History Main / MockMillionaire

* In getting into character in ''Film/{{Cypher}}'', Morgan begins effecting traits of a globe-trotting playboy; wearing finer clothes, indulging in top-label scotch and cigarettes, referring to exotic locations he's traveled to on his yacht. [[spoiler: Subverted, as those are all qualities of his true personality, a genuine billionaire.]]

* Essential in the plot of Spanish movie ''Hay que educar a papá.'' [[spoiler: HighClassGlass -wearing Count De Ronda is discovered to be a con man.]]
* It is the plot of the french Movie ''Film/JetSet''. A poor actor pretends to be an Italian prince to hang out with movie stars. [[spoiler: Some of the rich people he hang out with discover the truth, but choose to help him anyway.]]

* Played with in ''Film/LastHoliday'', where the character played by Queen Latifah is spending her entire savings on one amazing European bucket list vacation before she dies, but the other resort guests think she's a very rich American. She never tried to pass herself off this way, but the hotel staff and patrons assumed it. [[spoiler:she's not actually sick.]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' offers up a fairly subtle example in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E5RiseOfTheCybermen Rise of the Cybermen]][=/=][[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel The Age of Steel]]" with the parallel-Earth version of Jackie Tyler. However, Russell T. Davies' first few drafts originally portrayed her as a much, much more obnoxious example--"Trash With Cash!" was how he described it. Later revisions had this come more from Jackie's personality than from her surroundings. [[spoiler: It was probably for the best, [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul considering what happens to her...]]]]

** It turns out that the legendary vault of [[spoiler: Xaro Xhoan Daxos, "the richest man in Qarth"]] is completely empty. However, this looks like a case of the character being genuinely rich, but pretending to be even richer for political power, since he still lives in a lavish palace.
** In season 4, [[spoiler:House Lannister]] becomes this. [[spoiler:Tywin Lannister admits to Cersei that the Lannister]] gold mines have run dry and the family coffers have been nearly exhausted thanks to the recent civil war. Worse yet, a lot of the debt that they're owed is held by the Iron Throne, which itself is heavily financed by debts owed to the Iron Bank of Braavos. This is a very bad thing for [[spoiler: House Lannister]], since the only reason anyone fears/respects them at all is their supposed wealth.

* In ''VisualNovel/AceAttorney'', Ron [=DeLite=] somehow manages to convince his wife that security guards have really good salaries. When he loses his job and can't maintain any salary at all, he resorts to [[spoiler: stealing priceless artifacts.]]

* John Spano, the guy who tricked the NHL into thinking he was rich enough to buy the New York Islanders in 1996. Strictly speaking he wasn't a ''mock'' millionaire (he did have about $5 million in assets), but when one agrees with the then-owner John Pickett buy a 90% stake in the franchise for $165 million by claiming to be worth $230 million the distinction makes no difference.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': Due to Sheryl wearing an extremely expensive dress Akira gifted her, Katsuya mistakes her for being rich. Sheryl goes along with this to manipulate him for information in a HoneyTrap to impress Akira. Preparing to fit in at feasts and parties to increase her connections, Sheryl's EvilMentor Viola teaches her proper etiquette and composure, along with having her buy more expensive clothes to go with it. This furthers Katsuya's LovingAShadow impression of her, and ultimately [[spoiler:the facade gets used by Inabe to manipulate Katsuya into working for him, saying Sheryl's a ruined patrician being blackmailed by Akira, which contributes to Katsuya's MurderTheHypotenuse FreakOut against him.]]

* Anna Sorokin AKA Anna Delvey, who managed to [[https://www.thecut.com/2018/05/how-anna-delvey-tricked-new-york.html spend 2016 and 2017 living the high life in New York]] thanks to forged documents, strategic sponging off the actual rich and a complicated web of lies.

-->-- '''Creator/JorgeLuisBorges''' prologue of Thorstein Veblen's ''Theory Of The Leisure Class'' (The reader can find more about this book at ConspicuousConsumption, RealLife).

* An in-game book in ''Videogame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''[[note]]said to be fictional in-universe[[/note]] entitled simply 'The Dowry' tells the tale of Ynaleigh, the wealthiest landowner in Gunal, and his beautiful daughter Genefra. Ynaleigh promised an incredible sum of gold as a dowry to the man who would become his son-in-law, but imposed a number of criteria on who would be allowed to marry her. One suitor, Welyn Naerellic, demonstrated the first two categories - wealth and intelligence - with lavish displays of wealth, servants, and apprentices translating ancient texts. It seemed he would slip up on the third - the ability to make Genefra laugh; so he asked if he could be allowed to see the dowry... only to then reveal that he was actually a poor thief who had snuck into the vault several months prior, stolen the dowry, and spent it all to pay for the aforementioned lavish displays in order to win Genefra's hand. Genefra found it hilarious, and fortunately, so did her father, and they were allowed to be wed.

