A guy I went to high school with scammed a town full of people in the next state over by pretending to be a Food Network chef. He claimed that he was setting up a barbecue in their town with people such as Bobby Flay and Robert Irving in attendance, then proceeded to charge $35 a ticket to the tune of $10,000. The charade fell apart when he did a presentation and people realized he had no clue how to make most of the stuff he was demonstrating. People did a little digging and realized he wasn't a chef and had never been employed by Food Network. The police agreed not to press charges if he gave everyone their money back.