9/11 'Survivor' a fraud?

[Touring Mars]

The New York Times broke the story on Thursday and a report quickly followed in Time magazine yesterday about the story of Tania Head, a "survivor" of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001... or so she claims. As the article in the NY Times points out, however, no part of her story has been verified, and in an interview with Time, she merely claims that she "hasn't done anything illegal"...

If it turns out that Tania Head is indeed a fraud, then it would seem almost beyond belief - in two regards... first, it would be amazing to think that anyone would even try to do something like this and expect to get away with it... the second is how on Earth did she get away without any of her story being verified for so long? From her supposed fiancé's family denying a relationship existed, to the small matter of her supposed employers - Merrill Lynch - having no record of her whatsoever... it certainly looks like Ms. Head has some explaining to do.

 

[Keichi Tsuchiya]

Common... Americans aren't that stupid.

 

[Danoff]

Ms. Head... wasn't she in a James Bond movie?

TM, this is honestly the first time I've heard of any of it - her story, or the notion that it was fake.

 

[V1P3R]

There was people heartless enough to scam people out of their money posing as charity services to help with the relief effort so I wouldn't be surprised in the least if she's a fraud.

 

[Keef]

There was people heartless enough to scam people out of their money posing as charity services to help with the relief effort so I wouldn't be surprised in the least if she's a fraud.

Is that anything like my uncle buying tons of plywood for cheap and then selling it expensive to hurricane victims?

Anyway, I've never heard of this particular story either. I tend to not trust anything coming the the New York Times because of their biases. Everyone has heard about frauds and fakes before though, like Viper said.

 

[V1P3R]

Tell me you don't keep in touch with your uncle anymore, please...

 

[Omnis]

Do they call her Mrs. Head because she has no neck?


And she's shaking Giuliani's hand... that's the dead giveaway.

 

[MistaX]

Doug could've taken a few lessons from her.

 

[Mark T]

It's a conspiracy.

She actually planned the attacks with Bush.

 

[Touring Mars]

TM, this is honestly the first time I've heard of any of it - her story, or the notion that it was fake.

Yeh, it's not been a well-publicised story... I only found out about it through a BBC news programme called Newsnight which mentioned the NY Times article... the latest is that someone who knew Tania (or Alicia) Head back in Barcelona (from whence she came) has said that she had told them that the scars and burns on her arm were a result of a car crash in a Ferrari

 

[Pupik]

It seems she's a liar; she's hadn't worked at Merril Lynch, had graduated from a certain unversities, et cetera. But she's not a fraud, if she hasn't stolen or misappropriated any money, nor gained financially from any of it. If she has gained money from it, she's a criminal.

My guess is that she felt obsessively guilty and helpless about 9/11, and wanted raise awareness of victims/survivors in return.

 

[Sakiale]

Psshhh... anyone can say they're a 9/11 survivor. I survived the day. Plus, I was in New York. If I had been a bit older, I might've been in Stuyvesant High School and actually seen something worth telling about, but noooo....

 

[Robin]

There was a documentary called 'The 9/11 Liars' shown on tv a while ago in the UK.....They claimed benefits and stole money from communities saying that thier love ones died. I dont know how people could be so immoral to use such a huge disaster for personal gain... its just sick!

 

[Alfaholic]

My guess is that she felt obsessively guilty and helpless about 9/11, and wanted raise awareness of victims/survivors in return.

Could be, but some people just make up fiction like this sort of for the hell of it. They don't get anything out of it but will talk about it to great length like they're serious and will often be able to accurately recount the story years after they made it up. The stories will often involve wild romantic escapades followed by a terrible tragedy for the other party in the relationship.

Things like "a handsome rich man saw me stranded on the side of the road one day and rescued me in his Ferrari. He was on his way to the airport at the time, going to his holiday mansion in the Bahamas for a week and invited me along so I quit my job and went. I had no clothes other than the ones I was wearing so he bought me a whole new wardrobe at the duty free. I left it all at the mansion. We got engaged on the beach under the first sunset and were planning to marry next month before his terminally ill parent / uncle died and left him another billion dollars but his private helicopter crashed while he was trying to rescue sailors trapped in a lifeboat in a hurricane. The helicopter crashed into the lifeboat and they all died. I'd sue the boat owner but he was in the lifeboat too.."

Or something along those lines. Ask her what the clothes were and what colours and whatever and make a note... ask her again in five years and you'll probably get the same answer. Freaky.

There's probably a medical term for it (pathological liar perhaps...).

 

[sn00pie]

Is that anything like my uncle buying tons of plywood for cheap and then selling it expensive to hurricane victims?

This is a typical case of people buying it expensively. I mean, it's plywood, I don't think your uncle's the only one offering it.

Outrages prices outside monolopies are kept high by the consumer. Your uncle's not exceptionally smart here, yet the consumer extremely dumb.