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| Year | Stories |
|---|---|
| 1872 | 1 |
| 1876 | 1 |
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| 1884 | 1 |
| 1885 | 3 |
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31 stories matching scam
- The Waterfront 'Dead Animal' Grift
Seattle's city health authorities discover a morbid, recurring scam involving dead horses and the tides.
- An Ambassador for the Northwest: Judge Lewis Returns from the East
A Seattle judge’s 1885 journey reveals a Pacific Northwest eager to prove itself to the skeptical East, complete with butter-churning Quakers and coal-scam lawsuits.
- The Decalcomania Confidence Man
A group of Seattle women expose a predatory art instructor who used a 'transfer work' scam to swindle local households.
- The Portrait Scheme Scam
A group of Seattle women are out money after an elusive photography company vanishes from the Epler Block.
- The 'Perryville' Scam: How a Fake Marriage Left Two Women Broke and Broken
In a tale of deception spanning Los Angeles, Washington, and Canada, two women fall victim to the same con artist who used false matrimonial ads to extract money before fleeing with their savings.
- The 'Mrs. Maber' Scam: A Community Charity Betrayed
A woman who conned the Ladies’ Relief Society and private citizens out of rent and groceries is publicly outed by the organization after she repeatedly skipped job opportunities.
- Federal Crackdown on Seattle Investment Scams
Federal authorities have blacklisted over fifty 'bond and investment' companies, including one in Seattle, prohibiting them from using the U.S. mail to conduct their business.
- The Teenager Who Swindled Seattle’s Banks
A seventeen-year-old impersonator uses forged signatures and a smooth story to walk away with five hundred dollars from city financiers.
- The Timber Land Swindlers of Seattle
A new arrival in Seattle narrowly escapes a sophisticated land scam operating out of the Seattle National Bank building.
- The Evergreen 'Green Goods' Scam
A classic confidence trick that lures victims with the promise of counterfeit money.
- The Gospel-Ship Scam on Puget Sound
How a pious Olympia minister raised international funds to build a missionary vessel, only to pivot it into a lucrative towboat business.
- The Swindled Investor and the 'Silver Mine' Scam
A Seattle real estate dealer is arrested after selling fake claims to a nonexistent silver mine, sparking a heated legal battle and a courtroom confrontation.
- The 'Gold Cure' Scam
A medical investigation finds that the popular 'bi-chloride of gold' treatment for alcoholism is actually a mixture of sugar, water, and booze.
- The Panama Canal Mail Scam
A woman is arrested in a federal courtroom for running a scheme promising young men jobs in Panama for a 25-cent fee.
- The Great Grocery Heist of Citizens' Market
A shopkeeper and her manager vanish after running a credit-fueled grocery scam, leaving behind a trail of debt and hollowed-out stock.
- A $500 Promise and a Government Land Dream: The Homestead Scam Drawing Inquiries Daily
Operating out of Seattle, Tacoma and Bellingham, promoters allegedly charged would-be settlers $500 for 'prior rights' to Oregon land tangled in a federal suit against the Southern Pacific.
- The Lawyer Who Saved a 'Sucker'
A South Prairie man was nearly swindled out of $1,000 in a fake lottery scheme until he sought the advice of a prominent Seattle attorney.
- The Penobscot House Mortgage Scam
A deal for a Third Street hotel ended in handcuffs after a landlord discovered his collateral was built on thin air.
- The Shell Game at Myers Cannery
Two women are swindled out of $300 by a gang of con artists near the Myers Cannery, leading to a police hunt for the perpetrators of this classic 'gold brick' scam.
- The Grave Robbery Insurance Scam
A Seattle man faked his own death using a stolen corpse to collect a massive insurance payout, but a lover's confession blew the lid off the plot.
- The Laundry Cashier Who Outsmarted the Bunko Gang
Laundry cashier Julia Folsom foiled four men's short-change scam, snatching back the money before they could take it.
- The Counterfeit 'Rye Straw' Cigar Scam
Tobacco merchants discover a deceptive new counterfeit cigar wrapper made of chemically treated rye straw.
- The 'Top and Bottom' Sting
A traveler is swindled out of his savings by a gang of con artists on a Seattle sidewalk, sparking a city-wide police sweep.
- The Salvation Army’s Yellow Band Warning: A Seattle Scam Exposed
Adjutant Nelson of the regular Salvation Army steps into The Seattle Star to warn citizens that 'God's Regular Army' is a fraudulent group soliciting donations under false pretenses.
- The Swindler Who Tried to Sell Insurance to a Ghost
A Seattle man attempts to scam his brother in California with a fake insurance policy, only to be outsmarted by a skeptical editor.
Also about this, in other words
- The Great Seattle Straw Hat Swindle
A smooth-talking grifter fleeced the crowds of Seattle by promising cheap hats, only to leave them holding handfuls of worthless paper.
- The Con Artist’s Benevolent Hustle
A smooth-talking stranger visits a Seattle tobacco shop, spins a yarn about a tragedy at sea, and leaves with more than just a sympathy donation.