I’m assuming that in this day and age, stealing or counterfeiting stock certificates (i. e. the actual documents) with the intent to sell or otherwise redeem them and thereby eventually turning them into cash wouldn’t even work in theory. But historically, have there been documented cases in which such a criminal scheme was indeed successful, at least initially?
Although this case involves more complex issues, it shows that as recently as 2009 you could use counterfeit stock certificates as collateral for a bank loan, so that’s one way you could profit.
But the easiest way is just to sell them to gullible people through cold calling.
It seems that this type of fraud is at least attempted even today.