YouTuber and comedian Max Fosh wasn’t about to lose out on a $50 refund over a canceled flight, so he staged his own death to get it.
The British star, 30, who has nearly five million followers, detailed his elaborate scheme in a video uploaded Monday, which has been viewed more than two million times.
“I am embarking on this mission because I’m incredibly petty… It’s the principle that I take issue with,” Fosh said in the video titled “I Technically Died.”
He explained that two months earlier, he had booked a flight that he ultimately couldn’t take. When he tried to request a refund, he discovered “a cheeky legal clause that airlines use that lots of people fall foul of.”
“Airlines will only provide cash refunds if passengers are dead,” Fosh shared. “So, I needed to die. This is a story of how I traveled to another country, held my own funeral, and was legally declared dead, all to get back £37.28 [approximately $50] from the big bad airlines.”
He said that he contacted several foreign governments before he finally received word from Seborga, a small Italian village and self-proclaimed principality near the Western border.
“The town has operated as an independent nation with its own flag, currency and government,” he said. “Despite not being recognized as an official independent nation, Seborga and its people fight every day for its independence and legitimacy.”
While he refrained from naming the airline company, he said that his fight “seemed to resonate with the Princess, and Seborga’s fight for independence. So she kindly agreed to sign a special, one-off death certificate.”
After arriving in the village by car, he met with Princess Nina Menegatto under the ruse of a diplomatic visit.
In a statement to People, a Seborga representative confirmed that Menegatto “was able to show him around our proud Principality.”
“As for the matter of the death certificate, we took part in the idea of Max Fosh and cooperated with him and his team for entertainment/content purposes only,” they added.
To make the ploy even more convincing, he held a funeral service attended by three “mourners.”
He then gathered all the necessary documentation, including the death certificate, to submit with the refund application. “My hope is that the [airline] gets a lot of these and so they don’t look at it for too long,” Fosh said.
Five days later, he received an email from the airline agreeing to continue with his application. “It worked,” the content creator said in shock, noting that he was asked to provide his bank details.
Before going any further, Fosh consulted with his lawyer, who advised him against going ahead with the request.
“It’s not fraud, but it is fraudulent,” his lawyer informed him in the video, telling him: “I normally would let you, but this time I really have to put my foot down.”
Fosh explained that, since it was his own money being returned, the act wasn’t technically fraud. However, he ultimately listened to his lawyer’s firm advice that he “mustn’t claim the money.”
He ultimately warned his viewers not to try the scheme themselves.
Fosh, who has been making YouTube videos since 2017, is known for creating comedic videos that blend stunts, social experiments, and satire.