%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!

%%
%%
%%
%%
[[quoteright:300:[[TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/monopoly-man-costume_9234.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Wait a minute! [[MandelaEffect Where's her monocle?]]]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[BaitAndSwitch Wait a minute!]] [[MandelaEffect Where's her monocle?]]]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[BaitAndSwitch Wait a minute!]] [[PopCultureUrbanLegends Where's her monocle?]]]]

* In the second season of ''Series/{{Mork and Mindy}}'', Mork comes into Remo and Jeannie's restaurant bragging how he "made millions last night in real estate." Mr. Bickley looks at the "cash" and exclaims, "Wait a minute. This is Monopoly money!" He responds, "Of course. You don't think it would be that useless U.S. currency." Unfortunately, a wannabe gold-digger only overhears that he "made millions." ''HilarityEnsues''.

* ''Film/NothingSacred'', Wally is conned by a shoe-shine man who claims to be the Sultan of Mazapan.

* An in-game book in ''Videogame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''[[note]]said to be fictional in-universe[[/note]] entitled simply 'The Dowry' tells the tale of Ynaleigh, the wealthiest landowner in Gunal, and his beautiful daughter Genefra. Ynaleigh promised an incredible sum of gold as a dowry to the man who would become his son-in-law, but imposed a number of criteria on who would be allowed to marry her. One suitor, Welyn Naerellic, demonstrated the first two categories - wealth and intelligence - with lavish displays of wealth, servants, and apprentices translating ancient texts. It seemed he would slip up on the third - the ability to make Genefra laugh; so he asked if he could be allowed to see the dowry... only to then reveal that he was actually a poor thief who had snuck into the vault several months prior, stolen the dowry, and spent it all to pay for the aforementioned lavish displays in order to win Genefra's hand. Genefra found it hilarious, and fortunately, so did her father, and they were allowed to be wed.
* ''VideoGame/StoryOfSeasonsPioneersOfOliveTown'': Lovett, the local gourmet, lives in one of the town's nicer houses and is one of the better-dressed residents. However, once inside, the house consists of two rooms: an ornate dining room and living room combo, and a tiny bare room that functions as both his kitchen and a bedroom. The bed in the room has a bunch of PauperPatches, which can also be spotted on the back of the man's coat.

* In ''WesternAnimation/HeathcliffAndTheCatillacCats'', Riff Raff does this to impress his mother in "Riff Raff's Mom".
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheLooneyTunesShow'', WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck pretends to be this, among other things, in order to impress his classmates at their high school reunion.

* Eddy from ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'' has done this several times, such as when he made a video to send to his brother.
* Peter from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' once pretended to be a [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot secret agent/astronaut/millionaire with a cowboy hat]] at his high school reunion. He lets his real life slip when he geeks out at meeting Tom Brady and mentions working at a brewery, and is outed as a fake because [[InsaneTrollLogic "the hat comes right off"]].
* Invoked in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Viva Las Pegasus," with Fluttershy playing the part of Impossibly Rich as part of a KansasCityShuffle.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': In the flashback featured in "Story for Steven", Marty said he's going to make both himself and Greg rich "and as far as these saltwater saps" knew, they already were. Based on that episode's line about Marty getting 75% of whatever comes from selling Greg's merchandise and the ten million dollars he's legally obligated to give Greg in "Drop Beat Dad", the "Mock" part [[FakeRealTurn no longer applies]].
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': [[InvokedTrope Invoked.]] Stan's dating advice to Soos in [[Recap/GravityFallsS2E5SoosAndTheRealGirl "Soos and the Real Girl"]] is to either become rich or pretend he's rich.
* The Penguin in ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' spent his debut episodes desperately trying to hide the fact that the Cobblepots had long squandered their family fortune (at one point he "donates" a roll of ones to Bruce Wayne's charity ball).

* The whole point of Music/GangnamStyle is to mock the people who do this. The title refers to the Gangnam District, a place that is like a Korean Beverly Hills, and the people that hail being from there.

* In ''Theatre/HelloDolly'', Cornelius and Barnaby pretend to be wealthy men instead of a humble store clerks to gain the attention of young socialites Irene and Minnie. The two women know they're lying but decide to play along both to play a trick on them and because they are genuinely charmed.

* The Creator/MarkTwain story ''The £1,000,000 Bank-Note'' -- a poor American traveler in London is given this by two men as part of a bet. He is expected to return it in a month. By presenting it and asking for change, he obtains a reputation as an eccentric American millionaire, obtains credit, and becomes rich in the end through investments. This story was adapted into the movie ''Film/TheMillionPoundNote'' starring Gregory Peck.

