36. Telgi Scam
Year: 2006
Approx. Amount: $130 million in fines*
Company / Person Involved: Abdul Karim Telgi
Abdul Karim Telgi was one of the most famous counterfeiters in the world. He started his career in counterfeiting when he was young, selling fake passports. As he got older, he moved to a more complicated, lucrative counterfeiting scheme. He appointed three hundred employees as his agents.
Telgi Scam @JustOutNews / Facebook.com
These “agents” sold fake stamp paper to banks, stockbrokers, and insurance companies. The scam was estimated at $1 billion. One of the telltale signs that gave away the scam was that people who worked for Telgi only made $120 a month, but they had net worths in the tens of millions. When Telgi was caught, he was sentenced to thirty years of prison in a hard labor camp, as well as a $130 million fine.