1.
Mom influencer Katie Sorensen was accused of faking a kidnapping report after claiming online and to police that a Latino couple followed her into Michaels and back to her car after making “comments concerning the appearance of the children.” The couple was located by the police and denied all allegations; the police cleared them of suspicion after speaking with them. Sorensen was convicted of making a false police report (but cleared of two other charges) and was sentenced to probation as well as a temporary social media ban. She has since returned to social media, though her account is now private.
2.
We can’t mention false police reports without mentioning Jussie Smollett, who claimed in 2019 that he’d been the victim of a hate crime. Police investigators later determined Smollett had staged the attack, releasing the two men accused of attacking Smollett. Smollett was fired from his hit show Empire, and charges were filed against him for making a false police report and wasting police resources. A 2021 trial found him guilty of five out of the six counts he’d been charged with, and he was sentenced to 150 days in county jail.
He was released on bond after just six days, however, and later, his conviction was actually overturned because charges against Smollett had initially been dropped as long as he did community service, only to be re-established; the Illinois Supreme Court stated his earlier agreement should have been honored, and the charges should not have been brought against Smollett again. Smollett continues to maintain his innocence, including in a recent documentary about the attack.
3.
Another massive ruse that was exposed? Milli Vanilli’s music career. The R&B duo reached worldwide fame in the late ’80s with their debut album, leading them to win the award for Best New Artist at the 1990 Grammy Awards. However, their careers quickly took a nosedive when their producer Frank Farian revealed they didn’t sing any songs of the album, which was confirmed by member Rob Pilatus. The Grammys swiftly revoked their award, and their careers were essentially over.
4.
By the late 2010s, Paul Zimmer had over 7 million followers on Music.ly, TikTok’s precursor. However, the social media star stopped posting after being accused of scamming fans by not following through on paid shoutouts and DMs. Cut to 2019, when a new social media star emerged who looked just like Zimmer: 16-year-old Troy Becker. Zimmer noted the resemblance on his Instagram, writing, “This actor @TroyBeckerIG kid literally looks like a younger sexier version of me.” He later left social media and handed over his accounts to Becker. However, fans soon grew suspicious and discovered that Becker was then-24-year-old Zimmer — in fact, he’d even officially changed his name.
5.
In a plotline to rival American Fiction, author JT LeRoy rose to fame in the 2000s after a much-lauded series of semi-autobiographical novels about their difficult upbringing and sex work. LeRoy claimed to be a transgender teen with HIV…but turned out to be a middle-aged woman named Laura Albert. Well, actually, it’s complicated; Albert wrote the books, but her then-sister-in-law had played LeRoy in public. Albert would pretend to be her British assistant…except in the UK, where she pretended to be LeRoy’s childhood friend. LeRoy was exposed in 2005.
6.
Author James Frey also faked his life story, writing about his experience being addicted to drugs. The book, titled A Million Little Pieces, blew up after being featured on Oprah’s book club in 2005, but a few months later, the website Smoking Gun posted the results of an investigation into Frey’s past, which suggested that many of his claims were fabricated or exaggerated. For example, Frey claimed to have been arrested and imprisoned after hitting a police officer with his car while on drugs; the investigation found he’d actually gotten two traffic tickets and spent five hours in police custody.
Frey later admitted that “most of what [Smoking Gun] wrote was pretty accurate.” Frey ended up having to pay refunds to readers and include a disclaimer and apology at the start of the book. “My mistake, and it is one I deeply regret, is writing about the person I created in my mind to help me cope, and not the person who went through the experience,” he wrote.
7.
Author Greg Mortenson became famous through his novels about building schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. In one, he claims the Taliban kidnapped him and held him captive in Waziristan. The book even contains a photo of the armed tribe members who he claimed held him hostage. The tribe members weren’t too happy about this, with one of the men in the photo claiming Mortenson was actually visiting as a guest, and that the men were armed to protect him. A 60 Minutes exposé further claimed that Mortenson and the nonprofit he co-founded, Central Asia Institute, did not build as many schools as Mortenson claimed, and that some of the ones they had built were unfinished, abandoned, or used for other purposes.
