In 1925, a man walked into Paris and convinced a group of businessmen to buy the Eiffel Tower. A month later, he came back and sold it again — to someone else entirely. Neither buyer ever owned so much as a single bolt of it.
This is the story of Victor Lustig, one of history's most notorious con artists — and how he pulled off two of the boldest scams ever recorded.
Who Was Victor Lustig?
Lustig was born around 1890 in what's now the Czech Republic, though even basic facts about his life are murky — he used dozens of aliases throughout his career, and one historian in 2015 couldn't find solid evidence confirming exactly where or when he was born. He eventually became known as "Count Lustig," a nickname tied to a facial scar he picked up in his youth, which he wore like a badge alongside a self-invented aristocratic persona. Fluent in several languages, he had a gift for making people trust him almost instantly — victims often described him as warm, charming, and genuinely caring, right up until they realized they'd been robbed.
Why the Eiffel Tower Was an Easy Target
It's hard to imagine today, but the Eiffel Tower wasn't always beloved. Built for the 1889 World's Fair, it was only ever granted a 20-year permit to stand — it survived past 1909 mainly because it turned out to be useful for radio transmissions. By 1925, a newspaper article Lustig came across noted the tower was rusting and expensive to maintain, with some even suggesting it should simply be torn down. Lustig saw his opening immediately.
The Setup
Posing as a French government official from the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs, Lustig had fake letterhead printed and invited six of Paris's top scrap metal dealers to a secretive meeting at the luxurious Hôtel de Crillon. He told them the tower was quietly being sold off for scrap — and that they were being given the rare, confidential opportunity to bid on it. The secrecy wasn't just for effect; he explained that the government wanted to avoid public backlash, which conveniently discouraged anyone from asking too many questions.
The Deal
One dealer, André Poisson, was especially eager to prove himself in Parisian business circles — and Lustig noticed. Sensing the opportunity, Lustig hinted that a private bribe could help guarantee Poisson won the contract. Poisson paid up — roughly 70,000 francs on top of the tower's "price" — and Lustig vanished with the money before anyone realized what had happened.
The Escape
Poisson never went to the police. He was too embarrassed to admit he'd been fooled, and stayed completely silent. Lustig, watching the newspapers for weeks for any sign of an investigation, found nothing — and realized he'd gotten away with it entirely.
Round Two
Emboldened, Lustig decided to run the exact same con again just a month later, with an entirely new set of scrap dealers. This time, though, one of the dealers grew suspicious and alerted the police before the deal closed. Lustig was tipped off in time and fled the city, narrowly avoiding arrest.
What Happened to Lustig Next
He was never caught for either Eiffel Tower scam. But his luck eventually ran out — in 1935, he was arrested for masterminding a massive counterfeiting operation that had pumped millions of dollars in fake currency into circulation. He was sentenced to 20 years and sent to Alcatraz, where he died in 1947.
To this day, historians still aren't entirely sure how many of the stories told about "Count" Victor Lustig are completely true — but the Eiffel Tower con remains one of the best-documented, and most audacious, in his long criminal career.
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