YouTuber sparks fierce debate after declaring himself legally 'dead' to get refund from airline

Daily Mail​

18 hours ago

A popular YouTube star has sparked a fierce debate after he declared himself legally 'dead' so he could get a refund from an airline.
Popular social media star and comedian Max Fosh, 30, from London, England, recently went viral after he revealed in a YouTube video that he had allegedly faked his own death because he wanted to get his money back on a flight he had missed.
In the controversial video, which was shared earlier this week and already has almost two million views, he explained that he was initially told he wouldn't be able to receive a refund after he tried to cancel his flight reservation.
But after doing some digging, he noticed in the fine print that the airline, which he opted not to name, said it will give a refund for a flight if the passenger died.
So he cooked up a plan to try to get a death certificate from another country.
'The airline requires a death certificate but they don't state where the death certificate needs to come from,' Max explained in the video.
'Could I get myself a death certificate so I'd dead on paper? Could I go to another country and get a death certificate?'
'This is the story of how I traveled to another country, held my own funeral, and was legally declared dead all to get back $50.90.'
A popular YouTube star has sparked a fierce debate after he declared himself legally 'dead' so he could get a refund from an airline
Max added that he wasn't doing it for the money, but rather, 'to get back at the airline.'
'I'm incredibly petty, it's the principle that I take issue,' he continued. 'After doing some research I've realized that people have lost thousands of [dollars] because of these airlines.'
He explained that he reached out to the 'press offices of major governments' from tons of countries.
He then got a response from Seborga, 'a self-declared principality claiming to be accidentally left out of the unification of Italy.'
'The town operates as an independent nation with its own flag, currency and government,' he dished.
'[They said that] due to these very unique circumstances they are happy to sign a document that says according to them technically I am dead.'
So Max jetted off to Italy, rented a car, and drove to the small town of Seborga.
There, he met with 'the Princess of Seborga' Nina Menegatto, who, after giving him a tour, went ahead and signed the death certificate.
'Thankfully my fight with a big airline seemed to resonate with the princess and Saborga's fight for independence, so she kindly agreed to sign a special one-off death certificate,' reflected Max.
Max went as far as holding a fake funeral for himself, during which he 'hired' three fake mourners and asked his editor, Dave, to 'say a few touching words.'
After that was said and done, he applied for a refund with the airline and sent them his 'death certificate' - and low and behold, it allegedly worked.
'It worked. I got an email from the airline [five days later] in which they agreed to continue my application for a refund and I've asked for my bank details,' he said excitedly to the camera.
But Max decided to check with a lawyer before sending his bank information, and he soon realized that faking your own death to get an airline refund is 'fraudulent.'
'It's not fraud but it is fraudulent,' Max's lawyer could be heard telling him during a short clip of their phone call.
In the end, he decided not to claim the money, and advised his viewers against trying something similar.
'[My lawyer] said I really shouldn't do this. He basically told me off and said I mustn't claim the money,' he shared.
'So that is where I'm going to leave this. Please do not do this yourself at home.'
The video quickly went viral, and viewers seemed divided over his tactic in the comment section.
While many were amused and cracked jokes about it, others slammed him and pointed out that he spent more on getting to Serboga than he got back.
'Imagine faking your own death and then asking your lawyer if it's okay,' one user mused.
'Dude is so petty that he booked another flight in order to get a refund for a flight,' another wrote.
'I find it funny that flying to Italy probably costs more than you will get back from the refund, but I respect it,' someone else agreed.
'I pray for your lawyers,' read a fourth comment.