Mortenson was also accused of mismanaging and wasting Central Asia Institute funds (spending them on things like luxury travel, speaking engagements, and buying copies of his own book) and was ordered to pay the charity $1 million. He denied many of the claims in the 60 Minutes report, except that he had “compressed” the initial story of how he got started building schools, saying, “I stand by the information conveyed in my book and by the value of CAI’s work in empowering local communities to build and operate schools that have educated more than 60,000 students.”
8.
Another American author who faked an elaborate hoax was Clifford Irving. He had already written seven books and was a successful author when he decided to create a fake memoir for reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes, claiming Hughes wanted Irving to ghostwrite the novel. He received $750,000 for the book, and despite questions about its authenticity, Irving convinced the public it was real through expertly faked handwriting and a lie detector test. But then Hughes himself forwent his privacy and spoke to reporters, telling them he had never even spoken to Irving. Irving admitted the memoir had been faked, and spent almost a year and a half in prison.
9.
One more author example — Taylor B. Barton was a fantasy and sci-fi writer who came onto the scene in the 2010s, writing under multiple pseudonyms. Then in 2020, they were accused of racist bullying, leading to them being dropped by their agent and publisher. They then disappeared for a bit before resurfacing under a new name: Jupiter Wyse. Wyse claimed to be a queer trans person of color and Latinx, but it didn’t take long for “Wyse” to be exposed as Barton. Wyse’s agent dropped them, claiming that Wyse was actually white and had misled them into thinking they were a BIPOC.
As if all that weren’t enough, there’s compelling evidence that Barton faked their identity again, identifying as another Latinx author named Freydís Moon. Fans noted similarities between Moon and Wyse’s writing, though Moon has never confirmed this, telling the Daily Mail their identity is “irrelevant” and declining to state if there was a connection between them and the other alleged pseudonyms. Moon also issued a DMCA takedown to those posting their evidence that they were Barton and Wyse.
10.
Former Bachelorette contestant Josh Seiter was part of a months-long hoax where he pretended to be transgender as a “social experiment.” The reality star has been active on social media in the years since his 2015 appearance on the show, and he even made his own OnlyFans. The first potential hoax came when he claimed to be pansexual, then later bisexual, and that he was engaged to a fellow exotic dancer. His own brother accused him of lying, adding that Seiter had a long-term girlfriend. Seiter then confirmed he had a girlfriend, claiming, “A lot of what is being alleged is in fact true. Some is not. I cannot elaborate further at this time.”
Seiter then came out as trans in 2024, giving multiple interviews and beginning to post trans-related content on social media accounts…including endorsing Trump for president as a “trans woman.” Five months later, Seiter went on the podcast Prime Time with Alex Stein and claimed it was all a lie. Why? He wanted to “expose how gullible and delusional the Left is.”
11.
During American Idol‘s 12th season, contestant Matthew Farmer stole audience hearts after claiming he’d suffered a brain injury in Kuwait, forcing him to take medication that was meant to make him sterile — meaning the birth of his daughter was a miracle. However, his fellow soldiers soon called BS. One, who said he was Farmer’s roommate, claimed he actually received a brain injury from taking Accutane and drinking. “He was never involved in one single direct fire engagement, was never wounded, and made up this whole lie to try and make his story sound good to American Idol,” he said.
Farmer initially claimed editing was to blame, and that he’d never claimed the IED incident happened — but later, he admitted, “It was ALL lies,” adding, “I in fact HAVE lied since a younger age and had a problem with it. … I apologize to everyone that I have come across and hurt or lied too.”
12.
