Unlike other criminals, Alves dos Reis genius was that he did not counterfeit Portuguese currency himself.
One of the banknotes fraudulently issued by Alves dos Reis.
Reis cooked up his brilliant scheme while he was in prison serving time for embezzlement.
After Reis was released from prison in August 1924, he swiftly moved to put the plan into action.
Marang gleefully obliged and produced documents forged by Reis.
But Sir Waterlow turned a deaf ear to all alarm.
The next step was to introduce these notes into the market.
To ensure that, he began buying Bank of Portugal shares with the intention of acquiring a majority.
Officials at the bank examined the notes but could find no difference from the real thing.
Crowds rush to the Bank of Portugal building in Lisbon, to exchange the fraudulent banknotes.
Photo credit:Wikimedia Commons
Alves Reis was arrested, convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
He died in 1960 in Lisbon, a well-liked man of modest means.
Marang was tried in the Netherlands and sentenced to 11 months.
But as he had already served that time in prison waiting for trial, he was immediately released.
Hennies fled to Germany where he lost much of his wealth to bad investments.
He died in poverty in 1936.
The Bank of Portugal sued Waterlow & Sons' business for negligence and won.
Reis’s fraud had enormous repercussions on the economy and politics of Portugal.
They fetch some serious money in auctions, with one sold in 2016 for over $7,500.
