Pushkin

Tim Haafard here. This week, cautionary tales hands the microphone to Brian Brushwood,

host of World's Greatest Con, a show about the most audacious conjobs, swindles and

heists in history. The events you'll hear about are a quintessential cautionary tale, a

story of how a game show producer was tempted into upping the ante on his own program.

By feeding answers to the contestants, those contestants become stars, rich, famous,

admired, and then the scheme is discovered. And all they're left with is shame. I love World's

Greatest Con, both this second season, which is all about frauds and cons perpetrated

on or by TV quiz shows such as who wants to be a millionaire, the prices right, press

your luck and more. And the first season, which was about an astonishing attempt to con

Adolf Hitler himself. It's packed with the storytelling, the human psychology and the

salientry lessons you expect from cautionary tales. If you're not already a subscriber,

take a moment to subscribe now and you can thank me later.

Brian Brushwood, the host of World's Greatest Con, also hosts TV shows on Discovery and National

Geographic, is an international lecturer on scams and is an absolute pleasure to listen

to. And I'll be back at the helm of cautionary tales this time next week with a new story of

human error. But until then, over to Brian Brushwood and World's Greatest Con.

This is World's Greatest Con. I'm Brian Brushwood.

It's 1957 and 200 people are getting pulled into a grand jury. They're all told the same

thing. Tell the truth, you'll be on your way. But if you lie, you are going to be indicted

on federal perjury charges. And these people aren't just anyone. We're talking about lawyers,

professors, active military, respected individuals, people with a lot to lose if their reputations

...