Note: a helpful commenter pointed out that this story is actually several years old. I misread the date. Because it is still an interesting story I am posting it back up.
A couple weeks ago Slate magazine asked the question “Who is Robert Klingler?” This led to the larger question, “How do you know the person on the other side of your email conversation isn’t a dog?” [thanks for the tip Sanjay]
In the famous New Yorker cartoon by Peter Steiner, a dog seated in front of a PC turns to his canine colleague and boasts, “On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”
Although dogs have not logged onto the Internet in the numbers Web visionaries predicted in the early ’90s, Steiner’s lesson still stands: You can never be too sure that your fascinating e-mail correspondent isn’t a barking imposter. Last week, Slate got taken by an Internet dog when it published the diary of “Robert Klingler,” an individual who claimed in e-mails and on the telephone to be the CEO of BMW’s North American operations.
Slate published two installments of Klingler’s projected weeklong diary before discovering his ruse on Tuesday, March 5. When told by BMW that no Robert Klingler worked there, Slate disavowed both diary entries, and I published this mea culpa, “Slate Gets Duped.” I explained that Klingler had “spoofed” his e-mail address to make it appear that it had originated from the car manufacturer.
So who was Robert Klingler? I unfortunately can’t do this article justice and strongly urge you to read it for yourself but, I will attempt to summarize enough of it to give you a flavor.
Slate believes that it first encountered the man doing business as Robert Klingler through “The Fray,” the discussion area where Slate readers and writers mix it up. On Oct. 31, 2001, Slate “Fray” editor Moira Redmond received an e-mail signed by “Rob Klingler” in which he responded to the Slate “Diary” Redmond was writing that week. Redmond had made a joke about hoping that Mercedes-Benz might make the gift of a new car to her. Klingler wrote:
From: RDesai3109@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 31, 2001 5:54 AM
To: frayeditor@slate.com
Subject: would a BMW do?
Just kidding. Thanks for an enjoyable diaryâand yes, I am the North American head of BMW. The next time I run into Jurgen Schrempp (the actual head of Daimler Chrysler), I’ll pass along your request for a Mercedes freebie, although why you would want one is beyond me.
Warm regards,
Rob Klingler
Although the letter was signed “Rob Klingler,” the return e-mail address was rdesai3109@aol.com. The “Internet header” info accompanying the e-mail, which tracks the hops that an e-mail makes from sender to recipient, seems consistent with a mail originating from rdesai3109@aol.com. In other words, the address was not spoofed.
rdesai3109 turned out to be one Ravi Desai. Slate excellently explains how he was tracked down via his internet footprints and reveals the myriad of other exploits perpetrated by the grifter.
According to Ravi Desai’s estranged wife, Jennifer Desai, the two resided at 2101 Mills Avenue, Menlo Park, CA 94025, from 1997 until the summer of 1999, when they broke up.
… Who is Ravi Gunvant Desai? Jennifer Desai gives a stoic interview. She’s become all too familiar with the Ravi stories, such as those reported in Eli Sanders’ Ravi Desai feature in the Seattle Times. Almost one year ago today, Sanders detailed the prank that Desai pulled on the University of Washington. In October 1999, Desai told the school via e-mail of his desire to support its poetry program with a $2 million gift. In February 2000, the school celebrated the pledge by throwing a $10,000 party in Desai’s honor. But as recently as 2001, Desai had given the university only $6,770, according to Sanders. Desai also told Sanders that he would eventually make good on the pledge. He hasn’t.
The carnival of Desai bunkum uncovered by Sanders goes on and on: Desai also pledged $150,000 to North Carolina’s Warren Wilson College. The University of Florida expected to get $2 million from him. He told the University of New Hampshire $1 million was on the way. The pledges, needless to say, have not been fulfilled. He formed the Desai Foundation, placing former U.S. poet laureate (and Slate contributor) Robert Pinsky on the board. Pinsky never received the $2,500 quarterly stipend Desai had offered them. (Desai told the Times that he never offered board members money.) Among Sanders’ greatest scoops comes this: He reports that Desai married Christine Klingler on April 2000 at Lake Tahoe, even though he was still wedded to Jennifer Desai. Christine Klingler’s father, Paul Klingler of Concord, Calif., hung up on me when I called and asked if he would answer some questions about Ravi Desai.
As I read the rest of this article about Ravi Desai’s real and fictional exploits, I kept thinking that if only I had six uninterrupted months I could turn his story into a Hollywood screenplay and make a killing. Perhaps one of you can instead.
