Private jet film sets, rented designer items, and shared luxury cars: The sneaky ways influencers are faking their wealth and lavish lifestyles

Influencers have long been known for sharing only the most curated aspects of their supposedly lavish lifestyle.

Designer wardrobes, luxury cars, no-expense-spared getaways to the Mediterranean and, most recently, catching private jets to the US for Coachella. 

Some influencers have the cash to splash – whether from brand deals or a sizeable inheritance – but others have taken the ‘fake it till you make it’ mantra to a new level.

Kit Barrus, a content creator and OnlyFans model from the US, has revealed to Daily Mail the wild lengths some influencers go through to fake their wealth. 

She claimed her most shocking experiences have typically been with content creation agencies who build their clients’ image around false luxury. 

One company, which couldn’t be named, has allegedly gone so far as to hire private jet movie sets and luxury cars so their clients can film fake travel content.   

‘When I went to [unnamed agency] and I toured that agency house, they had two luxury cars there. Very expensive cars,’ Kit, 27, claimed. 

‘The idea is that the cars are there at the [agency] house for all their creators to come shoot Instagram reels and stuff with.

‘Their audience then assumes that’s their car that they own. This is all stuff they showed me when I toured the house. 

‘They also have a gym there that everyone can come use and shoot reels in, and everyone assumes it’s their personal gym.’

Kit also claimed many content creator agencies will ‘pool a whole bunch of money together’ to purchase luxury resources for influencers to film content with. 

‘There are private jet sets you can rent for like a hundred bucks an hour,’ she explained, recalling one particular agency she met with has regular access to one of these sets. 

‘You’re trying to convince people that you spent tens of thousands of dollars on a private jet,’ she continued.

‘But you spent a hundred bucks to go sit in a hot studio in LA that doesn’t even have AC to crank out a few TikToks. It’s embarrassing.’

‘The number one thing you hear when people talk about wealth is that the wealthiest person in the room, you won’t know they’re wealthy by their clothes. 

‘People who are flashy are renting s**t. They’re leasing s**t. They don’t have the money they pretend to have.’

Kit said when she sees influencers posting photos and videos of luxury items like expensive cars and designer handbags, she often wonders where it really came from.

‘Anybody could have purchased that. It’s a weird brag,’ she added. 

‘Your agency could have bought it, your boyfriend could have bought it… it doesn’t mean that you made that money. 

‘You could have put it on a credit card because you wanted to look like you had money, but it’s not meaningful.’

Influencers faking their wealth and luxury lifestyles is certainly not a rare phenomenon. 

There are several content creators in Australia alone who have either admitted to or have been caught pretending their lifestyle is far more glamorous than it actually is.

Suzan Mutesi was slapped with the label of ‘fake influencer’ for many years due to her heavily edited images and accusation she purchased followers on Instagram – a claim she has denied.   

Most recently, Suzan, 39, was busted leaving a five-star review on her own book, Love Beyond 30s, in a bid to boost sales. 

The review, left under her own name, described the book as an ’empowering pursuit of self-worth’ and claimed that her novel ‘resonated deeply’.

In a statement to Daily Mail, the actress admitted to leaving the review.

‘I wanted to share my genuine excitement and let readers know how much I believe in the journey this book offers,’ she explained.

The Ugandan-Australian actress, model and reality TV star is the living embodiment of the mantra ‘fake it till you make it’.

If there is a micro-influencer event, brand activation, movie premiere or store opening, Suzan will be there.

But it was a long road to the spotlight for Suzan, who endured some very unflattering headlines early on in her career.

In 2022, nonbinary stylist Jamie Azzopardi accused Suzan of being a ‘sham socialite’ with fake social followers.

They were enraged that the Fashion Week regular had somehow landed a spot on Channel Ten reality show The Challenge.

Speaking to us at the time, an emotional Suzan denied buying followers and said her 1.2 million follower count – now 1.3 million- was so high because she is a ‘go-getter’.

As for her shamelessly Photoshopped pics – including one of her superimposed next to a stock image of a private jet – she has simply denied ever doctoring her photos.

‘If it was [Photoshopped], I would have no problem owning it,’ she said. 

TikTok star Anna Paul has even admitted to faking her wealth when she was younger.

The OnlyFans model, 26, who has frequently told fans she grew up ‘poor’, exposed the truth behind her older posts bragging about her lavish lifestyle in 2020.

At the time, she was met with a minor wave of backlash when some followers went digging into posts she made as a young teenager. 

Resurfaced photos from her younger years showed her enjoying a private jet ride and flaunting her designer accessories and jewellery – despite her previously claiming she had been raised ‘poor’. 

Fans took one look at these old images and accused Anna of lying about growing up without any money, but the influencer claimed all the images from her teenage years were faked.    

‘A lot of people think that if you grow up really broke you can never have anything ever, which isn’t true,’ she said.

‘When you’re struggling you’ll still be able to save up and buy nice things.’

She went on to claim her family scrimped and saved for months, sometimes years, to buy her small designer gifts on her birthday when she was younger. 

Anna also said the private jet photo she took as a teenager was fake, saying she and her brother Atis were moved to first class from economy at the end of a flight because he vomited on their seat. 

‘During the last 30 minutes of the trip my brother vomited, he vomited all over the seat and he vomited all over me,’ she said.

‘So they put us in first class for the last 30 minutes because we were minors, and I flexed it. Instagram is fake!’

Another influencer who comes to mind when considering which Australian content creators flex a more glamorous lifestyle than they actually live is Chrissie Swadling.

It was revealed in February 2023 that Chrissie, 29, was bankrupt after an anonymous user on the Tattle Life forums paid $15 to obtain the paperwork on her bankruptcy filing.

The Instagram model listed her job as an ‘advertising and marketing professional’ in the publicly available document filed on 29 December, 2022.

The status of her bankruptcy was ‘undischarged’, which meant she would still need to pay back particular debts.

It also meant she would not be able to borrow again from financial institutions without the disclosure of her bankruptcy.

The reveal of Chrissie’s dire financial situation came as a shock to followers at the time as she was frequently seen flaunting an expensive lifestyle online.

Chrissie often jetted off on lavish holidays with her partner Joel Price and shared photos of herself showing off designer handbags.

It is unknown what her financial situation is these days.