Fraud and Deception - The Art of the Prank

August 8, 2025

Stepping in Imaginary Shit

Spinal Tap revisited decades later:

“Spotify hit band The Velvet Sundown comes clean on AI,” by Trevor Mogg, Digital Trends, July 6, 2025.

The Velvet Sundown burst onto the music scene in early June and in the space of just a few weeks gained an astonishing 400,000 monthly listeners on Spotify.

But its bland music style, hyper-realistic band images, and lack of a digital footprint quickly led many people to suspect that the The Velvet Sundown was AI-generated. And it turns out they were right.

After weeks of speculation, a new message posted on its Spotify page over the weekend finally admitting that the band and its music are the work of generative AI.

Read the whole article here.

February 28, 2025

If it Looks like Bullshit and Smells like Bullshit, It’s Bullshit

Ah, the irony… “According to [San Francisco] state law, it is a misdemeanor to intentionally disrupt the business of public employees by obstructing or intimidating and then refusing to leave upon request.” Perhaps this law should be applied to the real DOGE.

SF City Hall ‘DOGE raid’ was a YouTube prank; authorities weigh whether to pursue charges, by Alise Maripuu, Bay City News, February 27, 2025

The San Francisco Sheriff’s Office is investigating whether federal Department of Government Efficiency impersonators committed any criminal acts earlier this month when they entered City Hall and allegedly demanded access to employee computers.

On Feb. 14, three men wearing MAGA hats and DOGE shirts entered various offices at San Francisco City Hall and apparently asked employees to turn over digital information related to alleged wasteful government spending and fraud.

The Great White Hoax, by Philip Kadish

Heads up! The Great White Hoax, Frauds, Forgeries, and 200 Years of Selling Racism in America, a new book by Philip Kadish, is available for pre-order and will be out in June here, here, and more.

Blurb:

“Fake news, outright political lies, a shamelessly partisan press, and the collapse of truth, civility, and shared facts, Philip Kadish argues, are nothing new. The Great White Hoax, a masterpiece of history and literary sleuthing, reveals that the era of Fox News and Donald Trump is simply a return to form. We have been here before.”

December 4, 2024

Flashback: Operation Fortitude

The heroism, courage and outrageous deception that helped the allies win WWII.

D-Day deception Operation Fortitude: The World War Two army that didn’t exist, by Taylor Downing, BBC, June 1, 2024

“When it came to planning for D-Day, the biggest amphibious operation ever launched, the need for a detailed deception plan was even greater. When discussing the invasion with Joseph Stalin at Tehran, Winston Churchill used the phrase, ‘In wartime truth is so precious that it should always be attended by a bodyguard of lies.’ This perfectly summed up the Allied view of deception.” Read more here.

The Army That Never Was, Taylor Downing’s new book, is available now.

September 14, 2024September 19, 2024

See Spot Run. Run Spot Run!

30 years ago, I perpetrated a media hoax called Dog Meat Soup in which, pretending to be a Korean entrepreneur, I solicited dog shelters for their unwanted dogs to be used as food for human consumption. My intent was to expose hostility and racism that permeates both the public discourse and the media’s coverage. As I expected, all hell broke loose, as gullible animal lovers spewed outrageous invectives against ALL Asians (they apparently couldn’t tell the difference between Koreans, Japanese, Chinese and others) accusing them of outrageous acts of violence against animals and telling all Asians to go back to their countries and cook their own babies.

This cultural intolerance is eerily like what’s happening now based on fake information perpetrated by politicians with an agenda, targeting immigrants and accusing them of eating family pets in Springfield Ohio. Prejudiced and biased opinions about this are dominating our news and social media platforms. Let’s not be fooled by reactionary politicians who have a political agenda to confuse and divide the public.

Check out John Tierney’s 1994 expose of the Dog Meat Soup hoax for The New York Sunday Times Magazine.

And watch the Dog Meat Soup segment of a 2003 ABC TV 20/20 interview.