Famous Frauds by LuskT

Champion(s):

VaccaD
Is it solipsistic in here, or is it just me?


Runner(s)-Up:

LaudermithM


Quiz Description

They fooled the world for a while - will they fool you? Twelve questions about scams, hoaxes, and other people who tried to "beat the system."

Full Results:

Rank Player Total %ile 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Money Value (% Incorrect): 85 74 36 27 38 65 60 98 78 56 25 63
1 VaccaD 481 98 15
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2 LaudermithM 431 96 15
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3 SchroederS 415 94 15
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4 HessJa 385 92 00
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5 akambour 374 88 15
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5 rstrata 374 88 15
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7 UllspergerA 373 85 00
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8 MoyseyC 365 83 00
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9 RoseM 334 81 00
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10 EberhardtN 318 78 00
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11 GrahamJ 311 76 00
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12 EverettJ 310 74 00
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13 VenguswamyK 305 72 00
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14 DoyleE 293 70 00
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15 Steve 286 67 15
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16 Vintsanity 283 65 00
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17 DixonD 279 62 00
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17 WeikleB 279 62 00
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19 HulkaE 269 58 00
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20 JeziorskiM 248 56 15
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21 HightB 243 54 00
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22 Warek 241 51 00
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22 WareD 241 51 00
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24 MatherV 232 47 00
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25 NathanL 231 45 00
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26 randalleng 230 43 00
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27 ElendilPickle 226 41 00
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28 MercureT 224 38 00
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29 FryedBetaKappa 223 36 00
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30 PorkChop 206 34 00
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31 AdamKing 201 32 00
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32 JonesRW 188 30 00
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33 WeinbergD 181 27 00
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34 twarner50 179 25 00
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35 jefe 175 23 00
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36 HandelmanS 171 21 00
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37 FrostL 161 18 00
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38 SorensonG 159 16 00
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39 ChrisRosenberg 153 14 00
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40 PruettC 150 12 00
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41 BeningoS 144 10 00
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42 BradburnA 91 7 00
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43 colonialrampage 71 5 00
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44 lorijane 0 2 00
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44 EisenbergD2 0 2 00
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Questions:

This historical marker commemorates what fraudulent archaeological discovery? P.T. Barnum once offered $50,000 for it and then created a copy when he could not obtain the original.

Click for additional information

Click to Reveal Answer
Cardiff Giant

Pierre Plantard was the chief perpetrator and supposed Grand Master of what invented organization that claimed, among other things, that Jesus may not have died on the Cross and sired a family that eventually became the Merovingian dynasty in France? It features prominently in a 1982 "non-fiction" work that later inspired The Da Vinci Code.

Click to Reveal Answer
Priory of Sion (Prieuré de Sion)

Cousins Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths were behind the fake images of the Cottingley Fairies, which famously fooled what author? He used the photos to illustrate an article on fairies he had been commissioned to write for The Strand Magazine in 1920.

Click to Reveal Answer
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Due to a hoax perpetrated in Fort Collins, Colorado in October 2009, Falcon Heene was bestowed with what alliterative nickname by the media?

Click to Reveal Answer
Balloon Boy

Who fooled the world - and more importantly, Oprah Winfrey - with his largely concocted memoir A Million Little Pieces?

Click to Reveal Answer
James Frey

In the Simpsons episode "Lisa the Skeptic," a skeleton of an angel turns out to be a plant that is used to advertise the opening of what type of business? Surprisingly, Bart has nothing do to with these shenanigans.

Click to Reveal Answer
Shopping Mall

George Psalmanazar famously convinced many 19th century Brits that he was the first native of what island to visit Europe? To the surprise of no one, the "language" he developed as part of his ruse bore no resemblance to any of the Austronesian dialects that were native to the island prior to annexation by the Qing dynasty.

Click to Reveal Answer
Formosa / Taiwan

Farmer Basilio Uschuya has admitted to creating what anachronistic artifacts that showed carved images of dinosaurs and other features that would not have been known in pre-Columbian South America?

Click to Reveal Answer
Ica Stones

Cobalt is one of the many online scams that have proliferated in recent years, promising "get rich quick" results by automating and optimizing what activity?

Click to Reveal Answer
Stock Trading

Which pitcher famously threw a perfect game in the 2001 Little League World Series, the first since 1979, and had a pitch speed equivalent to 103 mph on a full-size field? Unfortunately, he did so at the age of 14, which meant he was ineligible to play Little League and thus his Bronx team was stripped of its third-place finish in the tournament.

Click to Reveal Answer
Danny Almonte

John McNamara, a con artist who secured $6 billion in loans from GMAC as part of a Ponzi scheme, may have been the inspiration for Jerry Lundegaard to do the same in what 1996 movie? As with any scam, the problems only escalate once they start, don'cha know?

Click to Reveal Answer
Fargo

Which LLama is notorious for being the only one to date to complete a perfect LL season - 150 for 150? He failed to live up to his impressive lifetime statistics at the 2014 LL Rundle Championship and has not been heard from since.

Click to Reveal Answer
Saha