Fraud has become a part of our everyday life, and criminals are becoming increasingly cunning. However, audacious scams existed even in Tsarist Russia. One of the most notorious criminals of that time was cornet and hussar Nikolai Savin.

He first made a name for himself in 1879 when he managed to sell a military parade ground in St. Petersburg to a gullible merchant. The story unfolded as follows: a Siberian merchant, looking to pass the time, entered a tavern where the already tipsy Savin was present. During their conversation, the hussar complained about his vast land holdings, which he did not know how to manage. The merchant offered to buy a plot for building a factory. The next day they went to inspect the property and soon struck a deal. However, when the merchant arrived to lay the cornerstone, it turned out to be a training ground for the Semenovsky regiment.

Meanwhile, Savin was already on a train to Rome. In Italy, for safety, he did not use his real name, introducing himself as Prince Golitsyn. Quickly entering high society, he "accidentally" told a colonel that he had found a Scythian treasure and leather scrolls containing the secrets of the invincible Scythian cavalry in his estate in Crimea. The colonel begged him to sell the artifacts, and Savin, as if reluctantly, agreed. When the deception was uncovered, the entire police force of Rome was mobilized, but it was already too late.

Savin fled to Bulgaria, where he attempted to pull off a clever deal with a local bank. Everything was nearing completion when, during negotiations, he accidentally ran into a Russian gendarme: he was wanted in Russia for the scam involving the Semenovsky parade ground. Ultimately, Savin was exiled to Siberia, from where he soon escaped. A long trail of fraud followed him, but life itself punished him: he died in 1937 from liver cirrhosis, in poverty and solitude.