What I Saw as a Fake Billionaire | Fakes, Frauds and Scammers



Andi Schmied pretended to be a billionaire to infiltrate NYC’s most exclusive and expensive homes, which only cater to the unbelievably wealthy and privileged.

Touring homes up to $85 million, she wanted to see and photograph how the 1% of the 1% lives in one of the most iconic and expensive cities in the world.

To do so, she had to transform herself from an artist into a convincing billionaire almost overnight. But while snapping 25 penthouses she discovered a world of high rise apartments sitting empty in a city facing a housing crisis.

Check out the VICE World News playlist for global reporting you won’t find elsewhere: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLw613M86o5o4S3BXgi3bCiIVuopQxIMgV

Watch more like this:

How I Stole $2.8M as a Teenager
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgkf7VGtZfY

How We Staged a UFO Hoax
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cW8RsWNnKg

My Wife Hired a Hitman So I Faked My Death
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpyQDo_VoaM

Click here to subscribe to VICE: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-to-VICE

About VICE:
The Definitive Guide To Enlightening Information. From every corner of the planet, our immersive, caustic, ground-breaking and often bizarre stories have changed the way people think about culture, crime, art, parties, fashion, protest, the internet and other subjects that don’t even have names yet. Browse the growing library and discover corners of the world you never knew existed. Welcome to VICE.

Connect with VICE:
Check out our full video catalog: http://bit.ly/VICE-Videos
Videos, daily editorial and more: http://vice.com
More videos from the VICE network: https://www.fb.com/vicevideo
Click here to get the best of VICE daily: http://bit.ly/1SquZ6v
Like VICE on Facebook: http://fb.com/vice
Follow VICE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vice
Follow us on Instagram: http://instagram.com/vice

The VICE YouTube Network:
VICE: https://www.youtube.com/VICE
MUNCHIES: https://www.youtube.com/MUNCHIES
VICE News: https://www.youtube.com/VICENews
VICELAND: https://www.youtube.com/VICELANDTV
Broadly: https://www.youtube.com/Broadly
Noisey: https://www.youtube.com/Noisey
Motherboard: https://www.youtube.com/MotherboardTV
VICE Sports: https://www.youtube.com/NOC
i-D: http://www.youtube.com/iDmagazine
Waypoint: https://www.youtube.com/WaypointVICE

source

46 thoughts on “What I Saw as a Fake Billionaire | Fakes, Frauds and Scammers”

  1. @VICE
    Honestly, After buying my first property which was a plot of land, nothing big or fancy mind you I'm an average working citizen who's financially literate and a DIYer, I built my house myself from the ground up and most of the design ideas and materials used are equivalent to what's supposedly advertised in these so called fancy hotels, apartments, mansions, luxury homes etc. and they didn't cost millions of dollars to afford and place them in my house nor were they difficult to install.

    I feel more comfortable in my own home than staying at any suite of any hotel, etc because it has everything I would ever need.

    These places in my eyes are built and extremely overpriced for the simple fact of the mythological ideology of millionaires/billionaires, and for the sake of making money on properties.
    My bigger question would be, where does the money go and who own these types of property to sell?

    Reply
  2. Dystopia, we're living it. Also, that salesman sounds like president Snow from The Hunger Games. Consider He's a salesman and is probably rich in "middle class" standards. And we're over here stressing over egg prices.

    Reply
  3. It annoys me so much these buildings exist when people struggle to have housing and especially since they’re so empty and ppl who own/rent then don’t live there most of the time

    Reply
  4. The billionaires with the biggest heart, people like Chuck Feeney, don’t need houses like this but are content with one bedroom in SFO. They are the true heroes but does the average American even know about him?

    Reply
  5. The views are nice but to me only worth 40 bucks for a day tour like any other tourist skyscrapers I’d rather have a simple 500k home with a nice back yard tress and fresh air and and and 2A rigged New York City is a overpriced sewer

    Reply
  6. Too funny… but you know what? I used to do the same things at car dealerships. I have had a string of Volvos and Audis, and these days all dealerships are owned by groups. I have been to launch parties for Ferrari, rolls Royce, mclaren, etc.

    And now when I want to see the latest, I just walk in and start talking. They figure if you have the panache to just walk in, you could be a customer. Besides, no one should be afraid. If they have been selling top cars, jewelry or real estate for a while they all have stories of people who make a lot of money legally, and illegally, who don’t look ‘the part’ – yet have bought.

    Reply
  7. Tbh I’m shocked by how unconvincing this allegedly “very-top-tier” real estate agent sounds. The 20something who sold me my 100k condo sounded more professional and charming. How can you sell a 18 million usd penthouse with that voice lmao

    Reply
  8. the part about her doubling down on acting quirky to convince others she was actually hyper-rich was genius. i'd probably be so tense trying to blunder my way through shakespearean vocabulary

    Reply
  9. This is happening the same in London with the new skyscraper constructions. Often they are only advertised first exclusively to wealthy foreign investors. These skyscrapers sit almost empty. Safety deposit boxes in the sky for the ultra-rich, utterly meaningless. Dominating the views from across the city with the many desperate and poor living in the dilapidated and violent crime-ridden housing estates below having to look at them each and every day. Its far from 'progress'.

    Reply

Leave a Comment