Claim: Friedrich Spanheim, who was greatly interested in alchemy, an ancient branch of natural philosophy, in his later life, was swindled out of the considerable sum of 5,000 guilders by a fraudulent alchemist in 1665.
Evidence: Friedrich Spanheim the elder (January 1, 1600, Amberg – May 14, 1649, Leiden) was a Calvinistic theology professor at the University of Leiden.