Scamfluencers
by Audible Original
Society & CultureE · Explicit
Latest episode
LISTEN NOW: The First Wife
LISTEN NOW: The First Wife
About this podcast
You never really know someone…especially online. In today’s world, the power of influence can be the quickest path to money and fame, and it often ends in ruin. These are the stories of the world’s most insidious Scamfluencers. And we are their prey. Join co-hosts Scaachi Koul and Sarah Hagi as they unpack epic stories of deception from the worlds of social media, fashion, finance, health, and wellness. These influencers claim to be everything from charismatic healers to trusted financial insiders to experts in dating. They cast spells over millions. Why do we believe them, and how does our culture allow them to thrive? From Black Swan Murder to a fake social media influencer to an audacious Hollywood Ponzi schemer, each season will take the listener along the twists and turns, the impact on victims, and what’s left when the facade falls away.
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Episodes
The newest 50 of 154 episodes
- LISTEN NOW: The First Wife · 9 minMany listened to the Dirty John podcast, which introduced the world to John Meehan, a dangerous serial predator who infiltrates the life of Debra Newell and ultimately dies at…
- Buford Pusser: The Lying Lawman | 238 · 57 min · Episode 238Buford Pusser was a small-town Tennessee sheriff who conned an entire country into believing he was a hero. He inspired a film franchise, folk songs, and multiple books – all…
- You Can See Everything: Elizabeth Holmes, Up Close and Impersonal | 239 · 54 min · Episode 239Elizabeth Holmes checks off so many 21st century buzzwords: girlboss, tech founder, media darling, and fraudster. Now, she’s the subject of one of the buzziest documentaries in…
- Nevin Shapiro: Gameday Grifter | 237 · 58 min · Episode 237When Nevin Shapiro becomes a booster for his beloved Miami Hurricanes, he doesn’t just want to root for his favorite team – he wants to be their go-to guy. To one who leads the…
- Listen Now— Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe · 7 minA Hollywood stuntwoman turned personal injury attorney. A handsome disbarred lawyer with a dark past. And an elaborate scheme that leads to murder.Vanessa Motta gives up a career…
- Rosie Keo & Samantha Barbash: In the Club, We All Scammed | 236 · 54 min · Episode 236Back in the 2000s, Rosie Keo is a scrappy young single mom barely making rent – until she meets Samantha Barbash, a seasoned dancer who shows Rosie that the real money isn’t on…
- Listen Now: My Mom’s Murder · 5 minLauren Malloy was a baby when her mother, Lori, was murdered in East Providence, Rhode Island. For thirty years, no one told her. Everyone said Lori died of natural causes. Then…
- David J. Friedland: Swimming with the Sharks | 235 · 57 min · Episode 235David J. Friedland spent the 60s and 70s climbing the ranks of New Jersey’s Democratic political machine – greasing palms, brokering backroom deals, and making sure every…
- Kevin Trudeau: As Schemed on TV | 234 · 58 min · Episode 234Before he was a bestselling author and late-night TV fixture, Kevin Trudeau was hustling his way through multilevel marketing schemes. He worked his way onto infomercials, then…
- Bridgegate: The Phantom Tollbooth | 233 · 1 h 0 min · Episode 233The Bridgegate scandal was a prime example of New Jersey political corruption at its most ridiculous. At the center was Chris Christie – the brash Republican governor riding a…
- Carl Rinsch: Lights, Camera, Fraud | 232 · 57 min · Episode 232Carl Rinsch had everything Hollywood loves in an up-and-coming director: talent, charisma, and the ability to make people believe. His obsessive perfectionism was written off as…
- Milli Vanilli: Girl You Know It’s (Not) True | 231 · 56 min · Episode 231When news broke that Milli Vanilli were lip-syncing frauds, it was a defining moment in pop-culture. Forty years later, their name is still synonymous with fakery. But Rob and…
- ENCORE: Martha Stewart: The Homemaker Hustler Part 2 | 230 · 43 min · Episode 230We’ll be back next week with a brand new episode of Scamfluencers. In the meantime, enjoy the conclusion of Martha Stewart: the Homemaker Hustler: In the summer of 2003, Martha…
- Encore: Martha Stewart: The Homemaker Hustler Part 1 | 229 · 40 min · Episode 229We’ll be back in two weeks with new episodes, but in the meantime, we’re revisiting an episode about one of America’s most famous lifestyle moguls:Martha Stewart spends decades…
