Online Museum of Hoaxes

Yes, many people have gone to jail for perpetrating hoaxes. The cases that spring most readily to mind are Count Victor Lustig (the famous con man who died in Alcatraz while serving time for the scams he committed), Oscar Hartzell (perpetrator of the Drake Inheritance Hoax), Stanley Clifford Weyman (who fooled President Harding into meeting with Princess Fatima of Afghanistan), Princess Caraboo, Mark Jakob (of the Emulex hoax), and Joseph Howard (of the 1864 Civil War Gold Hoax). There are many others.

But there are really two different kinds of hoaxes: those that are meant to be exposed, and those that are not. Typically, perpetrators of the former kind will not face any punishment. Perpetrators of the latter kind will be sent to jail.

This is a very fun website to read. It's hoax-a-liscious!!!!