Magnises was a card-based membership club co-founded by convicted fraudster Billy McFarland in August 2013. [1] Similar to Fyre Festival, another scam by McFarland, Ja Rule was the spokesman. [2] The club card was not itself a real credit card; members could use it to make purchases only by first linking it to one of their pre-existing credit card accounts.
The company's namesake card, which was targeted to millennials, was widely compared to American Express's "Black Card" (officially known as the Centurion Card). Similarities between the two cards include that they were both black, made of metal, and promised exclusive perks to members. Despite appearances, however, Magnises's card was not a real charge card; instead, each card copied the magstripe information from a customer's existing Wells Fargo or Bank of America card, for which it could then be used as a substitute. By December 2013, the company had about 500 members. [3] Benefits offered to members included VIP access to clubs, hotel discounts, and various exclusive events. [1] [4]
The company was initially based out of a rented townhouse in the West Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, New York. [5] The owner of this townhouse filed a lawsuit against McFarland in 2015, alleging that McFarland had "trashed" the building, accusations which he denied. The case was settled in January 2016, and the company subsequently relocated its headquarters to the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. [6] By 2016, it was operating in New York City and Chicago, and, according to McFarland, its membership had grown to the tens of thousands. [4]
After McFarland's Fyre Festival ended in a high-profile disaster in 2017, Magnises reportedly terminated its lease on its Chelsea office, and its website ceased allowing new customers to sign up. [6] The company has retrospectively been described as a scam. [7] In June 2018, after the Fyre Festival, McFarland was arrested again for selling fake tickets to the Coachella Festival and the Met Gala (apparently he had not considered the fact that the gala's guest list is personally vetted by Anna Wintour herself), being accused of acquiring up to $100,000 in this manner. [8] McFarland was subsequently sentenced to six years in federal prison for various frauds in connection with the Fyre Festival.
An advance-fee scam is a form of fraud and is one of the most common types of confidence tricks. The scam typically involves promising the victim a significant share of a large sum of money, in return for a small up-front payment, which the fraudster claims will be used to obtain the large sum. If a victim makes the payment, the fraudster either invents a series of further fees for the victim to pay or simply disappears.
Jeffrey Bruce Atkins Sr., better known by his stage name Ja Rule, is an American rapper. Born and raised in New York City, Ja Rule became known as a leading figure in 2000s hip hop for his blending of gangsta rap with commercially-oriented pop sensibilities. He signed with Irv Gotti's Murder Inc Records, an imprint of Def Jam Recordings to release his debut studio album Venni Vetti Vecci (1999), which spawned his first single "Holla Holla". Ja Rule peaked the Billboard Hot 100 thrice in 2001 with his single "Always on Time" and his guest appearances on Jennifer Lopez's "I'm Real " and "Ain't It Funny". His encompassing singles, "Put It on Me", "Mesmerize", "Livin' It Up" and "Wonderful" have peaked within the top ten of the chart and spawned from commercially successful album releases.
Bank fraud is the use of potentially illegal means to obtain money, assets, or other property owned or held by a financial institution, or to obtain money from depositors by fraudulently posing as a bank or other financial institution. In many instances, bank fraud is a criminal offence.
Internet fraud is a type of cybercrime fraud or deception which makes use of the Internet and could involve hiding of information or providing incorrect information for the purpose of tricking victims out of money, property, and inheritance. Internet fraud is not considered a single, distinctive crime but covers a range of illegal and illicit actions that are committed in cyberspace. It is, however, differentiated from theft since, in this case, the victim voluntarily and knowingly provides the information, money or property to the perpetrator. It is also distinguished by the way it involves temporally and spatially separated offenders.
Email fraud is intentional deception for either personal gain or to damage another individual using email as the vehicle. Almost as soon as email became widely used, it began to be used as a means to defraud people, just as telephony and paper mail were used by previous generations.
Affinity fraud is a form of investment fraud in which the fraudster preys upon members of identifiable groups, such as religious or ethnic communities, language minorities, the elderly, or professional groups. The fraudsters who promote affinity scams frequently are – or successfully pretend to be – members of the group. They often enlist respected community or religious leaders from within the group to spread the word about the scheme, by convincing those people that a fraudulent investment is legitimate and worthwhile. Many times, those leaders become unwitting victims of the fraudster's ruse.
Voice phishing, or vishing, is the use of telephony to conduct phishing attacks.
Telemarketing fraud is fraudulent selling conducted over the telephone. The term is also used for telephone fraud not involving selling.
Credit card fraud is an inclusive term for fraud committed using a payment card, such as a credit card or debit card. The purpose may be to obtain goods or services or to make payment to another account, which is controlled by a criminal. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is the data security standard created to help financial institutions process card payments securely and reduce card fraud.
A card-not-present transaction is a payment card transaction made where the cardholder does not or cannot physically present the card for a merchant's visual examination at the time that an order is given and payment effected. It is most commonly used for payments made over the Internet, but can also be used with mail-order transactions by mail or fax, or over the telephone.
William Zervakos McFarland is an American businessman whose enterprises have been characterized by fraud. He has served time in prison for financial crimes related to Fyre Festival, having defrauded investors of $27.4 million. Vanity Fair describes him as "the poster boy for millennial scamming".
Jordan Harbinger is an American podcaster and radio personality.
Fyre Festival was a fraudulent luxury music festival organized by con artist Billy McFarland and Ja Rule. It was created with the intent of promoting the company's Fyre app for booking music talent. The festival was scheduled to take place on April 28–30 and May 5–7, 2017, on the Bahamian island of Great Exuma.
A SIM swap scam is a type of account takeover fraud that generally targets a weakness in two-factor authentication and two-step verification in which the second factor or step is a text message (SMS) or call placed to a mobile telephone.
Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened is a 2019 American documentary film about Billy McFarland and the failed Fyre Festival of 2017. It was directed by Chris Smith, and produced by Danny Gabai and Mick Purzycki and was released on Netflix on January 18, 2019.
Fyre Fraud is a 2019 American documentary film about the fraudulent Fyre Festival, a 2017 music festival in the Bahamas. Directed by Jenner Furst and Julia Willoughby Nason, it premiered on January 14, 2019, on Hulu.
Jerry Media is a content and advertising company that operates various Instagram accounts, most prominently @fuckjerry. The account, founded by Elliot Tebele in 2011, is known for its aggregation of online content and internet memes. The account's popularity led Tebele to found Jerry Media which later became known for its promotion of the Fyre Festival. Later, Jerry Media co-produced Fyre, a documentary about the failed music festival. Jerry Media is involved with Jerry News, JaJa Tequila, and the card game What Do You Meme.
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