Scamfluencers

Bill 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 calling: orchestrating a sprawling fraud ring of staged slip-in-falls and car wrecks for insurance money. He recruited his closest friends and family into the scheme, then skimmed some of their portion of the payouts. His obs...

Trevor 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. His biggest pitch was an emissions-free semi-truck that would make diesel engines obsolete. Investors poured in billions of dollars. But Trevor spent far more time selling the dream than building the truck – and soon, a scor...

John 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 addictive personality and a short attention span, so after walking away from cybersecurity, he spent his life chasing bigger thrills, taking wilder risks, and getting into trouble in multiple countries. Behind the scenes, a lifet...

Ed is the grandson of footballing legend Gordon Banks. He was a national icon, the only goalkeeper ever to win the soccer World Cup for England. But Ed’s heard a rumour: that in 1970, while defending the title, his granddad, his hero, was poisoned… by the CIA. All part of a Cold War plot to bolster a military dictatorship in Latin America, supposedly. Could this possibly be true? Banks did get ill...

We’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 2000s: 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 cheating scheme. It fuels him to a...

We’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 Blagojevich is an ambitious son of immigrants who knows how to win over a crowd. After marrying the daughter of a powerful alderman, he rises through the ranks of Illinois politics. He gets elected governor in 2002, and...

We’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 one of Malaysia’s sovereign wealth funds. Jho Low, a Malaysian-born businessman, will do anything to climb the social ladder. After attending Wharton business school, he establishes himself as a globe-trotting playboy wit...

Kyle 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. Kyle takes his talents to a small town in Alabama, where he opens Round House, a startup incubator that promises to put his new community on the tech map. Armed with big-name drops – including an alleged connection to Google...

For 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 she was an Irish heiress with millions on the way, and all she needed was to borrow a little cash to unlock her fortune. People believed her – over and over again. But when she targets reality TV producer Jonathan Walton,...

Efraim 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 spare. The childhood friends hustled their way into nearly $300 million in Pentagon contracts, supplying ammunition to the Afghan army. They raked in millions along the way, blowing their profits on bayfront condos, luxury cars...

Bess 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 career, then made the leap into New York City politics in the 1970s. But in the 1980s, her carefully built reputation began to unravel in a sensational scandal involving her married boyfriend, his divorce judge, and allegation...

Eddie 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 phenomenon, making himself and his family incredibly wealthy by hawking stereos, TVs and electronics at seemingly unbeatable prices. The brand's wildly memorable commercials became some of the most iconic ads in TV histor...

William 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 as a devout man of God, he promised his flock financial security – then quietly stole their retirement accounts and savings, transforming from a shepherd into a wolf. When the truth finally emerged, the faithful learned the...

When 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. But behind the glossy image was a far darker reality. Before Sean’s career even took off, his mother and sister had served time for identity theft. And when the money from his music could no longer cover the family’s bills...

In 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 Leonardo DiCaprio. But Dana’s real addiction wasn’t wealth – it was the scene. Positioning himself as a punk rock money manager, Dana blurred the line between business and nightlife, chasing clout as much as returns. Sedu...

We’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 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 parents’ choosing… for a price. But...

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 is a Stanford Law School graduate with big Silicon Valley connections and even bigger dreams. When he pitches investors on his idea for a Millennial-focused news website called Ozy Media, it seems like a sure...

We’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 trace. 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 life of an Australian jet-se...

Born 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 dictator or two. But in her final years, the real drama unfolded behind closed doors. As Doris’s health declined, a bitter power struggle erupted for control of her fortune, her legacy and her trust. At the center of it al...

In 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 political ladder. He was ambitious, disciplined…and according to the FBI, dirty. Behind closed doors Pat took illegal campaign donations in a scheme so blatant it became the centerpiece of a sweeping federal sting operation...

In 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 South West Coast Path with her terminally ill husband – struck a cultural nerve. It was gritty, inspirational, and defiantly hopeful. Readers embraced its message of resilience and redemption, and the book went on to generate...

Since 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 a million-dollar payday. But for nearly a decade, the jackpot was unwinnable. The man responsible for distributing the pieces, Jerry Jacobson, was quietly stealing them and selling them for profit. And like every Monopoly...

When 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 turns it into a multimillion dollar scam that quietly siphons money from some of the world’s biggest corporations. Matt spends the stolen cash on designer clothes, luxury goods, and lavish vacations. But as the scheme grow...

Napoleon 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 and famous, he eventually pulled it off with his book, Think and Grow Rich, which became the template for modern mindset scams. Its legacy runs straight through Tony Robbins, The Secret, and every manifest-your-millions co...

Brittish 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 basketball players. Her relationship with international basketball player Lorenzo Gordon – and her determination to overcome a troubled childhood – quickly resonated with viewers. More than a decade after being kicked off of...