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COMMENT | Researching the biggest con jobs in the world on the internet was as interesting as the search results -- revealing some interesting facts and figures.

Far too many had made too much at the expense of the ordinary man. Fraudsters, imposters and cheats readily exploit one weakness of the human being – greed.

Stacker lists the top financial swindlers including Charles Ponzi who earned infamy with his name and Bernie Madoff who scammed thousands with promises of big returns on their investments.

Then there’s Jordan Belfort of whom the infamous movie “Wolf of Wall Street” was made with stolen Malaysian money. He spent 22 months in prison after stealing more than US$100 million as part of a drug and sex-fuelled frenzy of corporate theft based on the so-called "pump-and-dump" scheme.

Belfort would buy large amounts of worthless stock to drive up its price and then sell his shares all at once.

Also making the list are Viktor Lustig who “sold” the Eiffel Tower – twice – to scrap dealers and the many involved in the non-existent sale of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

But Malaysia has not been left out of this notorious list. Jho Low is listed and Wikipedia says he claimed to be a financial expert and “trusted by Malaysian prime minister, Najib Abdul Razak, in managing 1MDB”, a Malaysian sovereign wealth fund.

Wikipedia adds: “[..] caused Malaysia to end up in heavy debt and further devaluation of its currency.”

Now, another possibly Malaysian name can be...


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