Scamfluencers
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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 week 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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- 2 weeks ago
52:56
What drives a regular person to risk it all in the criminal underworld? On Wondery's Criminal Lives, host Danny Gold takes you inside the minds of some of America’s most successful black mark...
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- 3 weeks ago
05:11
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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- 3 weeks 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...
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- 1 month 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 month 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 month 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 month 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 month 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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- 2 months ago
45:05
The ultimate cringey crypto couple has fessed up to their crimes and are now testifying against other con artists. We’re looking back on how Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather “Razzlekahn” Morgan ...
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- 2 months ago
44:30
The Lottery Lawyer’s luck has run out: Jason Kurland is now behind bars. We revisit how he went from a Long Island real estate lawyer to eventually representing major lottery winners. He clai...
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- 2 months ago
44:09
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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- 2 months 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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- 3 months 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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- 3 months 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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- 3 months 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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- 3 months ago
48:17
Now that Lamor Whitehead has been sent to prison, we return to his Biblical fall from grace. In 2006, Lamor gets arrested while wearing a mink coat, prompting the New York post to dub him a “...
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- 4 months ago
40:45
It’s been more than a year since Hans Niemann’s cheating scandal rocked the chess world and we’re looking back to see if the bad boy of chess has been redeemed. From a young age, Hans knows h...
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- 4 months ago
44:38
We’re revisiting the story of prep-girl-gone-bad Danielle Miller now that her jet-setting scamming has landed her in prison. After being humiliated and exploited at her elite New York City pr...
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- 4 months ago
37:34
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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- 4 months 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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- 4 months 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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- 5 months 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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- 5 months ago
44:55
Maryland Republican Spiro Agnew is a crook. He rose from Baltimore County Zoning Board Chair to Vice President of the United Sates in under a decade—accepting cash bribes the entire time. Whe...
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- 5 months ago
47:22
Charles and Diana Ingram are an average British couple with a love of pub quizzes who set out to appear on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? But when Charles wins the big prize, the producers po...
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- 5 months ago
45:02
Rick Singer is a college admissions consultant whose elaborate, secretive network of college coaches and admissions officers can rig the system to get rich kids into top tier schools of their...
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- 6 months ago
45:15
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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- 6 months ago
46:52
Now that evil dentist Larry Rudlph has finally been sentenced, we return to the story of the deadly safari that unraveled a lifetime of grift. Larry seems to have it all: A devoted wife and f...
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- 6 months ago
43:42
In the second part of our two-part series on the Chrisleys, the family is riding high on their hit reality show and several spin offs, but the cracks are starting to show. Tax fraud allegatio...
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- 6 months ago
41:23
As Todd and Julie Chrisley continue to face legal troubles from jail, we revisit our episodes on the Chrisleys, which originally aired in December 2022. Todd and Julie paint the picture of a ...
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- 6 months ago
39:49
In this episode we look into an alarming scam trend: people who lie about where they were on 9/11. It’s a lie that ties together a volunteer firefighter seeking attention, an immigrant trying...
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- 7 months ago
44:32
Stephen Glass is a rising star in the ’90s magazine journalism world, breaking provocative stories that his editors love. But some find the stories too fantastical to believe. When he finally...
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- 7 months ago
44:33
Grigor Sargsyan turned the tennis world on its head by masterminding a global match-fixing scheme. He rallies underpaid players in fast cash, and spins authorities out with a scheme so carefu...
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- 7 months ago
37:11
Leona Helmsley’s perch atop the world of Manhattan real estate is threatened by federal tax evasion charges. Her trial gives all the people she bullied a chance to hit back. With her dirty la...
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- 7 months ago
42:50
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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- 8 months 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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- 8 months ago
40:16
After a daring bank robbery, Arthur Cofield winds up behind bars as a teenager. But prison doesn’t put an end to his life of crime. Instead, it only emboldens him. From his cell, he becomes t...
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- 8 months ago
37:23
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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- 8 months ago
38:53
The so-called “super-taster” is back at it again. In this re-run about the wine world’s most infamous fraudster, we revisit the story of Rudy Kurniawan. Using his extraordinary tasting skills...
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- 9 months ago
43:12
With the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on the horizon, we’re revisiting an epic Coachella scam. This encore episode follows a wealthy, glamorous and mysterious business woman looki...
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- 9 months ago
38:35
The mystery thickens in this rerun about a puzzling phishing scam. When some of the biggest authors, publishers, and agents in the world become targets, it throws the industry into chaos – an...
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- 9 months ago
44:38
Vijay Mallya loves racing cars and partying hard – and being an heir to a multi-million dollar empire makes it easy to do both. When Vijay takes over his father’s company, he doubles down on ...
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- 9 months ago
42:51
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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- 10 months 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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- 10 months ago
44:33
When Jeff Carpoff starts a business making portable solar generators, it becomes an instant hit among big corporations, Hollywood studios, and deep-pocketed investors. They think they’re gett...
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- 10 months ago
42:55
When Louise Forlenza sees a production of “Rebecca” in Europe, she knows she wants to be the one to bring it to America. But she and her co-producer are going to need major cash to put on a B...
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- 10 months ago
40:59
Teresa Giudice learns from her Italian-born parents that the most important thing in life is family. When she starts a family of her own with her long-time lover, Joe, he does everything he c...
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- 10 months ago
44:29
In the summer of 2003, Martha Stewart is indicted for obstruction of justice and lying to investigators. She stubbornly maintains her innocence and vows to fight the charges, but her cover-up...
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- 11 months ago
43:08
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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- 11 months ago
38:27
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. On Wondery’s new weekly series, 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.Listen to Scamfluencers on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial by visiting wondery.com/links/scamfluencers/ now.
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