Sherri Papini faked her own kidnapping, and was trying to play victim. While all the resources were going towards finding Sherri, there was a woman who was actually kidnapped. She ended up serving jail time.

Karen Matthews. Faked her daughter's kidnapping not long after Madeline McCann went missing so that she could get money. She hid her inside a bed at a friend's house and planned to collect the reward money. People actually felt sorry for her, thinking her daughter was missing and it was a huge police investigation. Ended up in jail for kidnapping, perverting the course of justice and false imprisonment.

In 2004, Marie-Léonie Leblanc, a 23 year old French woman, walked into a police station and told the officers that she had been physically and verbally assaulted on a Parisian RER commuter train by six youths of Arab origin. The story made international headlines, but it was eventually revealed that she had made the whole thing up so that her family and significant other would pay attention to her. She was sentenced to a four-month suspended prison sentence, two years probation and ordered to seek therapy.

Mick Philpott. He wanted to show that his ex was violent and dangerous to their children and he wanted to play the hero. He devised a plan to set his family home alight, and he would "rescue" the children. Unfortunately, the fire took hold faster than he anticipated and all six of his children died. He then played the victim on TV shows and news until they discovered that he set the fire.

Susan Smith. She was all over the news begging for the return of her two boys who were toddlers, stating she had been carjacked. After several days, it was discovered that she had let her car roll into a lake with her babies strapped into their car seats.

Brittany Norwood, a former soccer star that worked at a Lululemon athletic clothing store in an upscale wealthy neighborhood. She had worked the nightshift with her manager, and both were the victim of a brutal robbery/murder. The manager, Jayna Murray, was brutally murdered and stabbed over 60 times. Norwood suffered minimal injuries. Norwood claimed an African-American man first killed Murray, then approached Norwood, and assaulted her. The police initially believed Norwood's story and sent her home. During the investigation, the police came across text messages of manager Jayna Murrary discovering Norwood had been stealing merchandise and was going to confront her about the theft, then fire her. The police soon made Norwood a suspect, and she was outed as guilty.

Bethany Storro was the victim of an acid attack that was racially motivated in Vancouver, Washington. Turns out she maimed herself trying to end her life. She chickened out of drinking the acid after pouring it on her face. Her reasoning for lying was that all the attention would allow her to tell people about Jesus.

Karla Leanne Homolka, aka the “Barbie” in “The Barbie and Ken Killers.” She was thought of as the victim of Paul Bernado’s abuse, forced into participating in his murders. This included one where Paul accidentally murdered her younger sister, Tammy Homolka. She went to the police to report Paul after a particularly bad beating from him. She was given a plea deal, and her lawyer covered up tape recordings that showed her willingly participating in the murders. Paul was arrested and is still in prison. She got out and now is working around children in a school.

Joe Gliniewicz, an Illinois cop that staged his own death to look like he was murdered by assailants. Police and community rallied behind his widow for weeks. Funds were collected and donated, tributes were made. It turns out he had been embezzling money from a police program, and was about to be found out.

Carolyn Bryant, who told people Emmit Till harassed her and did nothing, knowing her husband murdered him.

Jussie Smollett, who was convicted for lying to police about a staged, racist, homophobic attack.

Anna Aayala. She claimed she found a fingertip in a bowl of Wendy's chili. The press coverage cost the company over 20 million in losses. Turns out the finger came from a co-worker of her husband’s, who lost it in a work accident. She intentionally planted it.

Corey Harris. He’s the guy who went viral earlier this year for showing up at a zoom court hearing while driving on a suspended license. He spent two days in jail. Then it was reported that Harris should’ve had his license reinstated two years prior. Harris’ attorney sets up interviews with local TV stations stating his innocence. Harris goes back to court, the judge does his homework, and discovers Harris has never had a license in Michigan or any other state, yet has been to the Secretary of State office multiple times to renew his ID. The opportunity was there for him to get a license, he chose not to.

In 2018, Susan Mize was a promising up-and-coming aspiring 17-year-old model. Upon taking a ride with a male friend, Preston Barry, two teens jumped the car, and forced Barry to withdraw money from an ATM. It turns out that Susan was the mastermind behind the whole thing. She was arrested, lost all her modeling opportunities, and was sentenced to seven years in jail.

Christopher Lee Watts murdered his wife and two children, but went so far as to beg for his family’s return on the news. He was sentenced to five life sentences.

Hellena Taylor when she was replaced on Bayonetta 3. She was the original voice actress for Bayonetta in the first two games. About two years ago she came out with an angry statement that she had been offered what sounded like a rather low amount of money for the third game, then replaced by Jennifer Hale. The entire vibe was that it was an intentional low-ball to get rid of her. She insisted that fans should boycott the game. Slowly the rest of the story began to come out. She was apparently demanding a ridiculous fee, plus royalties. She had lied or at the very least deliberately misrepresented the deal previously.

Tawana Brawley. In 1987, Tawana Brawley, with support from Al Sharpton among others, made headlines with her allegations of being kidnapped and assaulted by a group of white men. However, these allegations were later determined to be a hoax by a grand jury.

The Roxanne Pallett “punchgate” incident on Celebrity Big Brother. She accused another housemate, Ryan Thomas, of punching her, and spent the next couple of days convincing the other participants that this occurred. It was immediately evident to the audience watching at home that she was lying, but with the housemates, they initially believed her and confronted Ryan and made his time at the house generally unpleasant. Roxanne eventually left in disgrace, and Ryan won the competition.

Eleanor Williams. Between 2017 and 2020 she made multiple false assault and trafficking allegations against numerous men in Barrow-in-Furness, England. She even beat her own face with a hammer in an attempt to fool police. A lot of money and resources were wasted in the investigation. One of the alleged perpetrators being of Asian descent caused a rise in racial attacks in the area.

Lance Armstrong was initially seen as a victim of doping allegations, but later it came out he had been using performance-enhancing drugs all along.