When we think of criminals, we tend to think of two types: The street-level thug committing his crimes with a gun or a fist, and the upper-level management, dictating orders to the thugs below. But there's a third type: The guys who picks up the phone and decide that crime sounds like a fun thing to do today. And sometimes -- not often, but sometimes -- they succeed in astounding ways.

5 Interstate Bank Robbery

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The prize for Greatest Telephonic Bank Robber of All Time goes to the as-yet-unknown super-criminal who managed to rob $58,000 from four banks across four state lines back in 1973, using nothing more than a series of phone calls.

Question Nothing

Wait, why didn't they catch him? There are giant arrows pointing right to him!

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The robber kicked off his long distance spree in Nashville, then moved on to Springfield, Illinois, Topeka, Kansas, and St. Paul, Minnesota. He was about to scoop up $16,280 in Indianapolis, but the feds finally caught on by that point and had a trap set up for him ... which he obviously slipped.

You may have noticed that these telephonic bank hits all took place in state capitals. Coincidence?

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Or incredibly boring world tour?

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Of course not.

How He Did It:

In each case, the mystery caller (whom we will refer to as the Capitalist from now on) would phone up local banks, posing as an aide to the state treasurer. He then requested that thousands of dollars in cash be sent to the treasurer's office, for "payroll" purposes. Miraculously, that's all it took: Mentioning generic terms like "payroll" and "treasury" sent whole banks scurrying to ship huge amounts of money as soon as humanly possible. The Capitalist even arranged for Brink's armored trucks to transport the funds, and, in one case, even a state trooper to escort the money. And again: There were no accomplices, no brilliant hacks and no dynamited vaults -- he did all of this alone, and entirely by telephone.