(Page 2 of 4)

In the mid-1970s, he emerged on various news reports as the proprietor of a dog bordello — what was otherwise called a "cathouse for dogs." Several years later he emerged as a would-be Sy Sperling with an outrageous plan to restore the hairline of balding men — follicle transplants from cadavers.

Skaggs also has appeared in newspapers and TV as the proprietor of a celebrity sperm bank, the inventor of a health drink made from cockroaches and the first man to windsurf from Hawaii to California.

You can call Skaggs just about anything. But he insists he isn't a scammer.

"A scammer is trying to do someone out of money," he says. "That happens all the time. I'm using humor to show the system for what it is."

Just how easy is it to perpetrate a hoax? Take a look at some of Skaggs' greatest hits:

Skaggs at Work

Hair Replacement From the Dead Hair Today Ltd. gleaned a substantial amount of air time and ink in 1990 as a firm specializing in a cure for baldness through hair transplants from the dead, much the way doctors would transplant a kidney. Skaggs said the ideal recipients would be salesmen or TV news anchors who needed to "look their best" and could afford the $3,500 price tag. The Boston Globe was among the news organizations fooled on this one.

The Miracle Roach Hormone Cure Remember Kafka's Metamorphosis? Skaggs emerged in 1981 as Dr. Josef Gregor, an entomologist who extolled the virtue of consuming cockroach hormones as a cure for colds, acne, anemia and menstrual cramps. WNBC-TV's Live at Five featured an interview with the doctor, who claimed to have graduated from the University of Bogota in Colombia. Skaggs says no one checked his credentials. The newscasters only seemed to become suspicious when Skaggs played his organization's theme song — "La Cucaracha."

Gypsy Moth Anti-Defamation League

In a 1982 New York Times article, Jo-Jo the Gypsy protested the political incorrectness of the term "gypsy moth" at a time when the little critters were devastating trees in the Northeast. Jo-Jo, another Skaggs incarnation, railed against the injustice of associating the pesky moths with Gypsies, a downtrodden minority that has long suffered from discrimination. Jo-Jo suggested the annoying insects should be called "Hitler Moths." The New York Post gleefully reported the esteemed newspaper's mistake, in an article headlined "Times falls for the old switcheroo."