A con artist made these chilling confessions. Then a criminologist dissected every word

The Age

19-05-2025

David Prince-Popovich was asked if his ex-boyfriend, who once described him as the love of his life, was right to call him a narcissistic sociopath.
'Yeah,' the convicted con artist replied. 'I think I have those tendencies.'
At just 25 years of age, the French-born Australian has spent time in jail for manipulating his then-partner into lending him $130,000 with a false bank document and an empty promise of repayment. Dubbed the ' Playboy Swindler ', he used dating apps as his hunting ground.
In a rare confession, he gave this masthead exclusive insight into his dark mind and explained how he lived a life of lies and deceit.
After admitting to collectively scamming at least a dozen victims out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, he claimed he is trying to change and wants to warn others not to be deceived by someone like him.
But those he's hurt think of the private jets, top-shelf champagne and $600 dinners he enjoyed with stolen money and false identities, fearing he may never truly want to change.
In the hope of helping to prevent others from falling victim to scammers who target their own loved ones, a leading criminologist has dissected his chilling behaviour, questioning if he's even capable of becoming a better person.
Prince Charming's mask fooled many. Not this expert.
Prince-Popovich sat down in the interview chair, cleared his throat and, when asked who he was, replied: 'A convicted fraudster.'
'I think I've hurt a lot of people in my time, and it's not something I'm proud of … and I need to own up to it,' he said.
'It's hard for me to stop something I've been doing my whole life, and I find myself doing it without even knowing.'
Ever since he could remember, Prince-Popovich had held a 'very narcissistic trait'.
'At the time, I don't think I did feel anything,' he said.
'I could build relationships with people, and then discard it and discard them, and still be able to sleep at night. And I don't think I could any more.'
His manipulation began during childhood. Born in France, his mother died in a car crash when he was a toddler. His aunt adopted him and the family moved to Australia.
He described being placed in foster care in both countries. His adoptive mother, however, said he was sent to France to live with relatives to address troubling behaviour.
Seeking approval, he would lie about his family's wealth to be liked.
While he claims fear of abandonment has driven most of his crimes, an associate professor of criminology at Central Queensland University, Xanthe Mallett, had her doubts.
Analysing a two-hour interview with Prince-Popovich, conducted by this Herald journalist, she said his childhood trauma 'could certainly be impactful' but that he displayed 'innate behavioural traits' of 'a lack of guilt, sympathy and remorse'.
'People with trauma can have problems in later life, but that doesn't excuse his behaviours,' she said.
'This is a man who hasn't just told small lies ... he's done really extravagant things – and he knows right from wrong.'
Though her assessment was not a formal one, Mallett described seeing traits of a non-violent sociopath or psychopath.
Both terms, she said, refer to people with anti-social personality disorders who do not generally feel empathy, remorse, love or guilt. The difference is that sociopaths are generally more reactive, impulsive and unpredictable, whereas psychopaths are more premeditated, manipulative and superficially charming.
Prince-Popovich said he had been diagnosed with depression but no personality disorder.
Watching him speak, Mallett said his soft voice and 'contrived' expressions suggested he was 'performing' again.
'From what I know of him, he's charismatic and fun – that's how he conned people. That's not the man we're seeing here,' she said.
'I think he's very good at playing a part. I haven't believed a word that he's said.'
Scamming became 'second nature'
In a frank admission, Prince-Popovich described his life as a 'pyramid scheme'.
'I was lying to multiple different people to make up for lies that I've told someone else,' he said.
'Everywhere that I moved to, I did the same thing. Same stories, but different.'
It 'became second nature' – apparently not done for the thrill.
Each new lover or friend would hear the recycled claim of having a multimillion-dollar French trust fund, backed by fake bank balances shown on his phone and fed with stolen money that funded luxurious holidays on jets and helicopters.
Among the cruellest of his scams was convincing then-partner Ben Madden to send him $130,000 for a legal battle with an ex-boyfriend. He faked a $500,000 bank balance to prove he could repay Madden from the 'trust fund'.
Madden eventually realised the repayments were not coming. Prince-Popovich was later jailed for a maximum of 12 months.
Reflecting, he said he 'felt terrible', but he also added that Madden 'helped [him] spend the money'. Asked if he loved Madden, he said he did not.
Pressed on whether this was his biggest scam, he replied: 'I wouldn't consider that a scam. Yes, I deceived him and lied to him.'
Mallett said this phrasing spoke volumes.
'He's played the victim,' she said.
'He has tried to blame some of [his victims] … make them seem complicit in some of this. And he's denying the seriousness or even that some of these are scams when they clearly are.'
Another former lover, whom Prince-Popovich said was right to call him a narcissistic sociopath, recalled the 'shattering' moment he discovered Prince-Popovich had applied for a $20,000 loan application in his name when a notification appeared in the corner of his laptop screen while they lived together. It wasn't the only application made without his knowledge.
Prince-Popovich said he remembered that moment and 'it was hard' to reflect on.
'I think there's been a lot of opportunities in my life that could have changed my life for the better, but I've somehow stuffed it up.'
Fortunately, the loans were cancelled before any serious damage was caused. He admitted not knowing how much more he might have tried to take if he was not caught.
Mallett was unconvinced of his remorse.
'Somehow he managed to 'stuff up' by putting in false loan applications,' she said.
