There are two types of bullshit in the world: the average one, and then there’s the Joan Pujol Garcia one, which is inventing a fake spy network and fooling the Nazis to cough up over $4 million – and still get a medal from them!
After developing a bitter taste for fascism in the Spanish Civil War, Joan Pujol Garcia decided to exact some payback when the Nazis arrived in Spain during World War II. At first he offered his spy services to the Brits and Americans. But when they didn’t hire him, he decided to go work for the other team.
He made the Nazis believe he was a government official who loved Hitler and everything fascist. The Germans bought it, and Garcia’s first orders were to move to Britain and spy on them. Thing was, he moved to Lisbon instead, taking his German spy budget with him.
As for his intelligence reports, the guy didn’t know anything about espionage and confidential British information. So what did he send back to the Germans? Bogus reports he got from tour guides, news reels, books in the library about Britain, and basically anything he could fool the Germans with – which he totally did!
But wait, this guy gets ballsier. He then began building an imaginary spy ring with fake agents he could blame for misleading and false information sent to the Germans. And here’s the catch: he also sent expense reports for his imaginary spies’ salaries, 27 of them! Ghost employees, in short! He was able to leech the Germans over $4 million in today’s dollars.
The British upon hearing this sham, awarded him a medal, the MBE, and a spot on their payroll. And the Germans? They still didn’t figure it out! Even awarding him an Iron Cross for his service to the Third Reich, making him possibly the only person to have been awarded medals from both sides during the war.
After that, he faked his own death, moved to Venezuela, and ran his own bookstore for the next 40 years.
The post Joan Pujol Garcia: the good guy double agent con artist appeared first on Lost At E Minor: For creative people.
0 Comment "Joan Pujol Garcia: the good guy double agent con artist"
Post a Comment