Inventing Anna

[Anonymous]

The first episode was terrible. After that, all the episodes were good except for the traveling to Germany one.

There was too much focus on the journalist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is so much more to this story. I expect prostitution has to be involved.

No, there really isn't more to the story imo. Anna was just some serendipitous combination of traits that and shamelessness that allowed her to con many people. Many people we would expect to be extremely cynical, jaded, and suspicious, but nonetheless fell for her flimsy story. She may have been involved in prostitution, but I don't think that was critical to her con.

My guess is that starting out she found rich "boyfriends". Some could argue that this isn't prostitution, but... There doesn't seem to be an answer for how she got started with her hustle in NY. To me the most obvious answer is transactional relationships with older guys.

I found the series compelling and entertaining. I read Jessica Pressler's article (did not read Rachel William's book). It's hard to watch these things and keep reminding yourself that it is fiction. I think one of the reasons that the story is not just about Anna is that at the end of the day, nobody really knows Anna. She must be extremely charismatic in real life to have been able to do this.

I read an interview recently by Rachel Williams who complained about how she was portrayed in this series. Other than the weird casting choice, I thought she was portrayed fairly. She was enjoying the party girl life on someone else's dime, was dumb to give her corporate card to the hotel as a form of payment, and then faced the consequences. She was young. Hopefully she learned from the situation.

I feel bad for the folks who got caught up in Anna's orbit. Unless you have experienced someone with this kind of charisma, coupled with a lack of ethics, it is hard to imagine how people get pulled into this nonsense.

I didn’t get the impression that this is what she did. She seems to befriend people, not necessarily been, who were willing to help her. I think she has a chameleon like ability and used that to advance her con.

[Anonymous]

And she’s out! Being deported back to Germany tonight.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if she retained any money from Netflix? Or did it all go to her lawyer/restitution? When she gets off the plane tomorrow in Frankfurt - where does she go?!

[Anonymous]

If you haven't seen it yet, this SNL sketch is spot on and hilarious.

[Anonymous]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fake-heiress-anna-sorokin-likely-deported-immigration-attorney-says-rcna19986

[Anonymous]

Currently watching the Morocco episode. I would have more sympathy for Anna if she weren’t so mean and also kinda dumb. Really, German banks won’t transfer money to Morocco because it’s a “dirty” country? It takes several hours for a wire transfer to come through?

And after how cool Anna played it, scrolling on her phone while Rachel floundered around trying to figure out payment, I’m surprised Rachel still wanted to go on that tour with her! I mean, how naive can someone be?

[Anonymous]

This woman seriously has 9 lives… https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10614185/Fake-heiress-Anna-Sorokin-thwarts-bid-finally-deport-America.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Currently watching the Morocco episode. I would have more sympathy for Anna if she weren’t so mean and also kinda dumb. Really, German banks won’t transfer money to Morocco because it’s a “dirty” country? It takes several hours for a wire transfer to come through?

And after how cool Anna played it, scrolling on her phone while Rachel floundered around trying to figure out payment, I’m surprised Rachel still wanted to go on that tour with her! I mean, how naive can someone be?

I think Anna sucks but I did not have a ton of sympathy for Rachel. When you think about it, she was trying to run the same scam she was just bad at it.

Who did Rachel think was going to pay for everything in that trip? Her rich friend Anna. It’s not like they were splitting the costs and Rachel got stiffed. She was trying to mooch off her rich friend to have a luxury vacation in an exotic place, and instead got stuck with the bill. This is different from being scammed by someone who is taking advantage of you. Rachel was trying to take advantage, and then it turned out her mark wasn’t actually rich. That’s dumb, but not very sympathetic to me.

Anna obviously thought her loans were going to come through and she’d pay for the trip that way. Super dumb, but it appears that she planned to pay and just got caught out. And what she was doing was more honest than what Rachel was doing. Anna did actually plan to start that club and make money for investors. Whereas Rachel never had any intention of paying for her share if that trip.

[Anonymous]

If you’re invited somewhere as someone’s guest you go with the expectation of not paying. Rachel did nothing wrong. She’s a mooch, sure, but she did not deserve to have her credit card charged, and Anna is not “more honest” than her. WTF? Who forced Anna to plan this $$$ trip anyway?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Currently watching the Morocco episode. I would have more sympathy for Anna if she weren’t so mean and also kinda dumb. Really, German banks won’t transfer money to Morocco because it’s a “dirty” country? It takes several hours for a wire transfer to come through?

And after how cool Anna played it, scrolling on her phone while Rachel floundered around trying to figure out payment, I’m surprised Rachel still wanted to go on that tour with her! I mean, how naive can someone be?

I think Anna sucks but I did not have a ton of sympathy for Rachel. When you think about it, she was trying to run the same scam she was just bad at it.

Who did Rachel think was going to pay for everything in that trip? Her rich friend Anna. It’s not like they were splitting the costs and Rachel got stiffed. She was trying to mooch off her rich friend to have a luxury vacation in an exotic place, and instead got stuck with the bill. This is different from being scammed by someone who is taking advantage of you. Rachel was trying to take advantage, and then it turned out her mark wasn’t actually rich. That’s dumb, but not very sympathetic to me.

Anna obviously thought her loans were going to come through and she’d pay for the trip that way. Super dumb, but it appears that she planned to pay and just got caught out. And what she was doing was more honest than what Rachel was doing. Anna did actually plan to start that club and make money for investors. Whereas Rachel never had any intention of paying for her share if that trip.

The trip was Anna’s idea. Rachel told Anna upfront she couldn’t afford the trip. She first suggested less expensive destinations and accommodations that she could afford. Anna wanted the expensive riad and said she would take care of it. Rachel did nothing wrong!

“I happily agreed that we should explore options, thinking we’d find off-season fares to the Dominican Republic or Turks and Caicos. Anna suggested Marrakech; she’d always wanted to go. She picked La Mamounia, a five-star luxury resort ranked among the best in the world, and knowing that her selection was cost-prohibitive for my budget, she nonchalantly offered to cover my flights, the hotel, and expenses. She reserved a $7,000/night private riad, a traditional Moroccan villa with an interior courtyard, three bedrooms, and a pool, and forwarded me the confirmation e-mail.”

[Anonymous]

I heard a clip of an interview with the real Anna this morning. Her accent, while unique, wasn't anywhere as distracting/grating as the one portrayed in the series. I couldn't stand watching due to the accent.

[Anonymous]

I don’t mind the accent, I think it’s interesting. I thought the actress had great facial expressions as well.

But the character, Anna, I have zero sympathy for. I also don’t understand why the hotel owner didn’t know her, since she was planning to lease his property?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm am perplexed by this as a human social experiment of sorts. So, all it takes to pose as an upper class socialite is to wear designer clothes head to toe? And if you wear designer clothes banks are willing to give you 20 mil loan?

That is all it takes?

+1
It perplexed me too. And the fact that Anna knew so much about the finance world at such a young age, with no real work experience. I can't even imagine knowing all the right things to say in order to get someone to loan me $20 million!

She had an eidetic memory. Despite that, she didn’t know that due diligence would have to be done! Surprised her lawyer friend didn’t tell her ahead of time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t mind the accent, I think it’s interesting. I thought the actress had great facial expressions as well.

But the character, Anna, I have zero sympathy for. I also don’t understand why the hotel owner didn’t know her, since she was planning to lease his property?

That was the point of the scene, I think, that the deal was never real so why would they know her? She wasn’t ever a real player, she was trying to secure the loan to be a real player.