When it comes to scammers, money is usually the main motive. But in today’s influencer landscape, punch can be an equally worthy ending. At least that’s the case with a man named Gavin Ambani, who set out on a desperate quest to become a food-based Instagram personality and break into the tight-knit world of the UK restaurant scene. His antics included an undisguised amount of nameless, syrupy admiration directed at key players in the London food community and, when his bold demands were not met, harsh threats and accusations. One publicist told The Guardian, “If he wasn’t terribly abusive, he was very charming.” What the shaken people he molested across the pond didn’t know was that he was wanted on various fraud allegations in the United States. (To learn more about it, we recommend the serialized podcast Chameleon: Hollywood Con Queen.) Ambani was arrested after the British victims hired a private investigator who worked with the FBI. Even so, a chef with whom he is friends remains at a loss. “I don’t know what his final was. He wasn’t very knowledgeable about food at all. “
