About the book: 2004 / The 19th century American philosopher and poet Ralph Emerson aptly noted: “In medicine, as you know, you cannot do without poisons , and in life – without scammers.” Often these are gifted, extraordinary people who strive for risky ventures and commit unprincipled and illegal acts in order to achieve profit and easy success, position in society or self-affirmation. These are the heroes of this book. On its pages you will find a fascinating story about the lives of legendary adventurers: the owner of the “elixir of immortality” Count Saint-Germain, the unsurpassed adventurer and favorite of women Giacomo Casakova, the mysterious magician Alessandro Cagliostro, the “king of risk” Francois Vidocq, the secret agent Chevalier d'Eon, the highest class counterfeiter Cheslav Boyarsky, the inventive thief Sonya Zolotaya Ruchka, the Siberian “prophet and healer” Grigory Rasputin, the founder of religious false teaching Ron Hubbard, the creators of financial “pyramids” John Lowe, Sergei Mavrodi, Valentina Solovyova, computer fraudster Vladimir Levin and many other masters of adventure . To the four hundred “relatively honest ways of taking money” known to the Great Schemer Ostap Bender, they added many others, no less inventive.