* In ''Literature/{{Orca}}'', Vlad discovers that the recently-deceased Orca lord Fyres was one of these -- perpetually conning people with the illusion of financial success to encourage them to do business with him, and thus creating financial success... but always playing the illusion too far until it inevitably crashes. Fyres' most recent endeavors? Banking and real estate, for which [[OhCrap even the Imperial treasury was into him]].
* Íñigo, the narrator of ''Literature/{{Alatriste}}'', describes how this became commonplace in Spain in the late Golden Age, especially in Madrid, as Spain's wealth from the New World (which it mostly pissed away on UsefulNotes/TheEightyYearsWar, other debts, and mass corruption) encouraged a vain arrogance among the Spanish people, such that it became unfashionable to be seen involved in actual work like a commoner.
* ''Literature/MollFlanders'': The title character attracts a wealthy husband by pretending to have a vast inheritance that she is too humble to talk about it. Whenever he inquires about it, she insists that she's less wealthy than he expects, but he persists in wooing her. Over time, his expectations of her fortune decline and his admiration of her increases, so that when she finally admits that she has no money whatsoever, he still wants to marry her.
* ''Literature/JaineAustenMysteries'': In ''The PMS Murder'', it's revealed that while club member Ashley Morgan appears rich, she's actually up to her eyeballs in debt.

* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': Occasional episodes has Miss Brooks play this trope, either to impress a snooty dowager ("Madison Country Club"), protect Mrs. Davis' feelings ("The Return of Red Smith"), or even to derail Mrs. Davis' engagement to a confidence man ("Marriage Madness").
* The RealityShow ''Series/JoeMillionaire'' had women vie for the affections of a man they believed to be a millionaire. They didn't find out until the final episode that the man wasn't actually a millionaire and the woman he chose in the end had to decide if she still wanted to be with him in spite of the deception.
* ''Series/IWannaMarryHarry'' is similar.
* In the ''Series/DawsonsCreek'' episode "Kiss", Joey pretends to be wealthy to avoid looking like a small-town girl when she pursues a handsome stranger named Anderson.
* ''Series/LawAndOrder'':
** A Jewish woman killed a man she believed owned the rare coins her grandfather had lost during the Holocaust. After various red herrings, it turns out the man never owned the coins at all, he merely claimed he did to cover up how he wasn't as rich as he claimed and using the illusion of a batch of coins he read about in a catalog to fool investors.
** The girlfriend of an accused killer flaunts herself as a wealthy woman whose father owns a posh restaurant. When they search it for evidence and the manager complains, Serena says to take it up with the girl's father. The manager is confused as to why he would talk to someone who works in the kitchen. The father openly complains he could have afforded to buy the place with all the money he's wasted on the daughter who prefers looking like a rich woman.
** A Season 21 episode has a case inspired by [[Series/InventingAnna Anna Delvey]] as the police investigate the murder of a woman who'd bragged on social media of being from a rich family, complete with photos. They go to break the news to the father...who says he doesn't have a daughter by that name and the photo is a fake. The woman is actually from New Jersey and using this image to scam people out of money to open her own club.
* A first season episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' has the detectives investigating the murder of a European businessman who'd been getting money from Manhattan socialites. The first sign something is off is that his "correspondence" from famous people is filled with blatant spelling mistakes and then there's no record of his actually belonging to the wealthy family he claimed to. He was a con artist who paid the price for his scams when his victims found out.

* Was also explored recently in an episode of ''Series/{{Castle}}''. That Mock Millionaire is a con artist initially intent on bilking his heiress fiancée, who then fell in love with her. He is then killed by his partner to avoid potentially ruining the con.
* ''Series/WhiteCollar'' has Neal do this a good chunk of the time during investigations, especially since he's already got several rich fake identities already set up (to say nothing of the fact that he's TheCharmer and a ''very'' SharpDressedMan, adding credibility to the image). Plus, it's fun to make the government pay for you to throw a bitchin' party.

