What are the cleverest scams you have come across?

Helena Roman, Master Psychic and Medium at Sage Advice (1992-present)

Many years ago, sometime in the 40’s I believe, a man ran an ad in the local papers. It read, “Make One Million Dollars Fast - Guaranteed!” The post said to send one dollar to the address and within a week you’d receive your instructions. The instructions read, verbatim, “Place an ad in the newspaper just like this one.”

Another interesting one was the man who ran the ad in the classifieds for a “permanent bug killer” that promised to kill any and all insects instantly and with minimal effort, it was a tiny system that would rid your property of infestations. Used no batteries or electricity. The people bought it..and bought it, and what they received was 2 small blocks of wood and an instructional card that read, “Place insect between both pieces of wood and press firmly until dead. Remove insect and insert next insect. repeat until infestation has ended.