Scammers Got Scammed

Listen and learn young loons, writing thousands of death threats and sending them to yourself is no way to go through life. A couple in Australia who worked in the health department sent themselves death threats to get indefinite time off work. While scoring paid leave they went on interstate trips and lived a carefree existence whilst their employer had the privilege of paying for it. The fake threats totalled over 80,000 and included bloodstained parcels, nasty letters and crude phone calls over a two year period. Some of the parcels contained stained children’s clothing and were sent to their kids at school. The health department even put them up in an apartment so they didn’t have to stay at their home. Unfortunately for the hubby and wife, the cops smelled a rat and came up with a sneaky plan to catch them out. They snuck into the couple’s apartment and marked a stack of letters and envelopes with a special invisible ink. Too easy. The next letter handed to police had them busted.

Climb Every Mountain

You know, there are some things you can fake and there are some things you just step away from. Obviously the Indian couple who claimed they climbed Mt Everest didn’t get the memo. After proudly proclaiming they were the first Indian couple to ever complete the feat of reaching the summit, cracks and crevices began appearing in their fairytale. Then the avalanche of social media sleuths began untangling their deception. A summit photo they used was nicked from another climber who was damn sure the couple weren’t in his group. During the climb they appear in different boots and jackets which another climber said ‘You’re too knackered, it’s too windy and it’s too cold. I’ve been up six times and it’s inconceivable that you’d take a second pair of summit boots and a second down jacket.’ All and all its an awks mess.

And You Were Going So Well

A woman in Massachusetts thought she could fool the police by making her very own cardboard license plate, including the blue and red “The Spirit of America” and attach it to her unlicensed car. If she had only remembered to draw an updated inspection sticker on it too. Damn it. That’s a heap of citations right there.

Fake Fur

The high society of Rome are all aghast after a group of Chinese business owners were busted for making fake cashmere clothes. And by fake I mean the cashmere was actually rat fur and acrylic.

What?

Who are you?

I have always wondered how many deaf people actually watch the person doing sign language during important events but now I know … a lot, especially at the Nelson Mandela memorial service. Seems they picked up pretty much straight away that the man next to President Obama doing strange hand movements was actually a fake or a really, really bad interpreter. Twitter came to life when deaf people around the world realized he was just flapping his arms around and making it all up. Most tweets went something like this “It was horrible, an absolute circus, really really bad, Only he can understand those gestures.” So far no one has identified the interpreter and the South African government is tight lipped.

Psst Maybe the guy just didn’t understand what President Obama was saying.

Banana Peel Fail

A guy who tried to sue the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority after he slipped and fell on a banana peel (hurting his back) has been busted after security footage showed him setting up the fall. Yep, footage revealed  him dropping the peel before the big fake slipperoo. Now the dude is facing charges of second degree fraud.

Businessman From Hell

Businessman James McCormick must have thought he had it made. He had a successful business selling bomb detecting equipment to the military, police forces and government departments around the world (mainly Iraq, Egypt and Kenya) . His glossy brochures, which boasted about “the secret chip” that enabled the device to successfully located bombs hidden under ground or underwater, meant he could sell them for $40,000 a pop. Problem was, his bomb detecting equipment was a rip-off of a cheap novelty golf ball finder product that sold for $20 in the US. Damn thing was as useless as the novelty product, and the “secret chip” that he added into the design wasn’t connected to anything. In fact, the device had no moving parts. It is unclear how many innocent lives were lost because of the deceitful Mr McCormick but what is known is he made over $100 million selling them. But as all good things come to those who wait Mr McCormick will be spending the next 10 years in jail.