* Kramer on ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' attempted multiple times to pull this off under the pseudonym H.E. Pennypacker. Jerry also tried it once using the name Kel Varnsen ("Advantage Varnsen!"), as did George as Art Vandelay.
* Done twice in ''Series/TheMonkees''; once so that Peter could romance a debutante, and another time to convince Davy's grandfather he is a success so he won't force Davy to return to England.
* ''Series/VeronicaMars'':
** One episode introduces the richest kid in Neptune, who arrives to school in a limousine and lives in the biggest house in town. The twist ending is that he's the son of the butler, and thus is actually not rich.
** There's also [[spoiler:Richard Casablancas]], who turns out to have been running a real estate con all this time. When [[spoiler:his son hires Veronica to track Richard's gold digger wife]], the con ends up being exposed, and [[spoiler:Richard]] flees the country.
** Jackie acted up being the well-off daughter of a famous ballplayer. She went around in designer outfits, talked of parties and told Wallace she had to end their relationship because she was attending school in Paris. Jackie is thrown when Veronica calls her up at the small Brooklyn diner where she works with her mom to tell her Wallace is going to be looking for her in Paris. She tells Wallace at the airport that she's the product of a one-night stand, her dad not wanting to acknowledge her and her mom too proud to ask for more money. When her dad reached out just for good publicity, she jumped at the chance to spend a year as a "rich kid" but has to return to Brooklyn to care for her son.
* On ''Series/{{Jessie}}'', Bertram is nervous about attending his high school reunion as he's simply a butler. Jessie helps him by pretending to be his date and Bertram posing as a rich guy, meeting an old rival with his own hot girlfriend who's a Wall Street millionaire. When the kids come by for help, the lie is exposed, Bertram admitting it to everyone but happy with what he has. They accept it except for his rival who gloats on how much of a fraud Bertram is. At which point, his date reveals he's an even bigger fraud: He's a second-rate accountant who was fired by his own mother, lives in a crummy one-room apartment and she's his cousin who he had to pay to do this (and the check bounced). When Bertram remarks that "the only thing you have that I want is a full head of hair," the cousin rips the guy's wig off.
* Magdalena López-Pérez from ''Series/{{Vecinos}}'' is hellbent to make herself and her family look affluent and rich to try (and fail) to cover up their PerpetualPoverty. It doesn't help that she buys luxurious goods with Arturo's money.
* Anthony [=DiNozzo=] Sr., Tony's dad, on ''Series/{{NCIS}}'', is a formerly wealthy businessman, who is trying to keep up the appearance that he is still wealthy. It later turns out that while Tony believed his father had been wealthy until recently, [=DiNozzo=] Sr. had actually been near bankruptcy several times during and after Tony's childhood, but managed to avoid it every time by pretending to be wealthy until he found a way to bounce back.
* Done on a regular basis by the crew on ''Series/{{Hustle}}''. Sometimes the mark turns out to be this as well.
%%* The VictimOfTheWeek in one episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' was this.
* One VictimOfTheWeek in ''Series/{{Unforgettable}}'' was an abused West Virginia housewife who fled to New York and successfully passed herself off as the heiress to a fictional Texas oil tycoon. [[spoiler:She was murdered by her publicist when she tired of living a lie and wanted to come clean]].
%%* The VictimOfTheWeek in a ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' episode.
* An episode of ''Series/TheLoveBoat'' had one of the ship's laundry workers pretend to be wealthy to court a young woman who had been dragged onto the cruise by her mother trying to marry her off to whatever rich man they could find. Naturally the ruse is exposed but they still end up together and even the mother accepts it ("I didn't lose a daughter, I gained free dry cleaning!").
* An episode of ''Series/{{House}}'' had Taub running into and treating his former high school classmate Neil who invites him to his fancy office and asks him for advice on improving a medical device he invented. Taub, who misses his former privileged life, had just lost a bunch of money in the housing bubble crash and had gone through a particularly humiliating day with House, asks him for a job and he proposes they become business partners. Taub hands his resignation to House and goes to meet Neil with the money... and finds a secretary who tells him that Neil was just a temp using the CEO's office to con a bunch of doctors out of their money (using the "high school classmate" and fake illness ploy for all of them) and was just arrested. [[HumiliationConga Taub then spends the entire following episode trying to convince House not to fire him.]]

* In the second season of ''Series/{{Mork and Mindy}}'', Mork comes into Remo and Jeannie's restaurant bragging how he "made millions last night in real estate." Mr. Bickley looks at the "cash" and exclaims, "Wait a minute. This is Monopoly money!" He responds, "Of course. You don't think it would be that useless U.S. currency." Unfortunately, a wannabe gold-digger only overhears that he "made millions." ''HilarityEnsues''.

* ZigZagged in a sketch on ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'' which is presented as an old film airing on TV. In the film Benny plays a wealthy man on a cruise ship who falls in love with a wealthy socialite. But it's discovered that he's only a ''second class'' passenger! Zagged when it turns out he's really the owner of the cruise line.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' offers up a fairly subtle example in "Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel," with the parallel-Earth version of Jackie Tyler. However, Russell T. Davies' first few drafts originally portrayed her as a much, much more obnoxious example--"Trash With Cash!" was how he described it. Later revisions had this come more from Jackie's personality than from her surroundings. [[spoiler: It was probably for the best, [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul considering what happens to her...]]]]
* Hyacinth Bucket ([[CatchPhrase who will remind you]] [[PretentiousPronunciation it's pronounced "bouquet", dear]]) of ''Series/KeepingUpAppearances'' seeks to cultivate an image of wealthy sophistication. In truth, they're solidly middle class, and her husband is a government employee who is not highly salaried, but it doesn't stop her from sneering at those whom she deems "economical". Some of her exploits include convincing her HenpeckedHusband Richard to buy a giant country manor instead of a small cottage, and stealing a Rolls-Royce just so she can parade about in it to random strangers.
* ''Series/ManToManWithDeanLearner'' has Dean Learner portraying himself as a stylish millionaire playboy with lots of famous friends. In reality, he's a shady pornographer and talent agent for C-list celebrities. Learner is trying very hard to look more wealthy than he really is. The announcer crows about Learner's "luxury apartment in London's glittering East End."
* In ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'', when Lurch's mother comes to visit, he persuades the family to pretend that he is the owner of the mansion and that Gomez is his butler and Morticia is his maid (the rest of the family hid in the cottage because they didn't want to play along). It works a little too well; Lurch gets lost in his role and starts to believe he really is the master of the house.
* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'': In "Test of Wills", the VictimOfTheWeek is a ConMan pretending to be a member of a wealthy Boston family in order to marry a wealthy heiress. He is killed just after his real identity is exposed.

