When it comes to scammers, right now it seems the world can’t get enough (see Anna Delvey, Sarah Panitzke and Simon Leviev for more details) – and the new name that will be on everyone’s lips is Kari Ferrell, also known as the ‘rogue hipster’.
Rumors are currently swirling that Kari, who was on the “Most Wanted Bad Checks” list and retail theft, recently signed a tell-all book deal, putting her name back in the spotlight after making headlines in 2009. She first found notoriety after being the subject of a Vice article titled ‘Department of Oopsies! – We hired a Grifter‘.
However, aside from spending $60,000 worth of bad checks, there’s a lot more to Kari Ferrell’s story, including lying about being terminally ill with cancer, scamming romantic partners from several thousands of dollars and lying about her career trajectory so much that she landed a job at Vice magazine, during the heyday of gritty publishing.
Here’s the true story of “hipster hustler” Kari Ferrell and where she is now…
Who is Kari Ferrell?
Kari Ferrell, nicknamed ‘The Filth’ or ‘Hipster Grifter’ first rose to prominence in 2009 when she successfully applied for a job as an administrative assistant at Vice (after falsely claiming to have worked at Goldenvoice, the company behind Coachella) – and quickly tried to hit on a colleague.
Curious about her brazenly seductive approach, Kari’s co-worker Googled her and discovered a warrant for her arrest by the Salt Lake City Police Department in Utah, who were keen to find her for “false, bounced checks and retail theft”.
Vice quickly spun a story about the incident, after he fired Kari, and said: “When the time comes for you to hire a new administrative assistant, try typing your potential employee’s name into Google to make sure ‘She has none the less – more than desirable traits, like, say, five outstanding warrants for fraud in Utah where she also faked numerous abortions and was kicked out of town after earning a colorful nickname such as “The Filth””.
He also alleged that Kari had previously faked cancer, a story corroborated by a Observer in-depth published shortly after the Vice piece, and which chronicled her life leading up to her Vice Publish. “She told me she had cancer,” said a former friend, Erica Koch, “Then later she told me she was terminal, had just been diagnosed when “she arrived in New York and was taking chemo pills. You can’t question someone who says she has cancer! One day she came out of my roommate’s room coughing and she had blood on his hand.
the Observer A whistleblower article, which first earned Kari the nickname “hipster grifter”, also alleged that she would deposit fraudulent checks into her then love’s bank account and ask him to withdraw the money, claiming there was a problem with his own account.
“She started depositing all these checks into my account, literally depositing $300, $500, $1,100 at a time,” ex-partner Casey Hansen said. “She kept saying she couldn’t use his ATM card, telling me, “You cash those checks and give me the money.” One day I handed them a check for $1,200 and asked the cashier, “Is that okay? I guess it is, because you keep giving me money and you are a bank, but can you check that? And he tells me that they are good. Later, the bank found that the checks were drawn from an account that was not working. Kari then served three months in prison.
Another former friend shared how convincing Kari could be with her lies, saying: “We had these long conversations about whether she should leave Goldenvoice and go to Vice or not. This is one of the things that bothers me more than anything else – we argued for 30 minutes about whether she should change jobs or not. We had an engaging conversation about something that was completely a fantasy.”
Ex-Vice Colleagues also report that Kari is using the magazine name to call for gifts, reserve tables at high-end restaurants and more, all within days of joining the company.
Where is Kari Ferrell now?
In a social media post dated January 8, 2022, Kari wrote about how she’s done a lot of the inner work over the past thirteen years to become a writer, wife, activist, and good friend (among other things).
“I’ve played a lot of characters in my life: Adopted, Mormon, Criminal, Manic Elf Nightmare, Writer (of good articles and bounced checks), Corporate Lackey, Inmate, Sexual Deviant, Viral Story, Bad Minority Role Model , the list goes on and on,” her post begins, with the “Vice Magazine HQ” geotag.
“And over the past 13 years, I’ve truly become more than the sum of my parts. I’ve put a lot of work into myself and been able to add an activist, an educator, a great friend, a wife loving, a creator and many more more positives on the list 2022 is about reclaiming my story, proving that people are capable of real change and fighting to make sure others have their chance . Stay tuned.
Kari Ferrellinstagram
After Page 6 first reported that she was planning a memoir about her crimes, Kari shared a screenshot on her Instagram stories and said, “The details are not 100% accurate but appreciate the shout out and thank you for ‘use photos where I look sexy’.
You can follow Kari Ferrell on Instagram here (@hotdoghandjobs).
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