Born in Stockholm in 1817 into a modest family, Aurora Florentina Magnusson had an early desire to rise above her social standing. In the 1830s, she worked as a domestic servant. In 1838, while working for a wealthy family, she befriended the daughter of the house. The young woman became her companion and accomplice. Indeed, in the 1840s the two young women lived together and traveled between Sweden and Finland. During this period, Aurora changed her identity, becoming Helga de la Brache. In 1860, the friends returned to Stockholm and launched the swindle that would establish Helga's legend.

Little known to the general public, this Kazakh businessman has nevertheless committed dantesque frauds. First a politician in Kazakhstan, Mukhtar Ablyazov was convicted in 1999 for abuse of power, embezzlement, tax evasion and fraud during his term as Minister of Energy. In 2002, as chairman of the supervisory board of a public company, he was charged with abuse of power by the financial police.

This forger had the audacity to make counterfeits of artists who were his own contemporaries ! Born in France in 1935 under the name Henri Abel Abraham Haddad, he used many pseudonyms of which David Stein is the most famous. He began his forgeries in Paris, and even went so far as to meet Picasso in the south of France to have a drawing he wanted to sell authenticated, deceiving the great artist himself ! Aware of his stroke of genius, but also of the difficulty of ripping off art dealers in Paris, he decided to leave for the United States. It is there that David really become an exceptional forger, selling false paintings of masters at low prices.