And the World's Greatest Noble Fraud is . . . ELDA BEGUINUA from the Philippines

Self Styled  Noblewoman, Elda Beguinua, who originally moved to the London from the Philippines some 20 years ago, succeeded to fool em Britons and Scots all this time, claiming she was a descendant of a noble Spanish family exiled to the Philippines.

"Beguinua said she was the great-great-great-granddaughter of a Spanish nobleman who was ousted by the conquistadors in the 1300s and escaped to the Philippines with shiploads of gold bullion, the London Daily Mail reported."

She also claims to be related to the Royal Houses,the  Bourbons and the Hapsburgs and they had 80,000 tons of gold buried in some Philippine Caves.

Anybody who reads this would laugh at her claims, but not the tens, probably hundreds of Britons who blindly followed and believed her, giving her their entire life savings - enough for her to buy a Rolls Royce, and a partly Scottish Based title of Baroness,including the estate that came with it.

BWahahahahahaha.    You'd wonder if it was really her fault or those of the hundreds of willing victims who willingly gave her their money, like Duh. hahahaha bwahahaha bwahahaha bwhahahahahahaha.

as they say in the UK, isn't that just a wee bit too bloody dumb?

I don't even think this is a matter of national shame for the Philippines, every country has its share of  cracks, loonies and swindlers, but hey, a big part of her success is the incredible number of believers who actually made her an actual pound sterling millionaress by falling for her story BWAHAHAHA.  NOW THAT is more like a national shame for them, not us. BWAHAHAHAHA.

BWAhahahahahaHAHAHAHAH

here is the news clip from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Filipina is ‘barefaced contessa,’ lands in UK jail 

Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 03:12:00 07/12/2008

MANILA, Philippines—A Filipino fraudster who lied about needing money to access her “staggeringly vast” wealth to obtain her victims’ life savings has been jailed for five years in Britain, BBC News reported.

Elda Beguinua, 63, was born in the Philippines and first went to Britain 20 years ago.

Also known as the “Barefaced Contessa,” Beguinua claimed she was an aristocrat worth “£300 followed by 41 noughts [zeroes],” making her a “tredecillionaire,” the London Daily Mail reported.

The conwoman, who lived in a rented semi in Dulwich, South London, was found guilty early this month at Southwark Crown Court of a string of fraud charges.

Judge Jeremy McMullen said she had netted £2.3 million (P207 million) and could face deportation to the Philippines.

Beguinua wove an elaborate fairytale of sunken ships, ex-militia and golden nuggets to persuade dupes to help her release the first £250-million (P22.6-billion) installment of her fortune. They never saw their cash again.

She was given a two-year jail sentence in 1997 after trying to defraud banks of £16 trillion, claiming she owned 80,000 tons of gold—more than what has been mined in the past 150 years.

Following her release from prison, between 2003 and 2004 she used the aliases Dr. De Avila and Contessa Beguinua, to swindle people of £21,000 (P1.8 million).

She also claimed to be related to the Hapsbury and Bourbon royal dynasties, the BBC News reported.

Beguinua said she was the great-great-great-granddaughter of a Spanish nobleman who was ousted by the conquistadors in the 1300s and escaped to the Philippines with shiploads of gold bullion, the London Daily Mail reported.

She said the treasure was buried in caves in her native country guarded by former soldiers.

She also claimed she had hundreds of millions of dollars languishing in “57 banks in 33 countries.”

Guardians

According to the BBC News, when Beguinua first went to Britain 20 years ago, she surrounded herself with trusting “adherents” who she began to con, the court heard.

She explained she needed their cash to support “guardians” and pay lawyers to release her alleged wealth.

She soon had enough for a chauffeur-driven Rolls-Royce, a couple of bodyguards and, despite cooks and maids at home, frequent trips to expensive restaurants.

Her vulnerable victims and another who escaped her clutches were surprisingly complimentary about her in court.

They described her as having “terrific memory and a good knowledge on most subjects” as well as “easy to be with, made you feel she was something special, a great lady, strong personality, passionate.”

Beguinua, a twice-married mother-of-two was known to some of her victims as the Contessa de Avila, the BBC News reported.

Others knew here as the Baroness Beguinua, a partly Scottish-based title she bought in 1995 as “it is kind of beautiful to listen to when you are being called such,” the court heard.

She was convicted of a similar offence in 1997 when she claimed title to 80,000 tons of gold, which, had it existed, would have been worth one trillion US dollars.

She said the bullion belonged to the “illegitimate children” of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos.

Humanitarian projects

The glamorous Beguinua hooked her victims by claiming she would use her vast wealth to fund humanitarian projects in the Third World, the London Daily Mail reported.

Barbara Solon parted with £5,000 (P452,000) after agreeing to help Beguinua secure her fortune. Bernard Cockton, who gave up a job as a senior construction engineer to work for Beguinua, handed over £16,000 (P1.4 million).

The final dupe, William Johnson, was offered a £500,000 (P45.2 million) job as a “world ambassador” by the Barefaced Contessa.

Johnson finally confronted Beguinua telling her he knew of her criminal past when she asked him for £50,000 (P4.5 million)

Palace, Harrods

Officers searching her house found a wardrobe-full of bogus documents that included a letter claiming she had 100 tons of gold bullion.

A letter addressed to billionaire steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal asked if he would sell her his £85-million (P7.6-billion) Kensington Palace home because she “must have it.”

Another letter revealed her wish to make Harrods’ owner Mohammed Fayed “an offer he could not refuse” for the world-famous department store.

But brazen Beguinua told the court she is a wealthy heiress and will prove her doubters wrong when her fortune arrives.

Guilty

Beguinua was found guilty of two counts of obtaining services by deception, five counts of obtaining property by deception, attempting to obtain property by deception and two counts of removing criminal property from England and Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland between Feb. 14 and July 3, 2004.

Dressed in a white blouse, purple button-up jacket with a long crucifix necklace, she quietly muttered prayers as the verdicts were announced.

The jury failed to reach a verdict on one count of obtaining property by deception, and that count was ordered to lie on the court file.