Beggars, Cheats and Forgers is made up of new research into a neglected area of British history: the stories of historical scams, cheats and forgeries. Former Director of Technology at the National Archives, David Thomas has delved into the archives to uncover unusual tales, from Tudor identity theft to the Spanish Prisoner letter scam of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This book provides an fresh take on criminal history and the roots of identity theft, email scams and pyramid schemes still employed by criminals today.