I would guess one of the most important skills to learn when conning people for a living is how to identify an easy target. You know, like the guy that sends hundreds of thousands of rands to a woman he has never met in person.

Now there are some who will say that the greatest con artists of all are banks, but what about a guy who managed to take 33 banks and big businesses for a ride? His name is Gilbert Chikli and many are saying he could go down in history as one of the world’s finest shysters. Here’s the Telegraph:

[He was] the pioneer in a criminal method dubbed “the false chairman scam”, which French authorities said has cost Gallic companies an estimated €350 million (£250 million) in the past five years…

Chikli, 49, had “reached new heights in fraud” thanks to a mixture of charisma, cunning and sheer gall…

Unfortunately the good times came to end when Chikli was sentenced to seven years in prison and fined €1 million (R13 million), although he wasn’t present at his Paris trial. Nay, he is living in the lap of luxury in Israel, with the international warrant for his arrest having as yet proved unsuccessful.

So what methodology did this conniving crook use to rake in his riches? The Telegraph once more:

Armed with a bank of phones and computers in his Israel office, Chikli would glean credible details of his victim via the company website and social media before brazenly passing himself off as a CEO or director general…

He succeeded in defrauding 33 banks and companies, including the French Post Office, HSBC, Crédit Lyonnais, Accenture, Disneyland Paris and Galéries Lafayette, Paris’ giant department store…

If you’re thinking this sounds ripe for a Hollywood blockbuster you would be correct with Julie Gayet, French president François Hollande’s girlfriend, one of the stars set to feature in the film currently being shot in Tel Aviv.

Hopefully the leading actor role is handed to Adam Sandler; most of the movie-watching public hate him already so he could slot right in.

[source:telegraph]