Who Sold Eiffel Tower Twice?

We all know Frank Abagnale. Yes, the man behind the "Catch Me If You Can" story. He is considered by many the person who fooled the most number of people. He did it all, counterfeiting checks to flying Airplanes but how about if I tell you that there was another person who sold Eiffel Tower, the tallest tower of the time. Not once but twice!

That was accomplished by a man called Victor Lustig who lived in the early 19th century. He is considered to be the most talented tricksters. He began his career by fooling people to believe that he invented a machine that has the ability to copy $100 bills. He convinced people in buying the machine at an extremely high price and before his clients could find the truth, Lustig would vanish.

However, Lustig was not to stop here and made a scheme that would go down in history. Pretending to be a government official, Lustig called upon some dealers and informed them that the government of France has given him the responsibility of selling the Eiffel Tower as the city doesn't wish to have it anymore. Though, Eiffel tower today is the pride of France, in the early 19th century, there was a public outcry to demolish it.
Taking that to his benefit Lustig informed his clients to keep it as a secret. After identifying the eagerness of one of his clients (Poisson) who was interested in the deal, Lustig went on to admit that he was a corrupt government official making it a perfect scenario and asked Poisson for bribe. Poisson, who had dealt with such governments officials before, believed the cunning Lustig and paid him the full amount plus the bribe.

Lustig soon disappeared and Poison after finding out the reality was too ashamed to go to the police. Lustig though returned, and sold the tower again with the same scheme. By this way, Lustig sold the tallest tower of its time, not once but Twice. No wonder, there are a lot of ways to earn a living.