Identity theft is said to be the world's fastest-growing crime, but in sheer insolence there can be few cons to match the story of the fake French minister and his silicone mask.
For two years from late 2015, an individual or individuals impersonating France's defense minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, scammed an estimated €80m (£70m; $90m) from wealthy victims including the Aga Khan and the owner of Château Margaux wines.
The hustle required targets to believe they were being contacted by Le Drian, who then requested financial help to pay ransoms for journalists being held hostage by militants in the Middle East. According to BBC, since France officially does not pay ransoms to hostage-takers, the fake Le Drian assured payments could not be traced and asked for the funds to be placed in a bank in China.
Many of those approached smelled a rat and rang off. But, some didn't, enough for it to become one of the most outlandish and successful rackets of recent times.
Delphine Meillet, lawyer to Le Drian, who is now France's foreign minister, said: "Everything about the story is exceptional. They dared to take on the identity of a serving French minister. Then they called up CEOs and heads of government around the world and asked for vast amounts of money."
Why Jean-Yves Le Drian was chosen has not been fully explained. Presumably the fact that as defense minister he might be in charge of ransom demands was part of it, but another factor may have been his relative obscurity.
The case is now under judicial investigation in France, with suspicions centering on a convicted French-Israeli con-artist called Gilbert Chikli. He is currently in jail in Paris following extradition from Ukraine and faces charges of organized fraud and usurpation of identity.
Chikli, of Tunisian Jewish background, grew up in the working-class Belleville neighborhood of northeast Paris.
