Feature Photo: Volodymyr TVERDOKHLIB / Shutterstock.com
New York has always attracted people with big dreams, big money, and big ambitions. It has also attracted people who knew how to turn confidence, reputation, and appearances into something much less honest.
Some of the most famous deceptions connected to New York were financial frauds. Others were social impersonations, newspaper hoaxes, fake archaeological discoveries, and brazen schemes built around the city’s landmarks. One New York swindler even helped give the English language the term “confidence man.”
These 10 stories span nearly two centuries, from the penny press of the 1830s to modern Wall Street and political fraud. They are presented chronologically rather than ranked, because each left a very different mark on New York history.
1. Richard Adams Locke and the Great Moon Hoax
Year: 1835
New York Connection: The Sun, New York City
Known For: Publishing reports of fantastic life on the Moon
In August 1835, New York newspaper The Sun began publishing a six-part series describing supposed astronomical discoveries made by the respected British astronomer Sir John Herschel at the Cape of Good Hope. The stories claimed that an enormously powerful telescope had revealed forests, animals, and winged humanoid creatures on the Moon.
The reports were written by Richard Adams Locke, a writer for The Sun. Locke later explained that the series was intended as satire, particularly of popular religious speculation about life on other worlds. Many readers, however, accepted the reports as genuine. The stories became a sensation, were reprinted far beyond New York, and sent the newspaper’s circulation soaring.
Now remembered as the Great Moon Hoax, the episode showed just how quickly an extraordinary story could capture the imagination of New Yorkers more than a century before television or the internet.
2. William Thompson and the Birth of the “Confidence Man”
Year: 1849
New York Connection: Streets of Lower Manhattan
Known For: Helping give rise to the term “confidence man”
William Thompson’s crimes were small compared with the multimillion-dollar frauds that came later, but his place in the history of deception is enormous. In July 1849, the New York Herald reported the arrest of a well-dressed swindler who approached strangers as though he already knew them.
After gaining a victim’s attention, Thompson would ask whether the person had enough confidence in him to trust him with a watch until the following day. The victim, sometimes assuming Thompson was an acquaintance he had forgotten, handed over the watch. Thompson then disappeared with it.
The Herald called him the “Confidence Man,” and the phrase quickly entered public discussion. Thompson was not history’s first swindler, but his New York arrest helped create one of the most enduring names for the profession.
3. George Hull and the Cardiff Giant
Year: 1869
New York Connection: Cardiff, Onondaga County, and later Manhattan
Known For: Creating a fake petrified giant
George Hull created one of the great American hoaxes of the 19th century after becoming fascinated by arguments over the biblical statement that giants once walked the earth. Hull acquired a huge block of gypsum in Iowa, had it carved into the shape of a roughly 10-foot man in Chicago, and arranged for the figure to be buried on the farm of his relative William “Stub” Newell in Cardiff, New York.
On October 16, 1869, workers supposedly digging a well uncovered the enormous figure. Crowds soon paid admission to see what some believed might be a petrified ancient man. Scientists and skeptics challenged the claim almost immediately, but public fascination only made the attraction more profitable.
Hull admitted the deception by the end of 1869. P.T. Barnum then complicated the story by commissioning his own copy and exhibiting it in New York. The original Cardiff Giant also reached Manhattan, where it was displayed at Apollo Hall on Broadway. A fake giant and a fake of the fake became one of the era’s most memorable lessons in the business of public curiosity.
4. Lord Gordon-Gordon and the Jay Gould Swindle
Peak New York Era: 1872
New York Connection: Erie Railway and Manhattan financial circles
Known For: Posing as a wealthy British nobleman
The man who called himself Lord Gordon-Gordon arrived in New York in 1872 presenting himself as a wealthy and influential British aristocrat. He claimed to control an enormous block of Erie Railway stock and suggested that he represented powerful European financial interests.
Railroad financier Jay Gould took the supposed lord seriously. Contemporary accounts describe Gould transferring Gordon-Gordon large amounts of cash and Erie stock, with the value of the swindle commonly reported at roughly $1 million. When Gould discovered the deception and began legal proceedings, Gordon-Gordon fled to Canada.
The story became even stranger when men acting for Gould attempted to seize the fugitive in Canada and bring him back across the border. Their arrest for kidnapping turned the affair into an international dispute. Gordon-Gordon remained in Canada and died by suicide in 1874 as authorities closed in on him over earlier fraud allegations.
