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54 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 Streetcar Decoy Scam
When the local transit company tried to goose ridership by planting actors on the streetcars, Everett's working class saw right through the performance.
- The Whidbey Island Job Scam
Workers are left stranded and out of pocket after a hiring agent vanishes.
- 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 Smooth Stranger’s Trap: A Banker’s Warning Against the 'Get Rich Quick' Scam
In 1920s Kennewick, local banks warned citizens that 'smooth strangers' peddling investments were likely frauds, urging residents to keep their money in trusted institutions rather than chasing phantom profits.
- 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 Buckley Bank Scam
A town in shock as two men posing as bankers abscond with the life savings of farmers and laborers.
- The Con Man Who Conned a Town
Before he was caught, a master swindler known as 'Gen. Ward' charmed the elite of Spokane Falls and eloped with a banker's daughter.
- 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.
- The Saloonkeeper and the 'Fire' Scam
A Snohomish business owner accused of fraud faces court after a dubious claim that his saloon had burned down to escape a debt.
- 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 Irrigation Land Swindle
A confidence man posing as a land agent scams thirty-five laborers out of their hard-earned wages.
- The Snohomish Cattle Scam
A local farmer gets more than he bargained for when he unknowingly buys his own stolen livestock back from a neighbor.
- The Viral Panic of 1924
Washington State launches a defensive campaign against a hoof-and-mouth outbreak in California, warning citizens to watch for 'disease bootleggers' and misinformation.
- The Wealthy Pioneer Scammed in Centralia
George Washington, the founder of Centralia, loses $1,500 in a predatory legal scheme targeting his land title.
- 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.
- Employment Agency Scam Exposed
A local employment agency manager is arrested after allegedly taking fees for non-existent jobs, highlighting the vulnerability of workers seeking employment.
- 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 Bogus 'Happy Valley' Real Estate Scam
A swindler in Fairhaven has been selling plots in a 'Happy Valley' addition that exists only on paper and a mountain.