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Would you have fallen for the Sir Francis Drake pirate treasure hoax?
Federal prosecutors said Hartzell took nearly $1 million from Midwestern investors with promises of a $22.5 billion inheritance.
- In the 1920s and 1930s, former Iowa farmer Oscar Hartzell masterminded a massive fraud scheme based on the fake Sir Francis Drake estate, promising 'investors' massive returns on a $22.5 billion fortune.
- Hartzell's agents collected 'donations' from nearly 10,000 victims across the Midwest, bilking them of nearly $1 million, worth about $25 million today, while ignoring warnings from British and federal authorities.
- Father Otto Zachman, a Catholic pastor in Adrian, Minnesota, reported that "Some of the investors have even failed to pay their pew rent," as communities prioritized dreams of future wealth over actual debts.
- Sentenced to 10 years in prison for mail fraud on November 15, 1933, Hartzell entered the Leavenworth federal penitentiary on January 16, 1935, though followers trafficked in rumors about his whereabouts.
- Continuing for "more than a hundred years" with various iterations, the scam outlived its creator; even after Hartzell died on August 27, 1943, scammers perpetuated the myth, proving the enduring appeal of easy wealth.
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Duluth News Tribune+21 Reposted by 21 other sources
Would you have fallen for the Sir Francis Drake pirate treasure hoax?
With the promise of a cut of the billions stashed in buccaneer's massive unclaimed estate, many in Upper Midwest in the Great Depression sent in hard-earned dollars — and lost them all.
·Cherokee County, United States
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Total News Sources22
Leaning Left0Leaning Right9Center10Last UpdatedBias Distribution53% Center
Bias Distribution
- 53% of the sources are Center
53% Center
C 53%
R 47%
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