* On ''Series/Dynasty2017'', Alexis makes her long-awaited return in a lavish wardrobe. When it turns out she's inherited the family manor, she's soon moving in with expensive decorations and outfits. Alexis talks to Fallon over how she's spent the last decade traveling across Europe and having a grand time. But Fallon is suspicious when Alexis' driver doesn't know about the fancy hotels in Atlanta and realizes he's an Uber driver. She soon discovers that Alexis has been living in a trailer in a lot outside of Atlanta and is dead broke.
* ''Series/KenanAndKel'': In one episode, Kenan falls in love with a rich girl and decides to pretend he's rich as well. When she happens to enter the grocery store where he works, he pretends to own it.
* ''Series/AllAmerican'': Asher is one of the usual Beverly Hills rich kids who look down on Spencer, a resident of the inner city. In one episode, Asher is pressured into hosting a party at his huge mansion, telling the gang to be careful of things like an expensive car and not make a mess for his parents. During the party, the car accidentally rolls out the driveway and is damaged. As the partygoers leave, Spencer talks to Asher on how he recognizes the man's reaction: [[SpottingTheThread "You ain't got no pictures of your family hanging anywhere in this house. You always seem to be forgetting your wallet. And you let everyone else pay for this party. Ain't hard to spot somebody with no money, man."]] Asher confesses he was rich but his dad lost it all in a bad deal. They've been hiding it from the others so he can stay at his school and he and his father rent out the guest house of the mansion's real owners. Spencer helps Asher get the car fixed before anyone knows and will keep his secret as Asher sighs on how "I don't know how long I can keep this up."
* In ''Series/{{Bottom}}'', Richie and Eddie join a dating service, and Richie gets a date with Lady Natasha Letita Sarah Jane Wettesley Olstomsky Ponsonsky Smythe Smythe Smythe Oblomov Dub, Countess of Moldavia. Richie pretends to be an eccentric millionaire with Eddie as his butler.
* ''Series/UpstartCrow'': In "The Green-Eyed Monster", Will attempts to suck up to the wealthy African prince Otello as a means of climbing the social ladder. However, Otello turns out to be a ConMan from Bristol attempting to land himself a wealthy wife.
* ''Series/TheArmyGame'': In his first appearance in "Enter a Dark Stranger", Dooley receives a series of letters from his family that make it appear that he is from a wealthy family who own a string of hotels in swanky areas of London. This results in the rest of Hut 29, and even Sgt. Snudge, attempting to suck up to him. When the truth comes out (i.e. he is as broke as the rest of them), he claims that the letters were part of a play-by-mail game of ''TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}'' he was involved in with his family.
* This is the premise of ''Series/TheRiches'': A family of grifters squats in the mansion of a wealthy couple ([[MeaningfulName Mr. and Mrs. Rich]]) who have recently died and start passing themselves off as the Riches.

* In the various iterations of ''Series/DragonsDen'', entrepreneurs often show up valuing their business in the millions, only to be called out by the investors for having no more than a few thousand (or less!) of actual revenue to show for it. Naturally, this is a great way to get your pitch ruthlessly torn to shreds.

* On ''Series/{{Bridgerton}}'', Portia plays one of her games to get her daughter engaged to mine owner Jack. After he accepts it, Jack informs Portia that his "mines" are empty and he's penniless. He was actually hoping to marry into a rich family himself but instead, Portia has guaranteed her daughter marries into a poor family, which ruins her own hopes of fortune.

* After a childhood on the streets was made her official backstory, ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}'s knack for showing up at high-class soirees became this. The finer details vary: Either Selina ''is'' rich but it's from her criminal career rather than OldMoney, she's infiltrating the event with a fake/stolen identity, or a combination of the two.

