Results tagged “conartist”

Before there was hipster grifter Kari Ferrell, there was Esther Elizabeth Reed, the grifter. Reed faked her way into attending Harvard, Cal State and most recently Columbia University, by using a dead woman's identity. She claimed to be a chess champion (a boyfriend's father became suspicious when she didn't know what an opening gambit was) and was suspected of being a spy (she kept dating West Point cadets!). But when Reed, under the name "Brooke Henson," applied for a job as a housekeeper in Manhattan, her employer did a background check and she went on the lam (she left everything except her combs and toothbrush—things that would have her DNA). 48 Hours Mystery interviewed Reed, who said, "I planned on being Brooke Henson for the rest of my life... I'm going to create an identity. I didn’t think I could get into any trouble for that." She was eventually found a year and a half in Chicago; when the cops found her, she recalled, "It was overwhelming. There was absolute panic and I said, 'I'm Esther Reed.'" Reed, who had $100,000 in fraudulent loans and credit card debt, claims she would have paid it all back.

     

Tracking down a grifter should really be much more challenging, but Kari Ferrell has left her mark all over the internet for anyone to find. Perhaps she's been purposely leaving footprints, even commenting on FreeWilliamsburg back on March 4th, linking to her own photos. Gawker picked up on her trail and has delved into her Photobucket account, and since her story broke yesterday images have been popping up everywhere, with at least one person who encountered her starting a Flickr set with not-yet-seen pics. A MySpace group dedicated to catching her was even started in February.

It would be impossible to sum up the Observer's story on 22-year-old grifter Kari Ferrell, who recently conned her way into many New Yorker's hearts, beds and wallets. She even landed a job at Vice magazine—who are currently looking for a new administrative assistant, by the way. The young Miss Ferrell somehow managed to convince everyone, at least for a short period of time, that (amongst other things) she had lung cancer, was pregnant, worked for Coachella promoters GoldenVoice, and that she would, like, totally pay them back. Eventually they were all smart enough to Google her (hey amateurs, rule #1 in grifting: always change your name).

Two years ago, we mentioned how Columbia students were being suckered by a scam artist couple into giving up cash. The "broken bottle" scam involved the couple bumping into a stranger and dropping a bottle--and then asking the stranger to pay them for the bottle's contents (vitamins for the "pregnant" wife).

A Bronx man was arrested after selling a jeweler a cheap watch. According to Newsday, "serial counterfeiter" Ian Kosloff of the Bronx went to H.L. Gross & Brothers, saying he needed to sell a $20,000 Patek Philippe timepiece and even had a receipt. The jeweler gave him a $12,500 check, but then found "the inside of the watch was not Swiss-made Patek Phillippe -- but a nearly worthless Japanese imitation." The jeweler tried to cancel the check, but it was already cashed. Kosloff, who claims "caveat emptor," is being held on felony charges but a Garden City detective did admit to Newsday that the jeweler could have been more careful, pointing out that if he had called the number for the supposed Boston store where the watch was bought, "It's actually a woman talking in a thick Bronx accent."

A friend of financier-accused grifter Rafaello Follieri thinks Anne Hathaway told what she knew to the FBI. Why? Well, in the indictment, Hathaway, who had dated Follieri for years up until a week before he was arrested and jailed (he hasn't come up with the $21 million bail yet), is identified as his former girlfriend, and the friend goes on to tell the Daily News, "I think that in return for her cooperation, the feds held off on arresting Follieri until she was out of the country." Or maybe the feds read the gossip pages too!