Appearing on America’s Got Talent, Timothy Poe also claimed to have received a brain injury during combat. “I had got hit by a grenade in Afghanistan, and it broke my back and gave me a brain injury, and so that’s why I stutter a little bit,” he told judges. He did not stutter during his performance, leading to a standing ovation and tears. However, the National Guard later claimed he only served a month and there was no record of a grenade injury. A charity for wounded veterans claimed to have worked with Poe and published audio of him speaking without a stutter, claiming he was a liar. Poe then apologized, but said he hadn’t realized he was lying due to an injury or disease he had received during combat, which he released a document to corroborate.
13.
A far more high-profile figure who lied about military service was actor Brian Dennehy, who claimed to have served in Vietnam — and to have been injured in combat. Author B.G. Burkett exposed Dennehy in his book Stolen Valor, writing that while Dennehy was a Marine from 1959 to 1963, he was never in Vietnam. Dennehy later told a newspaper, “I lied about serving in Vietnam and I’m sorry,” only to lie again about serving in Vietnam in 2007.
14.
While YouTuber JayStation’s content had always been controversial (usually involving him entering locations after hours and trying to get out without triggering alarms), he reached a new low when he was accused of faking the death of his girlfriend, Alexia Marano.
JayStation (real name: Jason Ethier) posted multiple videos about her “death,” including one where he attempted to contact her using a Ouija board. Then he admitted the whole thing was a lie, claiming Marano was in on it but that she’d since left him. Marano then spoke out and said she hadn’t wanted to go through with it, but that she was afraid of Ethier, whom she called controlling. Ethier claimed Marano was trying to ruin his life with false accusations about an assault weapon. Ethier’s career took a massive hit, and his YouTube accounts were later suspended, which marked the end of his YouTube career.
15.
Similarly, actor and online/reality personality Poonam Pandey faked her own death in 2024. A post from her official Instagram account made waves when it announced her untimely demise after having “bravely fought” cervical cancer — but then the next day, Poonam posted a video on the platform, admitting, “yes, I faked my demise.” Pandey said she had done so to raise awareness for cervical cancer.
16.
Uruguayan influencer Yao Cabrera also faked his own death. Even worse, he pretended he’d been murdered. On Instagram and TikTok, he posted a video of himself driving a luxury car when two men on motorcycles drove by and shot him. Videos showed Cabrera’s body and an ambulance, and his official accounts called for a march for justice for Cabrera. It turned out this was an elaborate publicity stunt, and the entire thing was fake.
17.
Australian health influencer Belle Gibson became well-known online for her diagnosis of terminal brain cancer — which she’d somehow managed to survive through whole foods and alternative therapies. She then created The Whole Pantry app and accompanying book and continued providing wellness content, claiming she was donating much of the money she made to charity. After people began to doubt aspects of her story in 2015, she admitted she had lied about having cancer. She was later fined 410,000 Australian dollars and has largely disappeared from the public eye. Authorities are still trying to get Gibson to pay the fine.
18.
Similarly, Amanda Riley claimed she had Hodgkin’s lymphoma, gaining notoriety through her blog and social media accounts that led to over $100k in donations. She wasn’t caught for almost eight years. Investigative producer Nancy Moscatiello received a tip from someone who attended Riley’s church, claiming Riley was lying. Uncovering inconsistencies in Riley’s story, Moscatiello spoke to a detective, and Riley was ultimately sentenced to five years in prison and required to pay back her donors. She apologized at her sentencing, saying, “There aren’t enough words to adequately express how horrific I feel and how sorry I am that this happened. My heart aches every day thinking I did something that hurt other people.”
19.
Steve Rannazzisi used to claim that he’d been working at Merrill Lynch in the Twin Towers during the 9/11 attacks. “I worked in the 54th floor of the second tower,” he recalled in 2009. “I was there. The first tower got hit, and we got jostled all over the place. Then the Port Authority came on the loudspeaker, ‘Explosion in Tower 1, things are being taken care of, everyone remain where you are, stay calm, we’re figuring things out.’ And I was like, ‘I’m going to check this thing out. I went downstairs, went outside, saw all the pandemonium, and then about five or six minutes later, ‘bang’ [the second tower was struck]…”
Sounds like a harrowing experience, right? Except not only did Rannazzisi never work for Merrill Lynch, but Merrill Lynch didn’t even have offices in the Twin Towers. In 2022, he admitted his story “wasn’t true. I was in Manhattan but working in a building in Midtown and I was not at the Trade Center on that day. I don’t know why I said this. This was inexcusable. I am truly, truly sorry.”
