Getting rich requires years of dedication and hard work or a rich relative, but faking your wealthy status is much more enjoyable and faster.
A 19-year-old chose the latter route to fast-track his way to affluence by simply dressing the part in a series of well-crafted Instagram posts, and some people are buying.
Thanks to the magic of Photoshop, Byron Denton, a popular British YouTuber "tbhbyron," deceived followers by pretending he was rich by posting manipulated photos of him shopping at high-end stores like Louis Vuitton and kicking back on a private jet.
He played the part well.
The ruse was inspired by other YouTubers like George Mason, who pranked his followers by pretending he was on an extravagant one-week holiday.
Denton told INSIDER about his inspiration for his stunt.
"I saw a lot of people faking holidays and stuff, but I thought it would be cool to take a different approach."
"I'd always wondered if the reason people are so obsessed with celebrities was due to the fact they can afford to live a life not everyone can."
The jet-setter looks at home in his private cabin in the sky.
Followers were impressed at the photo editing job.
@tbhbyron/Instagram
@tbhbyron/Instagram
@tbhbyron/Instagram
@tbhbyron/Instagram
@tbhbyron/Instagram
@tbhbyron/Instagram
What's in the bags? Nothing?
The fake shopper didn't make any purchases, but some of the followers bought his joke.
@tbhbyron/Instagram
@tbhbyron/Instagram
While others admired the digital artistry.
@tbhbyron/Instagram
@tbhbyron/Instagram
Denton said it took 45 minutes to render each photo using two apps – FaceTune and PicsArt – to "superimpose" the images together and color them via Adobe Photoshop Lightroom.
The posts were so convincing, even family members wondered how he was able to afford such luxuries as depicted in the photos.
Mission accomplished.
During his one-week experiment, some of his followers inquired about his sudden lifestyle change.
"I had a lot of messages from my friends asking how I was affording all the designer stuff and a lot of comments from my followers asking if I'd won the lottery or something."
He added:
"I'm pretty open with my audience about everything in my life so to them it was unusual."
The vlogger wondered if presenting a genuine side would be just as fortuitous as adopting a fake persona.
"[The experiment has] made me question everyone's moves on social media. Do a lot of the high-profile bloggers these days actually make their way to the top by being honest or do they fake some of it?"
You can watch Denton's behind the scenes footage of his social experiment in the YouTube vlog, below.
i faked being a rich bitch on instagram for a week & this is what happened...www.youtube.com
