1. After pleading guilty to multiple fraud offences in 2009, New York financier Bernie Madoff admitted he was surprised he got away with the world’s largest Ponzi scheme for so long (almost two decades). He attributed the longevity of his crimes to the incompetence of which famous fictional sleuth?

   1. Jacques Clouseau

   2. Maxwell Smart

   3. Lieutenant Columbo

   4. Inspector Gadget

2. 

   Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, best known for her appearances in the Iron Man and X-Men franchises, freaked out her 63m Weibo followers after totally vanishing from public sight and social media for three months in 2018. Her disappearance was later attributed to...

   1. A kidnapping by Russian extortionists demanding $US12m from Marvel Studios

   2. Lying low after being accused of tax evasion

   3. Weibo cancelling her social media account for criticising the Chinese government

   4. A publicity stunt for her forthcoming role in the remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1938 film The Lady Vanishes

3. Norma Khouri caused an Australian literary scandal in 2004 when it was revealed her Random House bestseller, Forbidden Love, supposedly based on the true story of the honour killing of her best friend in Jordan, was a hoax. Khouri claimed she would put things right by writing a sequel. The name of the sequel was...

   1. Sanctioned Hate

   2. My Friend, My Enemy

   3. A Matter of Honour

   4. Sorry

4. 

   US Instagram influencer Caroline Calloway collected a vast audience for her aspirational life on social media. Then things went awry in a spectacular way for the social media star. What led people to brand her a scammer?

   1. The Cut published an essay by her former friend Natalie Beach, in which Beach revealed she had ghostwritten many of Calloway’s Instagram captions.

   2. She held a series of $165 “creativity workshops” so poorly planned some attendees took to social media to compare the event to Fyre Festival.

   3. She secured a six figure book deal, never delivered a manuscript, then claimed to have ultimately paid her publisher back with income she made from starting an OnlyFans account.

   4. She launched a $75 homemade skincare product called Snake Oil

5. Not a scam, but definitely a scandal: The 1990 nuptials of Melbourne socialite and heiress Primrose “Pitty Pat” Dunlop and Lorenzo Montesini, aka as Prince Giustiniani, Count of the Phanaar, Knight of San Sophia and Baron Alexandroff, promised to be the society wedding of the year. Four days before the Venice ceremony was to take place, it all had to be called off because...

   1. The groom was already secretly married

   2. Pitty Pat found out Montesini wasn’t really a prince, a count, a knight or a baron

   3. The bride absconded with the best man

   4. The groom absconded with the best man

6. 

   1980s/1990s pop duo Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus, better known as Milli Vanilli, were forced to return their Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1990. The duo were accused of...

   1. Singing none of the vocals on their hit songs and lip-syncing during live concerts

   2. Copyright breach

   3. Consumer fraud

   4. All of the above

7. In 2013, Australian Belle Gibson released her The Whole Pantry cookbook and app, promoting the merchandise with claims she had cured herself of a terminal disease through healthy eating and alternative therapies. She was later found guilty of misleading and deceptive behaviour, and was ordered to pay a $410,000 fine for making false claims about her donations to charity. What ailment did Gibson claimed she had cured herself of?

   1. Multiple sclerosis

   2. Brain cancer

   3. Liver cancer

   4. Prostate cancer

8. Helen Demidenko, aka Helen Darville and Helen Dale - won the Miles Franklin in 1994 for her novel The Hand that Signed the Paper, with the author feigning Ukrainian heritage to give authenticity to the tale. Two decades later she ended up working as a political adviser for a controversial Australian senator. Who was it?

   1. David Leyonhjelm (Liberal Democrats)

   2. Pauline Hanson (One Nation)

   3. Fraser Anning (Conservative National Party)

   4. Sarah Hanson-Young (Greens)

9. 

   Australian career conman Peter Foster has been convicted on numerous fraud offences, and has dragged celebrities such as Muhummad Ali, Samantha Fox and Cherie Blair into his web of deceit over the years. Where was he finally imprisoned?

   1. Australia

   2. Britain

   3. United States

   4. Vanuatu

   5. All of the above

10. 

    Which of these famous bridges has been “sold” to dupes on at least three occasions?

    1. The Brooklyn Bridge

    2. Sydney Harbour Bridge

    3. The Ponte Vecchio

    4. The Golden Gate

Solutions

1:C - He did compare the SEC to the shambling TV detective, even though he always got the crook in the end., 2:B - The New York Times reported Bingbing, reportedly one of the highest paid actresses in the world, was held "under a type of house arrest" on suspicion of tax evasion, although according to her manager she was never arrested. She later issued an apology on social media and was ordered by the Chinese authorities to pay a whopping $US131 million in fines and back taxes., 3:C - The book, also set to be published by Random House, never eventuated., 4:B - While all of these details about Calloway’s life are reportedly accurate true, it was the workshop that first resulted in the ‘scammer’ label, despite all those who registered for the workshops being refunded. Calloway has titled her forthcoming (self published) memoir Scammer.", 5:D - The prince, who was royal but not rich, worked as an air steward, and ran off with fellow Qantas employee and the wedding’s best man, Robert Straub. Pitty Pat got her aristocrat in the end though. Three years later she walked down the aisle with Count Jerzy Krasickiv Siecin - known to his friends as George Kirk, the local real estate agent. The couple remained together until Kirk’s death in 2018., 6:D - All of the above. But that didn’t stop Milli Vanilli from planning a comeback tour in 1998, to promote their new album Back and in Attack, in which they really did sing their own vocals. The album was never released after Pilatus died from an accidental drug overdose on the eve of the tour., 7:B - As of May 2021, she continued to owe more than $500,000 in fines, penalties and interest. , 8:A - She was Demidenko for The Hand that Signed the Paper, Darville for her time working as a columnist for the Courier-Mail (where she was sacked for plagiarism), and Dale for her time in the Australian Parliament., 9:E - All of the above. For various dishonesty offences. , 10:A - Bridge sale scams were common in New York at the turn of last century. William McCloundy, spent nearly three years in Sing Sing for selling the bridge in 1901, and notorious conman George C. Parker, who attempted to sell the bridge on at least two occasions, along with Madison Square Garden, the Statue of Liberty and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. His entrepreneurial skills gave rise to the saying "and if you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you".

Scores

1. 10 and above.

   No tabs on you, you’re a shrewd punter.

2. 9 and above.

   No tabs on you, you’re a shrewd punter.

3. 8 and above.

   No tabs on you, you’re a shrewd punter.

4. 7 and above.

   You’re vulnerable but probably savvy enough to survive out there.

5. 6 and above.

   You’re vulnerable but probably savvy enough to survive out there.

6. 5 and above.

   Just stay off social media and don’t open any emails.

7. 4 and above.

   Just stay off social media and don’t open any emails.

8. 3 and above.

   There’s one born every minute.

9. 2 and above.

   There’s one born every minute.

10. 0 and above.

    There’s one born every minute.

11. 1 and above.

    There’s one born every minute.