5. Ferdinand Ward, the “Young Napoleon of Wall Street”
Era: 1880–1884
New York Connection: Wall Street and Grant & Ward
Known For: Running a fraudulent investment operation that ruined Ulysses S. Grant
Ferdinand Ward became one of Wall Street’s most notorious swindlers decades before Charles Ponzi’s name became synonymous with investment fraud. Ward partnered with Ulysses S. “Buck” Grant Jr., son of former President Ulysses S. Grant, and used the Grant name to attract investors to the New York brokerage firm Grant & Ward.
Ward claimed the firm was earning extraordinary profits through privileged government contracts. In reality, the operation functioned much like what would later be called a Ponzi scheme: new money helped pay supposed returns to earlier investors while Ward diverted funds for himself.
The firm collapsed in May 1884. Former President Grant lost his savings, the Marine National Bank failed, and the disaster contributed to a wider financial panic. Ward, once celebrated as the “Young Napoleon of Wall Street,” was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 10 years in Sing Sing.
6. George C. Parker and the Brooklyn Bridge Legend
Era: Late 19th and early 20th centuries
New York Connection: Brooklyn and Manhattan
Known For: The legendary “sale” of the Brooklyn Bridge
George C. Parker became permanently associated with one of New York’s greatest confidence-game stories: convincing a victim that the Brooklyn Bridge was private property that could be purchased.
By the time Parker was arrested in 1928, newspaper accounts were already describing him as an old-time confidence man whose earlier exploits were said to include selling the Brooklyn Bridge. Later retellings greatly expanded the legend, claiming that he sold the bridge repeatedly and also offered other New York landmarks for sale. Many of those colorful details and precise numbers are difficult to document independently.
What is firmly documented is Parker’s long reputation as a confidence operator and his final downfall. As a repeat offender, he received a life sentence at Sing Sing in 1928. His connection to the Brooklyn Bridge became so deeply embedded in American folklore that the idea of having “a bridge to sell” remains shorthand for an unbelievable proposition.
7. Cassie Chadwick and the Andrew Carnegie Fortune
Peak Era: 1902–1904
New York Connection: Fifth Avenue and New York banking circles
Known For: Claiming to be Andrew Carnegie’s secret daughter
Cassie Chadwick, born Elizabeth Bigley in Canada, built one of the era’s most extraordinary financial deceptions around the name of industrialist Andrew Carnegie. The New York portion of the scheme began in 1902 when Chadwick traveled from Cleveland to Manhattan and arranged for attorney James Dillon to accompany her to Carnegie’s mansion at 2 East 91st Street.
Chadwick went inside on an innocent pretext, stayed long enough to make the visit look important, and emerged with an envelope containing forged financial documents. She then told Dillon that she was Carnegie’s illegitimate daughter and would eventually inherit a vast fortune. The story spread exactly as she hoped it would.
Using forged Carnegie notes and the reputation created by that claim, Chadwick borrowed enormous sums from banks and private lenders, including financial institutions in New York. The exact total remains uncertain, but a commonly cited figure is about $633,000 in money of the period. Her scheme collapsed in 1904, and in 1905 she was convicted of conspiracy to defraud a national bank and sentenced to 10 years in prison. Carnegie later pointed out that no one involved had simply asked him whether the story was true.
8. David Hampton, the Impostor Behind Six Degrees of Separation
Year: 1983
New York Connection: Manhattan high society
Known For: Posing as Sidney Poitier’s son
In 1983, David Hampton became notorious for persuading affluent New Yorkers that he was the son of actor Sidney Poitier. Hampton presented himself as a well-connected young man who knew the children of prominent families and needed temporary help after some misfortune.
The story worked because Hampton knew how to use recognizable names, social connections, and the reluctance of sophisticated people to admit that they might not remember someone important. He was welcomed into Manhattan homes, given food, lodging, and money, and moved through social circles that ordinarily would have been closed to him.
His impersonation was eventually exposed and widely reported in the New York press. The experience of Inger McCabe Elliott and her husband, Osborn Elliott, became especially important because they were friends of playwright John Guare. Hampton’s story ultimately inspired Guare’s acclaimed 1990 play Six Degrees of Separation and the later film adaptation.