* In one ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' story arc, Jason, after receiving a sudden windfall and realizing that, combined with the rest of his savings, he now has the equivalent of over a million Turkish lira, starts acting like a millionaire for a while. He drops the act after spending his entire stash.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''Film/RushHour2'':
** Detective Carter follows a Hong Kong crime boss onto a yacht party. He hits on an attractive woman by claiming to be the owner of the yacht.
** Later in the movie, Carter and Lee are at a Las Vegas casino in pursuit of counterfeiters. To distract the guests from Lee's attempts to sneak into the back, Carter begins gambling wildly and waving bundles of (counterfeit) money.
* The Frank Capra film ''Film/LadyForADay'' has a woman named "Apple Annie" who has been telling her daughter in Spain that she's part of New York's high society. When her daughter arrives with her fiancé, the son of a Spanish count, Annie has to be a genuine Mock Millionaire and PrincessForADay to avoid derailing the engagement.
* A similar vein was explored in ''Film/{{Six Degrees of Separation}}'' with Will Smith. Smith poses as the illegitimate son of a celebrity and while he does not pretend to be rich himself he implies that his father is paying for his education at an exclusive school and that he knows all the right people in upper class society.
%%* In an old black'n'white movie, an actual millionaire who fell in love with a poor, aspiring actress, and pretended to be a normal guy (a traveling salesman, to be precise) because he figured she'd be intimidated if she knew. HilarityEnsues, and eventually, he's asked to act like a Mock Millionaire to fool the girl's boss, with nobody involved (except for him) realizing that he's ''actually'' a millionaire. Would probably count as a subversion...

* In ''Film/TheSecretOfMySuccess'', Michael J Fox is a lowly office worker who pretends to be a corporate executive.
* The movie ''Film/{{Metropolitan}}'' is about a group of young upper-class Manhattanites blithely passing through the gala debutante season. They are stirred by the arrival of Tom, a Mock Millionaire who's actually a middle-class boy.
* In the movie ''Film/Penelope2006'', "Max Campion," the child of a wealthy BlueBlood family that gambled away the family fortune, is recruited by a tabloid reporter to court Penelope, the reclusive daughter of a wealthy family who is secretly cursed. Her curse can only be lifted when she is accepted "by one of her own," so her parents are soliciting other blue bloods as prospective husbands and Lemon (The reporter) figures a broke blue blood can get in and will need the offered reward. It is revealed, however, that "Max" is actually Johnny, broke musician and gambler who was sitting ''next'' to Max Campion at the poker table when Lemon showed up for the recruitment.

* Jack in James Cameron's ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'' gives this a try.
* ''Film/PovertyAndNobility'': A nobleman wants to marry the daughter of a NouveauRiche commoner, but his father the aristocrat refuses to agree to his son marrying out of his class. But the son still wants to marry his commoner girlfriend and wants to impress her NouveauRiche father, so he hires a couple of dirt-poor families to dress up in borrowed clothes and pretend to be his aristocrat OldMoney family. Comic hijinks ensue.
* ''Film/TheMaskOfZorro'' has Antonio Banderas' character, a bandit, posing as a Spanish aristocrat, with the original Zorro pretending to be his valet.
* In ''Film/SomeLikeItHot'', Joe pretends to be the owner of the Shell company, even going so far as to host a dinner date on an actual millionaire's yacht to convince Marilyn Monroe's character Sugar to fall in love with him.
* In ''Film/BrainDonors'', AmbulanceChaser Roland T. Flakfizer plays the role when he inspects the opera house before the premiere.
-->''(talking on cellular phone)'' "How did the market close? Uh-huh. Well, roll over my amalgamated, split my utilities, and double my capital venture overlays. Now call me in an hour, and tell me what the hell I'm talking about!"
* In getting into character in ''Film/{{Cypher}}'', Morgan begins effecting traits of a globe-trotting playboy; wearing finer clothes, indulging in top-label scotch and cigarettes, referring to exotic locations he's traveled to on his yacht. [[spoiler: Subverted, as those are all qualities of his true personality, a genuine billionaire.]]
* A variation occurs in ''Film/{{Fitzwilly}}'', where Miss Woodworth is unaware she's a Mock Millionaire.
* Appears in ''Film/OceansEleven'' and its sequels:
** From the first movie, Saul passes himself as "Limon Zerga,", an international arms dealer. He's referred to as such in Rusty's pre-heist plan as "the Boesky," a con-man's term for someone pretending to be a wealthy man with inside information.
** Done again in ''Film/OceansThirteen'' with "The Amazing" Yen pretending to be a Chinese billionaire named Mr. Weng. When the BigBad's assistant points out that Weng doesn't come up on their standard background checks, Weng's assistant (Linus) points out that they work hard to keep his name out of such checks. On a dare, Linus suggests that Mr. Bank try to build something larger than two stories in China's Tianjin province and see if Mr. Weng's name comes up then. They maintain the image of a wealthy Chinese industrialist by having "Mr. Weng" prefer pai gow to other games.
* In ''Film/LordOfWar'', budding ArmsDealer Yuri pretends to be a millionaire to impress his supermodel wife-to-be. Of course, when his business takes off, his wealth ends up "surpassing the lies about [his] wealth".

