How Did Ancient Humans Invent the Scam?

Sometime around 300 BC, a Greek sea merchant named Hegastratos took out a loan on his ship and its cargo, a bottomary loan, the same kind of maritime insurance merchants had relied on for centuries. Borrow money against your vessel, repay it with interest once the goods sold safely at their destination. But Hegastratos had already quietly sold the cargo before the ship ever set sail.