The Shocking Tale of the Hollywood Con Queen: How a Scammer Duped Aspiring Actors

A Deceptive Dream Turned Nightmare

It all began with an enticing phone call from a prominent American film producer, inviting you to audition for a major film project. However, the situation quickly took a bizarre turn. You find yourself being instructed to simulate sounds as if you were in a steamy elevator scene. You pay for your own flight to Jakarta and send money for supposed 'permits.' Yet, you never actually meet the producer—because she is a complete fabrication.

From 2013 to 2020, a cunning scam artist masqueraded as influential female figures—such as Amy Pascal, Kathleen Kennedy, and even Wendi Deng—to ensnare unsuspecting actors, trainers, and photographers into sexually explicit 'auditions' and expensive travel scams throughout Indonesia. The scammer's primary tool? A seductive female voice over the phone, coupled with the film industry's obsession with fame.

As revealed by FBI charges and investigations by a leading magazine, the perpetrator was identified as Hargobind Tahilramani, a British-Indonesian man who impersonated women over the phone, coercing mostly male victims into degrading 'auditions' that involved fictitious sex scenes, followed by requests for money. Victims were lured with promises of roles in films like Wonder Woman or Crazy Rich Asians, but these productions were entirely fabricated.

The scheme came to light in 2020 when the FBI apprehended Tahilramani in Manchester. Dubbed the 'Con Queen of Hollywood,' he faced extradition to the United States on charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. According to the investigative podcast 'Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen,' victims described his voice as 'seductive, assertive, and terrifyingly convincing.'

What sets this con apart is not just the psychological manipulation involved but also the role reversal. In an industry where women frequently suffer from power abuse, this individual exploited men by pretending to be a powerful woman.