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Hype
Book

Hype

How Scammers, Grifters, and Con Artists Are Taking Over the Internet – and Why We’re Following

Gabrielle Bluestone
Hanover Square Press, 2021

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Eye Opening
  • Concrete Examples
  • Engaging

Recommendation

In 2017, unscrupulous entrepreneur Billy McFarland managed to draw thousands of wealthy kids to the Bahamas for a supposedly deluxe happening that never happened: the now-infamous Fyre Festival. The next year, he was convicted of fraud and sentenced to a minimum-security prison. However, no sooner was McFarland out on bail than he went back to his old tricks. In this page-turning book, journalist Gabrielle Bluestone investigates why so many respected entrepreneurs, influencers, creatives and marketers fall for scams, like Theranos’s unproven blood-testing devices, touted restaurants boosted by false claims and McFarland’s flimflam festival – people, she says, who should have known much better.

Take-Aways

  • In the post-truth world, people let their emotions trick them.
  • Billy McFarland’s success hinged on his talent for telling compelling stories to investors, and his ability to anticipate cultural trends.
  • To scam your way into elite society, make yourself appear wealthy and officially “verified.”

About the Author

Attorney and former Vice journalist Gabrielle Bluestone produced Netflix’s documentary Fyre.

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