Scams of the Day, Ranked!

Today is a beautiful and swampy Monday and the air smells of hot trash, wet concrete, and the acrid and slightly sweet aroma of some fresh scams coming hot out the oven!! Here they are, ranked from second best to best.

2. This Uber vomit scam

Some enterprising Uber drivers in the Miami area are reportedly scamming their customers by covering their vehicles in fake vomit and charging their customers for the cleaning fee. According to the Miami Herald, “many people don’t review their emails or credit card statements, so the drivers wind up pocketing the $80 or $150.”

Scamminess: 4 out of 5 stars; it’s good, but could be easy to dispute.

Ingenuity: 3 out of 5 stars for what is essentially an advanced version of throwing a can of chunky soup in the garbage can in your bedroom, faking sick to get out of high school, and then playing Guitar Hero while smoking weed out of an apple in your bedroom.

1. Anna Sorokin, master scammer, getting one over on Billy MacFarland, Fyre Festival grifter

Anna Sorokin, the New York socialite formerly known as Anna Delvey, has scammed so many people in her lifetime that it is not quite surprising that she crossed paths with Bill MacFarland of Fyre Festival. It is something else—delicious, maybe? Satisfying? Exciting, like watching two elephants fight and feeling as if, at any moment, you could also maybe die.

Sorokin used to crash, for months at a time, in the headquarters of McFarland’s previous scam, a failed credit card company, Magnises. From Page Six:

“Anna knew people on Billy’s team,” explains an insider. “She just asked to stay for a few days … then she wouldn’t leave.”

Magnises — which McFarland once notoriously said is “Latin for absolutely nothing” — produced “black cards” linked to members’ regular credit card accounts. It also threw bashes at the Soho loft.

“She hung out and went to the parties,” says the source. “She was there, just sitting there — all the time.”