'Hollywood Con Queen’ Exposes How 'Genius' Impersonator Scammed Industry Hopefuls

For years, the female figurehead of an international scam syndicate shattered the career dreams of vulnerable Hollywood gig workers, emptied their bank accounts and coerced some men into performing sex acts via Skype for what they thought were auditions.

In reality, journalists would discover, they were communicating with a single person, who was operating the elaborate, intricate international scheme alone.

And “she” was actually a man.

“Hollywood Con Queen,” a fascinating and disturbing docuseries now streaming on Apple TV+, follows investigative journalist Scott Johnson in his ultimately successful attempt to track down and interview the notorious con artist: Hargobind Tahilramani, an Indonesian food blogger.

Johnson told HuffPost he was “just floored” when he learned about Tahilramani’s identity following his 2018 Hollywood Reporter cover story on the so-called Con Queen.

His THR story included actual recordings of the scammer in conversation with “her” victims. At the time, Johnson didn’t know the con artist’s name, true gender, or that they were operating alone. Tahilramani — an Indonesian food blogger — was identified two years later in a podcast, “ Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen ,” and documented in an article for Vanity Fair .

Johnson learned about Tahilramani’s true identity at around the same time from a source.

“I remember thinking it was just so improbable” and “totally bizarre,” Johnson recalled.

In that same conversation Johnson learned that not only was Tahilramani running the scam single-handedly, but that he had already served four years in prison. He later confirmed both facts through his own reporting.

Tahilramani “had this wild and crazy criminal record involving all kinds of other crimes,”