Scamfluencers
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We’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 lies.Carlos Watson ...
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- 5 months ago
45:43
In the 1970s, Studio 54 stood as the ultimate temple of disco, decadence, and hedonism. Lifelong friends and business partners Steve Rubell and Ian Schrager curated a coveted guest list, deci...
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- 9 months ago
54:32
At the CIA, Rick Ames had a reputation as a middling agent with a drinking problem and a knack for skating by. But despite poor performance reviews, Rick just kept failing up. As he landed bi...
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- 9 months ago
54:17
We’ll be back next week with a brand new episode. In the meantime, we’re taking you back to the 1980s – a time of greed, glamour, and Wall Street excess – and revisiting the story of the “Jun...
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- 9 months ago
01:06:26
Senator Bob Menendez and his wife have just been indicted for wheeling and dealing with the government of Egypt, along with many other crimes. In a bid to save his career, Bob throws his co-c...
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- 9 months ago
35:25
When her Ponzi scheme starts to crumble – and her husband dies under mysterious circumstances – Natalie Cochran plays the perfect victim: a widowed mother of two, supposedly battling cancer w...
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- 10 months ago
49:45
Conrad Black turned ownership of a single Canadian newspaper into a global media empire, and he used his wealth and status to cozy up to conservative superstars like Magaret Thatcher and Henr...
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- 1 year ago
55:36
After her latest biography flopped, Lee Israel was hard up for money to buy booze and cat food. So, she used her research skills to access celebrity letters in prominent archives, stealing th...
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- 1 year ago
47:53
Billy Mitchell became the king of arcade games when he achieved a perfect Pac Man score, and held the highest score in Donkey Kong. But in the early 2000s, a documentary about an upstart tryi...
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- 1 year ago
48:15
The Matharoo sisters have gone from globe-trotting tastemakers to detained prisoners. Stuck in an airport hotel without their passports or phones, they decide to take matters into their own h...
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- 1 year ago
36:40
While we work on some brand-new episodes, we’re returning to one of our very first episodes about two jet-setting sisters from Canada, Kiran and Jyoti Matharoo. In 2016, a mysterious apology ...
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- 1 year ago
37:25
When Priscila Barbosa moves to Boston from Brazil in 2018, she sets out to pay off her debts and send money back home by driving for rideshare platforms like Uber and Lyft. Eventually, she de...
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- 1 year ago
53:26
In the midst of the Great Depression, out-of-work salesman Charles Darrow sold the board game he created, Monopoly, to Parker Brothers. The game was an overnight success, and Charles became a...
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- 1 year ago
44:04
In 1997 Beverly Dollarhide hears miraculous news: her missing son, Nicholas, has been found in Spain. But the person she thinks is her teenage son is actually a grown man, a well known French...
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- 1 year ago
54:06
Joe Francis created an empire of spring break smut with the “Girls Gone Wild” video series. But the story behind the alcohol-fueled antics is darker than you think. Scaachi interviews Jamila ...
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- 1 year ago
48:51
In the second part of this two-part epic, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker go their separate ways and carve out very different paths — but they both still love being in the spotlight. Tammy becomes ...
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- 1 year ago
37:53
This month a musical featuring a Scamfluencers alum closed its doors on Broadway. Tammy Faye featured music by Elton John and told the story of a televangelist who stole America’s heart with ...
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- 1 year ago
39:50
Be the first to know about Wondery’s newest podcasts, curated recommendations, and more! Sign up now at https://wondery.fm/wonderynewsletterListen to Scamfluencers on the Wondery App or where...
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- 1 year ago
36:53
At the turn of the century, Manhattan social climber John Gluck stepped in to answer children' s letters to Santa. But as soon as donations started flooding into his newly formed Santa Claus ...
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- 1 year ago
45:25
In this episode we examine America’s favorite pastime: gambling. With loosening regulations, the explosion of online betting sites, and the full support of major sports leagues, sportsbetting...
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- 1 year ago
52:56
Come join Sarah and Scaachi for a very Scamfluencers holiday special. We’ll give thanks to the scammers we’ll never forget, review our naughty and slightly-less-naughty list, and roast the on...
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- 1 year ago
45:30
Senator Bob Menendez and his wife have just been indicted for wheeling and dealing with the government of Egypt, along with many other crimes. In a bid to save his career, Bob throws his co-c...
- 1
- 1 year ago
35:25
Bob Menendez rode an anti-corruption reputation to the highest levels of the New Jersey political machine. But as he ascends to the U.S. Senate, he realizes he can raise money the good old-fa...
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- 1 year ago
44:21
Yolanda Saldívar’s whole life is Tejano music, especially the genre’s biggest rising star: Selena Quintanilla. Yolanda works her way into Selena’s inner circle, first as leader of her fan clu...
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- 1 year ago
44:05
Matthew Cox wanted to prove his haters—especially his dad—wrong, so he goes into real estate in Florida and quickly gets involved in “light fraud.” That quickly expands to very real fraud and...