- Sam Israel: Greed Is Good Part 2 | 228 · 53 min · Episode 228This is part two of our series about Sam Israel – a wealthy hedge fund manager whose company starts quickly hemorrhaging money. Rather than admit defeat, Sam lies to his clients…
- Sam Israel: Greed Is Good Part 1 | 227 · 49 min · Episode 227Sam Israel was born into wealth, but he wanted to prove he could make it on Wall Street on his own. So he started a hedge fund – and almost immediately started losing money. But…
- Miracle Children: The Price of Admission | 226 · 57 min · Episode 226T.M Landry was a small independent school in Louisiana that gained national fame for sending kids from disadvantaged backgrounds to Ivy League schools. The viral videos were…
- Juliette D’Souza: The Sham Shaman | 225 · 57 min · Episode 225Juliette D’Souza had no medical degree and no spiritual training – but she convinced her clients she was a gifted healer and shaman. For more than a decade, her natural charm…
- Martin Armstrong: The Man Who Bet Billions on Pi | 224 · 1 h 2 min · Episode 224Martin Armstrong is a Wall Street outsider who builds a financial prediction model with a hidden connection to the number pi. And whether it’s fortune-telling or just a fluke…
- The Wildenstein Family Part 2: The Art of the Steal | 223 · 55 min · Episode 223In our last episode, we followed the Wildenstein family over the span of four generations as they came to dominate the art world. The family prized success – and secrecy – above…
- The Wildenstein Family Part 1: The Art of the Steal | 222 · 54 min · Episode 222For over a century, the Wildenstein family has quietly dominated the art world, amassing one of the largest private collections ever assembled while most people have never even…
- Bill Mize: The Car Crash King | 221 · 1 h 0 min · Episode 221Bill Mize always believed he was destined for fortune – he just couldn’t figure out how to get it. After flaming out as a restaurateur and drug dealer, Bill finally found his…
- Trevor Milton: The Elon Musk of Semi-Trucks | 220 · 1 h 4 min · Episode 220Trevor Milton called himself a serial entrepreneur and his playbook was simple: pick a futuristic idea, promise it will change the world… then talk about it constantly online…
- John McAfee: The Antisocial Virus | 219 · 1 h 2 min · Episode 219John McAfee was a brilliant but volatile programmer who helped pioneer antivirus software, making himself a fortune in the early days of personal computing. But he had an…
- ENCORE: Lance Armstrong: Tour De Fraud | 218 · 46 min · Episode 218We’ll be back next week with new episodes. In the meantime, in honor of next month’s Tour de France, we’re revisiting one of the most infamous sports scandals of the early…
- ENCORE: Rod Blagojevich: All the Governor’s Men | 217 · 45 min · Episode 217We’ll be back soon with all new episodes. In the meantime, enjoy this episode about Rod Blagojevich, the infamous governor of Illinois who used his office to line his pockets.Rod…
- ENCORE: Jho Low: How to Buy Friends and Influence People | 216 · 44 min · Episode 216We’ll be back soon with new episodes. In the meantime, enjoy this episode about Jho Low, the fraudster who charmed Hollywood’s elite while allegedly stealing over $4 billion from…
- Kyle Sandler: The Alabama Startup Scam | 215 · 55 min · Episode 215Kyle Sandler spent much of his life searching – for an identity, for a purpose, for a place where he fit in. But when he discovers he has a gift for sales, everything changes…
- Marianne Smyth: The Fake Irish Heiress | 214 · 59 min · Episode 214For years, globe-trotting con artist Marianne Smyth used her charm to manipulate the people closest to her – including her own daughters. Her scam was a classic: she told people…
- Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz: A Farewell to Arms | 213 · 1 h 1 min · Episode 213Efraim Diveroli and David Packouz were two Miami Beach stoners with zero military experience and absolutely no background in military procurement – but they had audacity to…
- Bess Myerson: Miss America on Trial | 212 · 1 h 0 min · Episode 212Bess Myerson rose to fame as the first - and still only - Jewish Miss America, antisemitism on the pageant circuit. She parlayed this visibility into a successful television…
- Eddie Antar: The Criminal Antics of Crazy Eddie | 211 · 55 min · Episode 211Eddie Antar was the king of the deal, the man whose ads screamed at you from your TV set promising prices so low they were practically insane. He turned Crazy Eddie into a retail…
