For a scam to succeed, it doesn't take any kind of special genius. Or even average genius. Just consider ...

We all think of ourselves as cynics -- other people fall for scams and fraudulent sales pitches, but not us! And in fact, since society has had several thousand years of practice at recognizing con artists, you'd think we'd get pretty good at spotting them. But you'd be wrong.

7 The Hitler Diaries

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The Hoax:

In 1983, the West German news magazine Stern announced that it had come into possession of a 62-volume collection of diaries written by none other than Germany's most famous square-mustached dictator. The diaries, written by hand and covering the entire span of Hitler's reign, mixed political diatribes with inane, sometimes amusing personal notes and anecdotes, like "Because of the new pills I have violent flatulence, and -- says Eva -- bad breath." There is literally no book that can't be improved by adding a farting Hitler chapter.

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"And there came a mighty wind that swept the cities of Europe from the earth, and lo, creation did smell of cabbage."

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But besides giving long-sought-after insight into the nature of Hitler's farts, the diaries threatened to rewrite everything we thought we knew about the infamous Fuhrer. It painted him as a sympathetic figure who yearned for peace with Britain and wasn't even aware that his military was committing genocide, thinking they were just shooing the Jews someplace far away.

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"Maybe Cleveland? I hear Wichita is pretty empty these days."

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When Stern learned about the diaries, it coughed up $4 million on the spot, without checking to see if they were real. After that, offers started pouring in from media the world over to purchase the rights to publish them, and even Rupert Murdoch joined in the bidding war. Through the hysteria, nobody seemed to notice that there were a few, well, oddities.

Why No One Should Have Bought It:

First, there was the little fact that the initials on the cover read "F.H." instead of "A.H.," due to the forger's inability to distinguish between calligraphic lettering.