Giveaway Millionaire Exposed As Conman


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An Austrian millionaire who became an Internet sensation when he revealed he had given away everything in order to help the poor has been exposed as a common who simply wanted to get publicity to sell his house to cover his debts.

Media around the world rushed to cover the story of Karl Rabeder when he revealed how he had liquidated everything and had invested the money in a microcredit bank to provide micro-financing to people in Third World countries. He said he realised money did not make him happy and added: "I realised I was dying through consumerism. My cars and my plane have already gone ? the rest will follow soon."

In a world filled with greed and self-interest ? he shone like a beacon of hope. A millionaire who realised that money was no longer making him happy ? who sold his firm and his home and donated the money to the Third World. He had moved into a small alpine hut and planned to live on just a few hundred pounds a month. A Google search on his name comes up with 500,000 hits.

But now a special investigation by respected German magazine Stern has revealed how the 49-year-old had actually hired three top public relations agencies to get his message of philanthropy around the world, and he has since travelled the world for two years preaching his message of philanthropy as a guest on talkshows and other media - even writing a book with the title "Only People with Nothing Have Everything to Give".

The magazine claimed that his promises have not been kept and in reality the whole scheme was a PR stunt designed to allow the financially struggling businessmen to sell off his Austrian property via a lottery so he could pay his debts.

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