* ''Film/WithnailAndI'': "We want the finest wines available to humanity. We want them here and we want them now!" [[BlatantLies "We are not drunks, we're multi-millionaires"]]. One of the least convincing examples of this trope.

* ''Film/TheGreatOutdoors'': Roman is a wealthy investment broker who grates on the nerves of his humble, middle-class brother-in-law Chet. In the end, it's revealed that Roman lost all of his money in a bad investment and has been keeping it a secret from his family. His goal throughout the vacation was to hit up Chet for money.
* ''Film/LadyBird'': When Lady Bird starts making friends in TheBeautifulElite, she pretends that her family is also wealthy and passes off a local mansion as her home.
* In ''Film/YoungLadyChatterleyII'', Beechum hires an actor to pose as a wealthy French count to romance Cynthia to keep her distracted from his scheme to steal the estate out from underneath her. The actor eventually comes clean when he realises exactly how underhanded Beechum is being.

* The 1965 Disney movie ''The Monkey's Uncle'' has various students at Midvale College competing in a contest for a flying machine in exchange for a wealthy donor to give a huge payday to the college. After various misadventures, they finally do it...only for the movie to end with the "donor" running from men in white coats trying to drag him back to a mental asylum as Midvale isn't the first college sent into chaos over his "contests."
* ''Fil/TheLastSummer'': Chad and Reece are mistaken for commodities traders when they go to a bar wearing their suits form a wedding rehearsal dinner and mingle there, enjoying the respect.
* ''Film/WonderWoman2017'': Sameer likes to make naive people think he's someone important, like a prince.
* ''Film/ParadiseBeach'': A gang of robbers steal a fortune, flee France and settle in Thailand where they live like princes. However, one of them did not make it out of the country and spent 15 years in a French prison. Once released, he joins his old comrades in Thailand and wants his share of the loot. The other robbers now have to explain to him that they do not really have any money and are just pretending to live the high life. They lost all the money during a tsunami that devastated the area and only survive because one of them married into a prominent local family. They appear to own restaurants, night clubs and golf courses but are really just managers and pay a lion share of their income to the patriarch of the family in exchange for protection.
* In ''Film/TheToweringInferno'' Harlee Claiborne (Fred Astaire) plays an elderly conman trying to swindle a rich widow by pretending to be rich as well. She reveals that she knows, but wants to marry him anyway- then she dies in the titular inferno.
* ''Film/DirtyRottenScoundrels'': Janet Colgate is seemingly a wealthy socialite (and the heir to a toothpaste company owner) who gets picked as the Mark for the fleecing challenge between Lawrence and Freddy. However, she turns out to be an ordinary tourist who won her vacation in a slogan contest and is only playing the socialite to fit in better, and has no money. [[spoiler:''However'', she turns out to ''actually'' be an even more cunning con artist who's playing ''them'' for all they've got.]]

* The original ''Literature/PussInBoots'' has the cat Puss convince the king his master is a nobleman.
* "Oily" Carlisle, among quite a few other Creator/PGWodehouse characters, pulls this as a scam. Several other Wodehouse characters stumble into it as well, such as Sue Brown in the Literature/BlandingsCastle novels ''Summer Lightning'' and ''Heavy Weather''.
* In an Creator/OHenry short story, "Transients in Arcadia", the hero and heroine do this to each other.
* "Literature/TheNecklace" by Creator/GuyDeMaupassant is about a woman who borrows a friend's diamond necklace for a party to pretend she's well-to-do but then loses it and spends the rest of her life trying to pay for a new one she and her husband bought to replace the lost one, only to be later told the one she lost was fake.

* The Creator/MarkTwain story ''The £1,000,000 Bank-Note'' -- a poor American traveler in London is given this by two men as part of a bet. He is expected to return it in a month. By presenting it and asking for change, he obtains a reputation as an eccentric American millionaire, obtains credit, and becomes rich in the end through investments. This story was adapted into the movie ''Film/TheMillionPoundNote'' starring Gregory Peck.
* In ''[[Literature/GemmaDoyle Rebel Angels]]'', Ann and Felicity try to convince everyone else that they have [[RagsToRoyalty become royalty.]]
* Creator/JorgeLuisBorges’ prologue to Thorstein Veblen's '' [[RichInDollarsPoorInSense Theory Of The Leisure Class]]'' provides a harsh critique of Argentinean Society:
-->''Veblen thought and wrote this book in the [[{{Eagleland}} United States]]. [[{{UsefulNotes/Argentina}} Between us,]] the phenomenon of the leisure class is more serious. Except for the very poor, every Argentine pretends to belong to that class. As a child, I have known [[RightUnderTheirNoses families during the hot summer months living secretly in his house]], to make people believe that they vacationed in a [[BigFancyHouse hypothetical summer village]] or in the city of Montevideo. One woman confided to me her intention to [[MockGuffin decorate the hall with a signed painting, certainly not by virtue of calligraphy]].''