9. Bernard Madoff and Wall Street’s Largest Ponzi Scheme
Era: Decades before exposure in 2008
New York Connection: Manhattan financial industry
Known For: Operating the largest Ponzi scheme in history
Bernard Madoff brought the classic confidence game into the modern financial world. His Manhattan investment firm appeared legitimate, sophisticated, and extraordinarily successful. That reputation allowed him to attract individuals, charities, institutions, and investment funds that trusted both his record and his standing in the securities industry.
In December 2008, the operation collapsed. Federal authorities charged Madoff with running a massive Ponzi scheme in which money from newer investors had been used to create the appearance of returns for earlier clients. In March 2009, he pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to 11 felony counts.
Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison. The U.S. Department of Justice describes his operation as the world’s largest Ponzi scheme. By the final distribution of the Madoff Victim Fund in December 2024, more than $4.3 billion had been paid to 40,930 victims in 127 countries, representing nearly 94 percent of the fraud losses recognized by that fund.
10. George Santos and the Fraud Behind a New York Congressional Career
Peak Era: 2021–2025
New York Connection: Queens, Long Island, and New York’s 3rd Congressional District
Known For: Campaign-finance fraud, identity theft, and false financial disclosures
George Santos built a public career around a personal and professional biography that began unraveling soon after he was elected to Congress from New York’s 3rd Congressional District in 2022. Questions about his education, employment history, finances, family background, and campaign disclosures quickly turned his brief congressional career into a national story.
The criminal case went far beyond exaggerations about his biography. In August 2024, Santos pleaded guilty in federal court on Long Island to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. As part of his plea, he admitted to conduct that included filing fraudulent campaign-finance reports, charging contributors’ credit cards without authorization, using stolen identities, fraudulently collecting unemployment benefits, and making false statements in financial disclosures.
In April 2025, a federal judge in Central Islip sentenced Santos to 87 months in prison and ordered him to pay $373,749.97 in restitution and $205,002.97 in forfeiture. President Donald Trump commuted the prison sentence on October 17, 2025. The criminal convictions were not erased by the commutation.
The Santos story has a particularly strong place in New York history because the fraud unfolded through a campaign for federal office representing parts of Queens and Long Island. Readers can explore the wider story in our article on George Santos and the disinformation campaign surrounding his rise to Congress.
Quick Comparison of 10 Famous New York Con Artists and Hoaxers
| Name | Era | New York Connection | Known For |
|---|---|---|---|
| Richard Adams Locke | 1835 | The Sun, New York City | The Great Moon Hoax |
| William Thompson | 1849 | Lower Manhattan | The “confidence man” watch scheme |
| George Hull | 1869 | Cardiff, New York, and Manhattan | The Cardiff Giant |
| Lord Gordon-Gordon | 1872 | Erie Railway financial circles | Swindling Jay Gould |
| Ferdinand Ward | 1880–1884 | Wall Street | Grant & Ward investment fraud |
| George C. Parker | Late 1800s–1928 | Brooklyn and Manhattan | The Brooklyn Bridge “sale” legend |
| Cassie Chadwick | 1902–1904 | Fifth Avenue and New York banking | Claiming to be Carnegie’s secret daughter |
| David Hampton | 1983 | Manhattan | Posing as Sidney Poitier’s son |
| Bernard Madoff | Exposed in 2008 | Manhattan financial industry | The world’s largest Ponzi scheme |
| George Santos | 2021–2025 | Queens and Long Island | Campaign-finance fraud and identity theft |
Readers interested in the New York settings and stories behind these cases can explore the history of the Brooklyn Bridge, the history of the New York Stock Exchange, the history of Times Square, our look at 10 unsolved New York City mysteries, and the saga of George Santos and his disinformation campaign.
Sources
Smithsonian Libraries & Archives — The Great Moon Hoax
Encyclopedia.com — The Confidence-Man and William Thompson
Smithsonian Magazine — The Cardiff Giant Was Just a Big Hoax
Dictionary of Canadian Biography — Lord Gordon-Gordon
National Park Service — The Failure of Grant & Ward
New American History / BackStory — Brooklyn Bridge for Sale
Smithsonian Magazine — Cassie Chadwick and the Carnegie Fraud
The Washington Post — David Hampton’s 1983 New York Impersonation
U.S. Department of Justice — Bernard Madoff Ponzi Scheme and Victim Recovery
U.S. Department of Justice — George Santos Sentencing
U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Pardon Attorney — George Santos Commutation
Published September 2, 2026.
