Advertise on podcast: Scamfluencers

Long before “going viral” was a thing, the world collectively lost its mind over a five-dollar toy called Beanie Babies. Eccentric toymaker Ty Warner created the cute bean bag animals, then manipulated the market by manufacturing scarcity – retiring models to juice their value and sending full-grown adults into a capitalist frenzy. But the more money Ty made, the more desperate he was to keep it – even if that meant hiding it from the three most feared letters in the alphabet: the IRS.

Many 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 the hand of her daughter, Terra. But there was an overlooked story that’s now being told, in full, for the first time.In The First Wife: John Meehan’s Reign of Terror, Tonia Bales recounts her harrowing experiences as John’s wife of 10 years and the mother of their daughters, Emily and Abby. Highlighting new details and revelations, Tonia shares the abuse she suffered from the man she once believed to be her soulmate, but who ultimately revealed himself as a coercive and controlling terrorist. Through exclusive archival materials and all-new interviews with the people who knew her and John best, uncovering long-held secrets and including perspective from their daughters, Tonia embarks on a re-investigation of the man she thought she knew. The multiple bombshells she unearths include one that will change her and her daughters’ lives forever.Listen now: HEREAudible subscribers can binge all episodes right now ad-free. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Buford 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 painting him as a fearless vigilante taking on organized crime. But behind the legend lies a trail of abuse, corruption, and a grisly murder that raised questions everyone in Buford’s orbit had been too scared to ask. And when the Hollywood shine wears off, the lie people wanted to believe becomes harder to protect.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Elizabeth 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 decades. Just a month before she was set to begin serving her 11-year sentence, Holmes welcomed comedian and prankster Nathan Fielder and documentarian Lance Oppenheim into her home to film everything – her emails, her journal, her family, her unwavering insistence that she did nothing wrong. More than three years later, the resulting documentary, You Can See Everything, is a box-office success and a masterclass in the question every scam story comes down to: who’s really fooling whom. We’re breaking it all down with New York Magazine features writer Alex Barasch, who recently published a profile of co-director Lance Oppenheim. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A 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 of fake car crashes for real ones. But her law career in New Orleans gets off to a rocky start — until she meets Sean Alfortish, a charming man who offers her the perfect space for her law office. Vanessa and Sean fall hard for each other, and as a former lawyer himself, Sean becomes her mentor. So, what if he's done some prison time for fraud?When Sean introduces Vanessa to one of the city's most prolific case runners, Cornelius Garrison, the money starts rolling in. Cornelius brings her a steady stream of accident victims looking to sue. There's just one problem: the accidents aren't real. And once the secret gets out, someone will have to pay.Reported and hosted by Mitch Moxley, Over My Dead Body: Operation Sideswipe is a six-part series about greed, betrayal, and who gets thrown under the bus when everything is on the line.Audible subscribers can binge all episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible App or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. Listen now: HERESee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When 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 football team out of the tunnel by day, then rolls up to the club with the players at night. But that lifestyle doesn’t come cheap.  And as Nevin struggles to keep up with the lavish gifts, wild parties, and cash bonuses, he finds another way to fund it all: a good, old fashioned Ponzi scheme.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Back 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 the pole…it’s in the wallets of the men sitting around them. Together, they build a lucrative business fueled by drugs, charm, and a scheme their clients never see coming. But as their operation grows, so does the tension between the two women. And before long, Rosie discovers that eventually, last call comes for everyone.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lauren 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 a stranger sent Lauren a message — and the lie collapsed. Now Lauren is investigating her own mother’s murder. She’s recorded hundreds of hours of interviews with law enforcement, family, childhood friends, and people who won’t stop contradicting each other. Every answer opens a darker question. Every person she trusts seems to be hiding something. And the closer she gets to the truth, the more she realizes the people she trusts may be the ones with the most to hide. A 10-part true crime investigation hosted by the victim’s daughter. Lauren’s mission: to finally uncover the identity of Lori’s killer.  Audible subscribers can binge all 10 episodes early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible App or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. Listen now: HERE  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

David 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 spotlight in Hudson County was pointed directly at him. David wasn’t picky about his allies: the Mafia, Ponzi schemers, and even… Republicans. But when his quid-pro-quo hustle proves too shady for even New Jersey politics, the Feds come knocking – and David hatches an audacious scheme to vanish into a tropical paradise. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Before 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 into bookstores, building a fortune by peddling easy, feel-good answers to some of life’s hardest problems – your health, your weight, your money. He cast himself as a fearless whistleblower, the one guy brave enough to expose what doctors, banks, and the government didn’t want you to know. But the bigger his claims got and the fatter his bank account grew, the more the law came knocking – fines, lawsuits, indictments, even prison. And every single time, like a weed, Kevin Trudeau kept coming back for more. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The 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 landslide re-election and a fast track to the White House. But when the mayor of a small town refused to endorse Christie’s re-election, someone in the governor’s orbit decided to retaliate by weaponizing traffic. Four days of gridlock on the world’s busiest bridge. Ambulances stuck in traffic. Kids late to school. And a trail of texts and emails that led straight to the governor’s office. What started as petty political payback spiraled into a full-blown scandal implicated Christie’s closest allies, tanked his presidential ambitions, and ended up before the Supreme Court. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Carl 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 the mark of a visionary. But when Netflix handed him millions for a TV series and the pandemic kept everyone at a distance, Carl went on a spree – cars, crypto, luxury mattresses – torching the money and every relationship he’d ever built. By the end, no one was buying what Carl was selling. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When 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 Fab weren’t the masterminds. Behind them was a Svengali producer named Frank Farian, who’d built his entire career on a simple formula: recruit talented artists to make the music, then cast beautiful people to sell it. But when the truth came out, Rob and Fab took the fall – while their puppet master walked away clean. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We’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 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 falls apart during a messy and humiliating public trial. She and her stockbroker are facing prison time, but she’s determined to come out on top – no matter what it takes to get there. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

We’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 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 embroiled in an insider trading scandal in 2002, it’ll spark a media circus and threaten to muddy her squeaky clean image. A damning investigation by the U.S. government promises to take her down – alongside some of her closest friends. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.