1. FYRE – The Greatest Festival That Never Happened

This is the story of Billy McFarland the founder of Magnises and Fyre. Magnises is a steel credit card design that millennials can use. It comes with an app that shows them great discounts and perks. They can also crash their famous New York clubhouse anytime.

After a successful launch of Magnises, Billy partnered with Ja Rule to launch Fyre. It is an app you can use to book any artist you want for events. It was a good idea and could open a new market in the industry. As part of the ways to promote the app, they thought of doing a music festival in the Bahamas. They claimed it was on Pablo Escobar’s famous island. They also said they have a five-star diner, people will stay in luxurious tents, and also, a real-life treasure hunt. Too good to be true? That’s because it is.

When people arrived at the venue, there were no accommodations, no singers or band, no return flight, no food, no luggage, and just more drinks. Many were stuck for hours trying to back home as the festival’s façade crumbled.

• Inventing Anna

Allegedly a friend of McFarland, Anna Delvey, or rather Anna Sorokin introduced herself as a daughter of a billionaire. She quickly made it into New York’s elite circles. She did appear to have the fanciest clothes, cash, and the right background. Little did everyone know that she was the daughter of a middle-class German-Russian family.

She almost had millions of dollars to fund her Anna Delvey Foundation however, she was apprehended at the last minute. It was found that she was defrauding banks, cashing checks that came from a fund that did not exist.

• Tinder Swindler

Now to complete the trio is Simon Leviev who was believed to have conned women of $10 million. He introduced himself as the son of the diamond king, billionaire Lev Leviev. He did show up in fancy cars and luxury jets and vacationed around the world.

After roping a girl into a relationship, he would begin to ask for financial favors from women. He made them believe that it was a life-and-death situation. The women took out loans for him and also registered new credit cards for his use.

Eventually, women got tired of his excuses not to pay, they took it to a national newspaper for investigation. They published an article about him. He was then apprehended shortly for fraud.

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Just a few weeks ago, Tinder Swindler has topped the Netflix list for some time. The story shows how three women have worked together to bring awareness about scams. They were all victims of Simon Leviev (Shimon Hayut IRL).

Simon took them on expensive and whirlwind dates filled with luxury rides. The girls said that he introduced himself as the son of diamond king Lev Leviev. It was a good ride until it wasn’t. Simon allegedly has been entangled in life-threatening situations which needed the girl’s rescue.

The girls had to take out loans and new cards to support Simon in his “needs”. When the time to pay up came, his cheques bounced.

He recently made a statement in an exclusive interview with Inside Edition saying that he is not the monster everyone is talking about. He also claimed he was a legitimate businessman and that he did not force the women to hand money.

Inventing Anna

Just a few days later came Inventing Anna which details the life of Ana Sorokin. She came to the New York elite scene as a wealthy heiress. Soon, her story unraveled as funds started to run dry. The story visits people she has dealt with and how it has affected their lives.

There was a curious part in the series where it is alleged that Sorokin had ties with Billy McFarland. Yes, the founder of Magnises and the infamous Fyre Festival. Another interesting story of a scam.

Opinions

In my opinion, the part that gave me the most cringe was how this mother have ignored her “newborn” child to pursue a story. I know it is her career and all but is it really more important than her child? Does Anna deserve that attention after what she has put people through?

I know that these documentaries are supposed to bring awareness to the scam. There will always be positive and negative effects. Yes, you bring light to the victims, and yes, you will bring fame to the aggressors. They became even more famous after they have committed the crime and the victims continue to suffer. Yes, some of the victims got GoFundMe pages but not all of them did. We should be more careful on how we portray such situations not to end up sending the wrong message.

Many have put into question the “fake it until you make it” attitude. We have seen so many people post wonderful photos of luxury, travel, and rich lifestyles on social media. This makes us ask if any of it is true? What do Billy, Anna, and Simon have in common? They were all faking it until they make it.

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Anna Sorokin is once again trending as the Netflix documentary Inventing Anna is released. Sorokin is a Russian-born German who introduced herself as Anna Delvey in New York. She penetrated the elite circles with the backstory of a rich German heiress. She lived at lavish hotels and was also reported to tip $100 often.

Anna Delvey arrived in New York wanting to launch her project Anna Delvey Foundation. She was planning to build a museum for the arts. While she goes about planning, she flaunted her wealth by checking in at fancy hotels. She also eats dinner at fancy Michelin star restaurants. Many from the New York elite believed her story and began to accompany her.

Her friends were impressed with her financial status. The hotels however a beginning to catch up on her scheme. Many of the hotels were left unpaid as the card she gave them does not work. There were incidents where hotel staff had to lock her room until she pays the bill.

She also applied for loans from banks to fund her project. One of the banks refused her loan since they could not contact her alleged financial advisor. Another bank stipulated that if she could cover the legal fee of 100,000, they would approve the loan.

Scam

On one of her trips, she invited photographer Rachel Williams to join her. The vacation trip was luxurious and was supposed to be funded by Anna. During their vacation, the hotel confronted them that the card they provided was not working. Rachel, thinking it was an error of the bank, provided her card to the staff. She left Anna at the hotel since she had to fly back early for a project. When she arrived, she was surprised that the hotel charged her the entire bill.

This is when the house of cards began to fall when she finds out Anna was a fraud. All the time that she was part of the New York elite, she really had no money. The story about her being an heiress is also false. Her parents were part of the middle-class working people in Germany.

She was taken to court with multiple counts of fraud and was then sentenced to jail.

Netflix has shown many documentaries of such scams like Fyre and Tinder Swindler. It is understood that this is to create awareness however if the ones who committed fraud are being paid, are we just enabling them and not letting them learn from their mistakes? One of the positive things that came with it is that the victims can express their stories. Many documentaries of scams have led to GoFundMe pages to help them recover.

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