20.
We also can’t confirm this is a hoax, but there is zero evidence that Paula Abdul was ever in a plane crash in the ’90s, as she claimed. In the alleged crash, she said she suffered injuries that led to her retreating from the spotlight for some time. But there is no record of the crash ever happening. Abdul’s description doesn’t match any crashes at the time, though it is possible it was not reported and the wreckage was not found. Still, this would mean Abdul and the other passengers just left the burned-out plane in a field and never reported it. It’s also possible it was not reported because it was so minor, but this does not at all match Abdul’s story, where she claims the aircraft was on fire.
21.
Not *quite* a hoax, but a story that was accused of being fake was Ryan Lochte’s robbery story. During the 2016 Olympics in Brazil, the famous swimmer and teammates Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger, and James Feigen claimed to have been robbed at gunpoint at a gas station in Rio. Lochte himself contended that an “armed robber” had aimed a gun at his forehead and cocked it. Rio police denied this, saying that the athletes had vandalized the gas station’s bathroom and then were asked to pay for the damage and leave by security guards with guns. Lochte later admitted he’d exaggerated the story, in particular the part about a robber aiming a gun at his forehead.
“That didn’t happen, and that’s why — I over-exaggerated that part,” he said, though he maintained the gun was pointed toward him. As for him referring to himself as the victim in the scenario, he said, “It’s how you want to make it look like. Whether you call it a robbery, whether you call it extortion, or us paying just for the damages, like, we don’t know. All we know is that there was a gun pointed in our direction, and we were demanded to give money.”
22.
In another exaggerated story, Hasan Minhaj used to talk about once being sent a letter with white powder inside, which spilled onto his daughter. Afraid the powder was anthrax, he brought her to the hospital, but it turned out not to be anthrax after all. Except there was no record of this happening — Minhaj later admitted his daughter hadn’t been involved in the story but claimed he had received a letter with white powder in it and joked with his wife about it being anthrax.
He also told a story about an FBI informant who wormed his way into his local mosque when he was a teenager in Sacramento. Minhaj later said that story was based on a different experience where he would play pickup basketball with older men who he thought were secretly undercover cops. In both cases, Minhaj claimed, “The punch line is worth the fictionalized premise” because the stories had “emotional truth.”
23.
And finally, I’ll stop short of claiming that Hilaria Baldwin perpetrated this hoax, but many people believed she was Spanish for years, and she didn’t exactly discourage this perception. She spoke with an accent, said, “I liked that I brought in a bit of my culture” about wearing a Spanish veil at her wedding, stated her family couldn’t pronounce her new last name, retweeted an article referring to her as Latina, and memorably forgot the English word for “cucumber” on The Today Show. Multiple interviews referred to her as Spanish American or half-Spanish.
But then, in 2020, it was revealed that Hilaria was born in Massachusetts and that her parents are not Spanish at all — they moved to Spain later in life. Baldwin addressed the controversy, confirming she was born in Boston but said she spent some of her childhood in Spain, so she grew up speaking two languages. “It’s not something that I’m, like, playing at. So I want that to be very, very, very clear,” she said, suggesting, “I’ve tried in the past to be clear, but sometimes people don’t always report and write what you say, and I’ve kind of just put my hands up.” Her husband, Alec Baldwin, supported her, saying she had never claimed she was from Spain. This was true — she had never explicitly said those words. Alec had, though, on The Late Show with David Letterman.
What other celebrities and influencers told massive lies or made wildly incorrect claims? Let us know in the comments!
