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Scamfluencers
In the early 2000s, Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista was seen as the ultimate mining mogul: he was a speedboat-racing showman and a playboy who liked to show off his wealth. To expand his empire, Ei...
Vienna is working a delivery job when she hears about Cop City, a massive police training facility planned for Atlanta. She decides to join the activists trying to stop construction. When Vienna arriv...
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 hopeful...
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 identity...
Encounters dives into one of the most famous and unsolved UFO encounters to ever take place in the UK. What really happened over two nights in December 1980, when US servicemen saw mysterious lights i...
When Apollo Nida joined the cast of The Real Housewives of Atlanta in 2009, he’d recently been released from prison and was expecting a child with his superstar lawyer wife, Phaedra Parks. Apollo had...
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 Wignot, d...
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 a fixture...
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 her humor...
Dr. Oz has been making headlines again – but not for a scam. Now that he’s been tapped to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, we’re revisiting how this former TV doctor survived scanda...
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 wherever you g...
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 Associati...
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 has beco...
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 ones who de...
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-conspirato...
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-fashioned w...
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 club and eve...
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 soon Mat...
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 native Cana...
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 got his s...
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 hacked a...
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 claimed to he...
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 this speci...
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 start to fad...
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 investor...
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: she’s c...
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 “high roll...
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 he loves c...
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 prep school...
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 schem...