Confidence Can Sell Anything | The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower (Twice)

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It’s me, Ned Neuron— just your slightly suspicious cousin who’s been googling “how to fake an ID” for research purposes.

Now grab your croissant, clutch your wallet, and buckle up, because today we’re going back to 1925…

To the time a guy tried to sell the Eiffel Tower.
And it actually worked. Twice.

Chapter 1: Who Needs Permission When You’ve Got Confidence?

Meet Victor Lustig.
A man with the face of a fancy waiter and the moral compass of a used car dealership built on a sinkhole.

He didn’t just fake being rich—he fake-faked it. He made a full-time career out of pretending to pretend to be important.

And one day in Paris, while sipping a drink and reading the newspaper like any evil genius, he saw a headline:

And Victor said:
“What if I told people I’m in charge of tearing it down... and selling it for scrap?”

Chapter 2: The Scam Blueprint That Deserves a Trophy

Lustig forged official government documents and called himself a "Deputy Director of the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs."
(A title that sounds very real and also completely boring, which is the perfect camouflage.)

Then he invited five top metal dealers in Paris to a secret meeting at a fancy hotel.

The pitch?