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- 1 year ago
46:49
Garth Drabinsky overcomes a sickly childhood to become a world-famous theater producer, bringing big shows like Phantom of the Opera and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat to his na...
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- 1 year ago
43:45
Fueled by cocaine and daddy issues, Richard Bandler revolutionized self-help by developing an approach called Neuro-Linguistic Programming — which is essentially mental manipulation. Richard ...
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- 1 year ago
45:05
When Elon Musk bid to buy Twitter for $44 billion, he made headlines for the mess that followed — including flip flopping on the deal and immediately firing most of the site’s employees. In t...
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- 1 year ago
40:31
Jack Abramoff has schemed his way to the top of right-wing politics, skimming off the top of every lobbying deal he makes. But when burned clients expose his scam to Congress, Jack is forced ...
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- 1 year ago
40:00
Jack Abramoff got his start bending the rules while he was still in elementary school… and never stopped. At first, he works to advance right-wing causes he believes in. Jack’s principles sta...
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- 1 year ago
43:06
Ski-obsessed Bill Stenger has big dreams for his sleepy Vermont mountain town. He pairs with a wealthy businessman to tap into an obscure government program that funnels millions from foreign...
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- 1 year ago
45:55
Before she became the most infamous dance teacher in America, Abby Lee Miller ran a struggling dance studio in Pittsburgh. Shortly after declaring bankruptcy, she gets the break of a lifetime...
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- 2 years ago
48:17
Lance Armstrong’s determination to win helps him survive cancer and become cycling’s biggest star in the early 2000s. But his ruthless desire to be the best leads him to create a secret cheat...
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- 2 years ago
44:34
In the late 90s, the UK Post Office rolls out a new computer accounting system they know is full of glitches. Then, it spends two decades covering up its mistake. When small, mom-and-pop shop...
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- 2 years ago
42:47
Ruth Handler is a mom and small business owner when a sex doll gives her inspiration for a toy that will change everything: Barbie. She becomes the proto-Girl Boss who’s willing to lie, cheat...
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- 2 years ago
42:45
After a Texas oil bust forces him into bankruptcy, Allen Stanford looked abroad for a new opportunity: starting an off-shore bank in Antigua and using client money as his own personal piggyba...
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- 2 years ago
44:55
Steve Madden transforms from Long Island screw-up to fashion icon thanks to an eye for fashionable footwear and an addiction to work. But to get his shoe brand off the ground, Steve got entan...
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- 2 years ago
46:52
Leona Helmsley escapes Depression-era poverty by marrying billionaire real estate magnate Harry Helmsley. She takes over his Manhattan hotels and declares herself Queen of the Palace, then ea...
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- 2 years ago
44:27
Sandy Jenkins moves to the gossipy, small town of Corsicana, Texas to work in the town’s world-famous fruitcake factory. Desperate to keep up with his cliquey neighbors, Sandy starts cutting ...
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- 2 years ago
40:16
When ex-cop Chris Butler opens a private investigation agency, he recruits some unlikely employees: good-looking soccer moms. His agency starts garnering tons of positive press and even gets ...
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- 2 years ago
38:53
Nate Holzapfel is a natural salesman. When he goes on the television show “Shark Tank” in 2012, he wows investors with his line of ratchet-style belts, which he claims are “like a giant zip t...
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- 2 years ago
41:38
Alexandre Despallieres gets to live out his lifelong fantasy of recording a pop song when he’s just 19 years old. He thinks it’s his chance to achieve everything he’s always wanted, including...
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- 2 years ago
44:33
Martha Stewart spends decades building her lifestyle empire from the ground up. Her cut-throat business savvy helps make her America’s first self-made female billionaire. But when she becomes...
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- 2 years ago
38:27
Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker get their start in Christian broadcasting in the early 1960s and quickly become television superstars. As their fame explodes, they build an empire complete with the...
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- 2 years ago
38:49
Melissa Caddick has always dreamed of doing big things. When she becomes a high-powered financial planner, she’s finally able to buy a huge house, take extravagant vacations, and live the lif...
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- 2 years ago
40:09
Tom Girardi dreams of being a do-gooder lawyer like his childhood hero on the TV show “Perry Mason.” When he starts his own legal firm in the 1960s, he does just that, representing clients ag...
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- 3 years ago
41:18
David Bunevacz is the king of faking it ‘til you make it. After running a shady Olympics ticket brokering scheme, he moves on to his most lucrative venture yet: A weed vape company that seems...
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- 3 years ago
38:46
In the mid-90s, Dr. Mehmet Oz is a rock star surgeon with a reputation for performing on high-profile clients. He eventually scores his own television show, and soon he becomes daytime televi...
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- 3 years ago
41:56
In the early 1980s, Lou Pearlman is riding high… literally. He rakes in millions of dollars from his blimp company — thanks to an insurance scam — and his private jet company is taking off, t...
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- 3 years ago
39:11
Jason Kurland starts out as a real estate lawyer on Long Island, but everything changes when he gets the opportunity to represent a major lottery winner. He quickly brands himself as the Lott...
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- 3 years ago
42:41
Description
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.Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Scamfluencers ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app.
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