- William Neil Gallagher: The Money Doctor | 210 · 55 min · Episode 210William Neil Gallagher has been called the Bernie Madoff of North Texas. But while both men defrauded millions of people, William added an evangelical twist. Presenting himself…
- Sean Kingston: Beautiful Lies | 209 · 52 min · Episode 209When Sean Kinsgston burst onto the music scene as a teenager, he seemed like a feel-good success story – an upbeat, clean-cut star collaborating with artists like Justin Bieber…
- Dana Giacchetto - Swindler to the Stars | 208 · 60 min · Episode 208In the late ‘90s, Dana Giacchetto wasn’t just managing money, he was managing access. As a financial advisor to Hollywood’s elite, he moved in the same orbit as rising stars like…
- ENCORE: Making Up The Grade: The College Admissions Scandal | 207 · 47 min · Episode 207We’ll be back next week with new episodes. In the meantime, enjoy this episode about the college admissions scandal that swept up some of the richest families in Hollywood.Rick…
- ENCORE: Ozy Media: Pivot to Fraud | 206 · 46 min · Episode 206We’ll be back in two weeks with brand new episodes. In the meantime, here’s one of our favorite episodes, about a wannabe media magnate whose big vision ran on even bigger…
- ENCORE: Melissa Caddick: Trouble Afoot | 205 · 42 min · Episode 205We’ll be back soon with brand new episodes – but for now, revisit the story of an Australian financial planner who swindled those closest to her….and then disappeared without a…
- Bernard Lafferty: The Billionaire Butler | 204 · 57 min · Episode 204Born into staggering wealth, Doris Duke lived a life that dazzled the public and confounded those closest to her. She was pursued by society figures, fortune hunters, and even a…
- Pat Nolan: Here Comes the Bribe | 203 · 54 min · Episode 203In the 1980s, Pat Nolan was one of California’s most powerful conservative lawmakers – pushing to shrink the government and expand the death penalty, while quickly climbing the…
- The Salt Path: A Long Walk From the Truth | 202 · 54 min · Episode 202In 2018, a previously unknown writer named Sally Walker became a literary sensation in the UK under the pseudonym Raynor Winn. Her memoir – a stirring account of walking the…
- Jerry Jacobson: The Real Hamburglar | 201 · 54 min · Episode 201Since its launch in 1987, McDonald’s Monopoly game has become a cultural obsession, with millions of people buying Big Macs and fries, convinced they might be one peel away from…
- Matt Bergwall: Return to Sender | 200 · 43 min · Episode 200When Matt Bergwall arrives at the University of Miami in the spring of 2021, he’s young, tech-savvy, and bored. After discovering a vulnerability in corporate refund systems, he…
- Napoleon Hill: The Self-Help Scammer Scion | 199 · 56 min · Episode 199Napoleon Hill spent decades claiming he was mentored by millionaires and advised U.S. presidents – at a time when almost no one could fact check him. Obsessed with becoming rich…
- Brittish Williams: Out of Bounds | 198 · 47 min · Episode 198Brittish Williams was an instant standout when she first joined the cast of VH1’s Basketball Wives, a reality series following the wives, girlfriends and exes of professional…
- Charlie Javice: Fake It Til You Make It | 197 · 1 h 4 min · Episode 197In the early 2000s, Charlie Javice dreamed of saving the world… and getting rich in the process. Backed by privilege and proximity to power, she raised money for a series of…
- ENCORE: Billy Mitchell: Truth or Kong-sequences | 196 · 50 min · Episode 196We’ll be back next week with a brand new episode. In the meantime, we’re taking you back to a time when arcades were sacred – and Donkey Kong was king.Billy Mitchell became the…
- ENCORE: Sandy Jenkins: Have Your Cake And Steal It, Too | 195 · 42 min · Episode 195We’ll be back in two weeks with a brand new episode. In the meantime, here’s one of our favorites: an unlikely scam baked up in a small Texas town. Sandy Jenkins moves to the…
- Lawless Planet: A Polygamist Cult-Leader’s Billion-Dollar Biofuel Scam | 194 · 50 min · Episode 194We’ll be back soon with brand new episodes. In the meantime, we’re sharing an episode from our friends at Lawless Planet, hosted by Zach Goldbaum. Lawless Planet is a podcast…
- The Cipriani Family: Bribes and Bellinis | 193 · 44 min · Episode 193For nearly a century the Cipriani family has served celebrities, royalty, and cultural icons. Since opening their first restaurant in Venice in 1931, they’ve helped shape fine…
