Therese Humbert: A Notorious Fraudster From 19th-Century France
She committed what became known as the “Trouser Button Fraud”
Therese Humbert was born in 1856, the daughter of a peasant couple in Aussonne, Languedoc. As a girl she showed a natural propensity for fraud, persuading her friends to pool their jewellery and thereby fool others, particularly young men, into believing that they were wealthy. By such means she was able to marry Frederic Humbert, son of the mayor of Toulouse. In 1880 she took the first steps in what was to become known as the Trouser Button Fraud.
Therese claimed that on a train journey she had heard groans coming from the adjoining compartment. She had clambered along the outside of the coach from one compartment to the next, where she found an American millionaire named Robert Henry Crawford having a heart attack. Restored to health, the grateful Crawford promised that he would reward her. In 1881 came a letter informing her that Crawford had died, leaving her a considerable sum of money. She was also to look after his wealth until her younger sister Marie was old enough to marry Crawford’s nephew. That “wealth” was to be kept in a sealed safe. Armed with this story, and with the safe as collateral, the Humberts obtained a huge loan, and moved to Paris.