Fashion blogger The General Aesthete aka David Tripp, was arrested by police due to a credit card fraud scheme where he posed as a celebrity stylist on the phone, resulting in a bill that totalled to thousands of dollars.On March 27th Tripp snagged roughly $2,058 of gear from Carven, on April 14th $1,254 worth of clothing from Marni, and on April 28th nearly $5,842 worth merchandise at Jil Sander.
Tripp managed to get away with all of this by posing as Johnny Depp‘s stylist on the phone. Tripp was finally caught out during another round of shopping, however this time he posed at a Marc Jacobs’ store as a stylist for Brandon Flowers. Doing his usual routine Tripp called the store, asking for clothes for an upcoming photo-shoot on behalf of a celebrity.
Brian Britt the store’s manager said, “We have legit stylists call, so it’s not that far-fetched.” While using a fake name Tripp met his downfall. He posed as a stylist named “Kelly,” and agreed with Britt to scan a pay form and return it to the store. However, when the form was returned, Britt noticed the name was spelled “Kelli” this time around. This caused alarm bells for Brit, who discovered that information of a completely unrelated woman’s business had been used.
When Tripp came to pick up the order Britt stalled him long enough to call the police. He stands charged of identity theft and grand larceny, and was released on bail.
