This is the earliest and biggest media scam that happened. The "Cardiff Giant Scam" started at 1869. Workers dug a well in a farm in Cardiff Port, new york, and dug up a mysterious fossil shaped like a giant as high as 10 feet. After the newspaper reported it in a large space, the debate began. Some "experts" even speculated that this "human fossil" should come from the time recorded in the Bible: giants walked on the earth. Meanwhile, farmer William C. newell opened his farm to the outside world, allowing others to buy tickets to visit the behemoth. Soon, he sold the fossil to a big consortium in Syracuse port for $30,000. Two months later, the fossils began to be exhibited on tour, and the scam was exposed by George Hull, a distant relative of Newell. Cigar sellers say that they created this trick together just to prove how gullible Americans are. Today, this "Cardiff Stonehenge" is preserved in an agricultural museum in Guper, New York.
Pierdan scam
19 12, an amateur collector in Perdan, England, Charles Dawson announced an important discovery. It is a skull fossil, which is said to have solved the mystery of the evolution of apes to humans ... The whole world is boiling for it, and some anthropologists even take this discovery as their graduation research career. It was not until 1953 that scientists realized that this world-famous skull was actually a fake, made of an animal bone that can be seen everywhere on the earth. To this day, this scam is still considered as one of the most famous cheating behaviors in the history of science.
Vermeer scam
After World War II, a painting by the Dutch master johannes vermeer was found in the collection of Nazi officer Hermann G?ring ... Officials quickly traced it to the Dutch painter Hans van mechelen and sold it to Goering. After being arrested for treason, mechelen made a surprising statement in court. It turned out that the painting he sold was forged by himself. In order to prove this, he personally copied another painting by Vermeer in prison. Facts have proved that mechelen is one of the greatest reproduction painters in the world. After careful identification, Vermeer's forged 14 painting was found, from which mechelen made millions of dollars. His imitation method is so ingenious that even after he publicly expressed his fake behavior, some experts are still not sure whether the paintings are true or not.
Tribal scams in the Stone Age
In the 1970s, Manuel Ilizander, the Minister of Culture under President ferdinand marcos, announced to the world that he had "the first intimate contact" with a newly discovered tribe in the Philippines, namely the Tasandai people, who are said to represent the ancient past of mankind-just like living in the Stone Age, Tasandai people lived in caves, were naked, drilled wood for fire, and used stone tools or bamboo utensils. National Geographic magazine and the news network of the media sent reporters there, but almost no one could find them. However, after the fall of Marcos, those who studied Tassandai people found that they wore T-shirts and jeans and used a lot of modern tools. Members of this tribe later admitted that they got paid from Ilizande, lost their clothes and lived a "primitive" life here with fake stones.
Boston marathon scam
1980 The first woman to cross the finish line in Boston Marathon shocked every judge present, not only because she broke the world record of this event, but also because she was completely unknown in this field. Her name is Ross Lutz. Later, investigators and witnesses said that Lutz ran at least 0.5 miles less than others before crossing the finish line ... Although Lutz repeatedly claimed that the accusation was groundless, the jury still cancelled her first place, and Jackie Gallo, the second one who crossed the finish line, became the new champion.
Drug addiction scam
This is one of the biggest scandals in 1980. That year, Janet Cook, a black female journalist in Washington post, won the Pulitzer Prize for telling a touching story about an 8-year-old boy named Jimmy who was addicted to drugs. When the government asked Cook to disclose the true identity of the boy so as to give him proper help, she refused, claiming that it would endanger her life. But under the constant pressure, Cook finally had to admit that "Jimmy" was a completely fictional character.
Hitler's diary scam
One of the biggest news stories happened in 1983, the German weekly Star said that Adolf Hitler's diary was collected from 1932- 1945. This diary was found on a crashed plane and kept by an East German general for decades. After a copyright storm, Star said that these diaries were 100% authentic. However, when experts finally got a chance to see these diaries, they found that they were not only forged, but also very clumsy. Later, the "star" had to admit that he was cheated by a collector in West Germany. He wrote all these diaries himself.
Milivalli glee club scam
The German Milivali Chorus was a heavy artillery shell in the music scene in the late 1980s, and also won the Grammy Award of 1989. However, a scandal broke out that made all fans collapse. It turns out that this duet group has no musical talent and only lip-synchs ... Millivali Choir was deprived of the Grammy Award. Although they tried to release their own album to restore their popularity, their scandal really hurt fans too much.