* An episode of ''Series/{{House}}'' had Taub running into and treating his former high school classmate Neil who invites him to his fancy office and asks him for advice on improving a medical device he invented. Taub, who misses his former privileged life, had just lost a bunch of money in the housing bubble crash and had gone through a particularly humiliating day with House asks him for a job and he proposes they become business partners. Taub hands his resignation to House and goes to meet Neil with the money...and finds a secretary who tells him that Neil was just a temp using the CEO's office to con a bunch of doctors out of their money (using the "high school classmate" and fake illness ploy for all of them) and was just arrested. [[HumiliationConga Taub then spends the entire following episode trying to convince House not to fire him.]]

A Mock Millionaire is an ordinary person who is pretending to be someone who's rich, powerful, or otherwise highly influential. Maybe he's part of TheCon selling a GetRichQuickScheme, or an infatuated beau pursuing a SpoiledSweet gal, or caught up in a PrinceAndPauper or FawltyTowersPlot. Whatever the reason, expect the Mock Millionaire to play the charade UpToEleven with displays of ConspicuousConsumption, casual references to [[SceneryPorn exotic places]], lots of MoneyToThrowAway, name-dropping the [[TheBeautifulElite rich and powerful]], an UnlimitedWardrobe complete with [[HighClassGlass monocle]], and maybe "borrowing" a CoolCar or BigFancyHouse.

-->''Veblen thought and wrote this book in the [[{{Eagleland}} United States]]. [[{{UsefulNotes/Argentina}} Between us,]] the phenomenon of the leisure class [[UpToEleven is more serious]]. Except for the very poor, every Argentine pretends to belong to that class. As a child, I have known [[RightUnderTheirNoses families during the hot summer months living secretly in his house]], to make people believe that they vacationed in a [[BigFancyHouse hypothetical summer village]] or in the city of Montevideo. One woman confided to me her intention to [[MockGuffin decorate the hall with a signed painting, certainly not by virtue of calligraphy]].''

* ''Series/DoctorWho'' offers up a fairly subtle example in "Rise of the Cybermen/The Age of Steel," with the parallel-Earth version of Jackie Tyler. However, Russell T. Davies' first few drafts originally portrayed her as a much, [[UpToEleven much]] more obnoxious example--"Trash With Cash!" was how he described it. Later revisions had this come more from Jackie's personality than from her surroundings. [[spoiler: It was probably for the best, [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul considering what happens to her...]]]]

* ''Literature/JaineAustenMysteries'': In ''The PMS Murder'', it's revealed that while Ashley Morgan appears rich, she's actually up to her eyeballs in debt.

* In his Yorkshire Vet series, Creator/JamesHerriot recalls the case of the well-to-do retired Army officer who moved into Darrowby with his family and opened credit accounts everywhere he could on the strength of being a decorated ex-Major of good family. This included what in today's money would be several thousand pounds worth of vet's fees from Herriot's practice. By the time Darrowby realised it had been shaken down, the family had moved on owing thousands. That's thousands of pounds at 1930's value.

* In ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'', the Count gets a disreputable old soldier and Benedetto, a career criminal, [[spoiler:and son of one of Dantes' enemies]] to pose as father and son and pretend to be wealthy Italian aristocrats. Dantes as the Count might also count (pardon the pun) -- he is legitimately wealthy, but he's posing as an aristocrat, although being familiar with the peerage, the other character know that the island of Monte Cristo doesn't have a count.
** Technically he's really a Count, but he bought the title, rather than inherited or earned it. Owning land is one of the requirements, so he used the uninhabited island of Monte Cristo for this purpose.

* "Literature/TheNecklace" by Creator/GuyDeMaupassant is about a woman who borrows a friend's diamond necklace for a party to pretend she's well-to-do but then loses it and spends the rest of her life trying to pay for a new one, only to be later told the one she lost was fake.

* In ''TheToweringInferno''Harlee Claiborne (Fred Astaire) plays an elderly conman trying to swindle a rich widow by pretending to be rich as well. She reveals that she knows, but wants to marry him anyway- then she dies in the titular inferno.

* Sasahara Kojirou in ''Manga/{{Nichijou}}'' wears a ClassyCravat, puts on airs about being his family's eldest son, and in general acts like an UpperClassTwit, but his family are farmers, which explains why his beloved pet is a goat.