'That's not an error, it's not a slip. It's an intentional act to defraud someone he is saying he cares deeply for. So he's making out like … he doesn't really know how it happened, but actually, he knows exactly how it happened.'
Prince-Popovich compared himself to the Netflix show Inventing Anna. The series is inspired by the true story of Anna Sorokin, who impersonated a German heiress and conned New York's social elite out of millions.
'I had some similarities … the jets, the lying to people, extravagant vacations, trust funds.'
For years, he even claimed he was a pilot, dressing the part with a Qantas lanyard and epaulettes he bought online.
Many of his lies were always going to unravel. That's why his relationships always 'had an end date' – eventually they would crumble, and he would disappear, moving on to the next target. He would not meet people intending to steal from them, he said, but the relationship became manipulative.
He admitted he had hidden his true self with 'the majority, if not all' people who had loved him.
What would he call his biggest scam? Faking transactions to appear to pay for a $30,000 private jet trip with a group of new friends.
'It was thought out and planned … [but] it wasn't well thought-out, either,' Prince-Popovich said.
'In a way, I was bound to get caught for it. And I think I was just living in the moment.'
Post-jail, his dishonesty continued. In early 2023, he offered $860,000 for a house in Launceston, Tasmania. He sent a receipt as proof of sending the $50,000 deposit to the real estate agent, but cancelled the transfer minutes later.
For several weeks, Prince-Popovich gave endless excuses for why the deposit had not landed in the agent's account.
Just days before settlement, he became uncontactable, costing the owner tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees and lost rental earnings.
'I definitely deceived the real estate agent by cancelling that transfer [and] by agreeing to enter into a contract to begin with,' he said.
Why did he do it? 'Not sure,' he said.
Then, in September 2023, he was extradited to Sydney over more fraud charges, including a $5000 unpaid boat party in Sydney Harbour.
Two peculiar twists followed: former Queensland premier Rob Borbidge paid $8000 in legal fees to help him, and Prince-Popovich claimed to prison staff that he had leukaemia.
Borbidge said he was trying to mentor a troubled young man and was not aware of the full extent of Prince-Popovich's criminal history.
Asked about when he was diagnosed with cancer, Prince-Popovich said: 'Mid-2023, no, the end of 2024, I think. It was before prison.'
In April last year, a Queensland magistrate said he had told the court he could not travel to that state to face other outstanding fraud charges because he was receiving treatment for leukaemia. However, he told this masthead he had never received chemotherapy and his leukaemia is at 'stage one … a 'watch and act' type thing'.
When asked for proof of his leukaemia diagnosis, he merely sent referrals for tests and scans.
Prince-Popovich was adamant he had not lied about cancer to avoid court, saying there were other reasons he could not appear and would 'not be gaining anything' from claiming that.
'Oh my God, I'm not Belle Gibson.'
However, he admitted lying about cancer before, crying in former colleagues' arms about his adoptive mother's 'terminal cancer' and pretending she died just to get time off work. She was alive and well.
A 'mea culpa' and The Boy Who Cried Wolf
The scammer's second stint in custody, about a month spent on remand in late-2023, was, he said, the wake-up call he needed.
'I know I do wrong things, but until I am arrested and extradited and put in jail, it really doesn't sink in,' he said.
Prince-Popovich said reading this masthead's earlier article exposing his crimes deepened this epiphany.
'I do have a lot of sleepless nights these days, and I've never felt like that before,' he said.
'I've never felt guilty about hurting anyone before. But I need to change, and my actions need to stop.'
Until recently, there was a warrant out for Prince-Popovich's arrest in Queensland over fraud charges dating to 2021. Weeks ago, he was arrested in Cairns, and those charges are proceeding through the courts.
Asked why anyone should believe he is trying to change, he said he has 'everything to lose and nothing to gain' by speaking out and 'admitting to things I've been doing my whole life'.
'I think I needed to do this to be able to move on and be able to be better.'
But Mallett believed he did have things to gain: sympathy and a chance to counter negative publicity.
There may be some truth in his desire to turn over a new leaf, she said, but it should be taken with 'a heavy dose of scepticism' as 'leopards fundamentally don't change their spots'.
Despite insisting he wants to change, Prince-Popovich admitted uncertainty about whether his 'narcissistic tendencies' could ever be 'cured'.
'I think when it's as severe as what I've been demonstrating ... I don't know. I'm hoping it is, but it's really hard,' he said.
And does he trust himself?
'Absolutely not … I think I'm more afraid of myself than anything else.'
That self-fear was a far cry from the charming and confident mask he wore for his victims, one that made his true colours dangerously difficult to detect.
Even the most intelligent people could be deceived by those with 'extreme personalities', Mallett said, but there were usually red flags.
Often, many stories won't add up. Even Prince-Popovich conceded pathological liars struggle to keep up with their web of lies.
Mallett said instead of genuinely feeling certain emotions, some people may mirror what they see in others.
'If you get that sense that their expressions are not matching their words … then listen to your instincts,' she said.
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While cautioning people against being wary of everyone they meet, Mallett urged them to 'do some digging' if they felt 'something isn't quite right'.
For so long, Prince-Popovich's way with words helped him excel as a master manipulator.
'Actions speak louder,' he said, vowing his would eventually prove his intent to be better.
Has he at least begun to change?
'I wouldn't say I'm living an honest life because there's still stuff out there. I need to fix everything else first, and maybe in a few years I can respond 'yes' to that.'
But, like the boy who cried wolf, he may face an enduring challenge. Liars are rarely believed, even when they speak the truth.