Alves dos Reis is one of the most famous names in the history of financial scams.
Alves dos Reis: The Brave Con Artist Who Shook Portugal
This bold Portuguese con artist, whose whole life was full of lying and forgery, planned one of the most amazing scams of the 20th century. Not only did what he did hurt Portugal’s economy, it also helped cause the political chaos that led to a military coup.
A Life Based on Lies
Alves dos Reis’s rise to fame began with a string of big lies. He quit studying engineering and went to Angola, where he faked a degree from Oxford University to get a job. He was arrested for check fraud, though, because his scam soon caught up with him. During his time in jail, he came up with his biggest plan yet: a money-making scheme that would make him famous.
The Big Picture
When Reis got out of jail, he set his sights on a bigger plan. To get Waterlow and Sons, the British company that prints Portuguese money, to believe that he had permission from the Portuguese government to print more bills, he faked papers. Because his fake papers looked so real, the company printed 100 million escudos, which was a huge amount of money—1% of Portugal’s GDP at the time.
Having a good time
With the brand-new money, Reis went on a buying spree and bought a taxi company, farms, and jewelry. He even opened his own bank to hide the money. He was so bold that he tried to buy out the Bank of Portugal, which was the very organization that could have found out about his plan. Once he was in charge, he planned to hide all proof that he had done something wrong.
What Went Bad
This complicated scam started to fall apart because of how hard O Século (a Portuguese newspaper) worked to report on it. While they were looking into Reis’s bank, the police also looked into how his plot worked. When the government saw that the serial numbers on the new bills matched those on the old ones, they made a big discovery that led to the return of all 500 escudo bills. There was chaos, and Reis was finally caught on his way to Angola.
The Legacy of Lies
Alves dos Reis was only 28 years old when he was caught after planning the biggest fraud ever. Not only did what he did get him locked up, it also made things less stable in politics, which led to the military coup in 1926 that ended the First Portuguese Republic. Reis’s life and work are a stark warning of how fragile financial systems are and how bad it is when greed and deception are not checked. He lived in terrible poverty for the rest of his life and died in 1955.
