved in the issuance of counterfeit currency.

After one hundred and sixty basic identification features of banknotes were revealed, the most skilled engravers in Germany, having taken the oath of secrecy, set to work.