For listeners who’ve exhausted their supply of righteous indignation at Amanda Riley’s cancer-faking schemes but still crave that special tingle of superiority that comes from judging strangers from the comfort of your ergonomic office chair, I’ve compiled a solid collection of podcasts featuring charlatans, grifters, and con artists who make your questionable office expense reports look positively saintly.
Prefer your scammers to be Silicon Valley darlings with inexplicable British accents? Perhaps wellness gurus peddling jade eggs for unspeakable body parts are your thing? Maybe you prefer garden-variety sociopaths with impressive Instagram followings? Regardless of your favourite scam-genre, I’ve put together a list of podcasts like “Scamanda” to ensure you never run out of other people’s catastrophic moral failings to listen to.
Swindled
Through gripping storytelling, historical recordings, and rich sound design, this series exposes true tales of white-collar crime, corporate corruption, and elaborate cons. From massive frauds to ecological catastrophes, each story reveals how greed reshaped our world in shocking ways. Read our review of Swindled and discover the best episodes of Swindled.
Dr. Death
A charming young doctor, Serhat Gumrukcu, promises groundbreaking cures for cancer and HIV, drawing desperate patients globally. As scientists hail him as a visionary, his company’s worth soars past $500 million. But when researchers uncover something alarming, they start to question: Is this medical genius concealing a dangerous truth?
Sweet Bobby
How well do you truly know your partner? “Sweet Bobby” is the acclaimed, chart-topping investigative podcast that exposes history’s most elaborate catfishing scheme.
Chameleon: Dr. Miracle
Listen to Chameleon: Dr. Miracle
Miracle Ranch, a luxury wellness retreat in Southern California, promised healing through Dr. Robert O. Young’s “revolutionary” alkaline therapies. But his “acidic liquid” cancer theory and treatments had deadly consequences. Through firsthand accounts and legal records, this series exposes how his fraudulent science turned a mountain oasis into a nightmare.
Finding Samantha
A master manipulator with more than 100 fabricated identities. A lost child discovered alone in Dublin. A teen expelled from Canada. Disturbing accounts of repeated sexual abuse. Charges of kidnapping, prison sentences, endless deception. Could all these threads lead back to a single enigma, Samantha Azzopardi?
Exit Scam
In 2018, Gerald Cotten. founder of Canada’s largest Bitcoin exchange, died suddenly while honeymooning in India, leaving $215 million in customer funds locked away without passwords. But doubts linger: Is Gerry really gone, or was this the perfect exit scam? This is the story of the vanished fortune and the mystery surrounding its owner.
Nobody Should Believe Me
Listen to Nobody Should Believe Me
Andrea Dunlop’s podcast, Nobody Should Believe Me, investigates Munchausen by Proxy, exploring its causes and impact through expert interviews and case studies stemming from her own family’s experience.
Chasing Charlie
Initially thinking it was a simple case of a rejected partner, private investigator Julia Robson starts to reveal the disturbing history of the deceitful swindler Charlie. Driven and sharp-witted, Julia embarks on a seven-year quest to bring redemption and justice to victims worldwide, who prove to be far from meek. Chasing Charlie is a real account of crime, control, and lies with sinister sexual elements.
Filthy Ritual
This isn’t just any scam, it’s the story of Juliette D’Souza, who terrorized London’s wealthy Hampstead and became one of Britain’s most notorious con artists. The “Redhanded” hosts, Hannah Maguire and Suruthi Bala, investigate, speaking to journalists, a top UK shaman, and victims who fought back.
Believe in Magic
Jamie Bartlett (“The Missing Cryptoqueen”) returns with a shocking investigation into Megan Bhari. At 16, Megan founded “Believe in Magic”, a beloved charity for sick kids, backed by One Direction. Praised as a selfless teen battling a brain tumor herself, she raised funds for U.S. treatment, until online sleuths, parents of ill children, noticed inconsistencies. Hiring a PI, they uncovered she was at Disney, not a hospital. But as Jamie Bartlett and Ruth Mayer dig deeper, the truth becomes more unsettling than anyone imagined.
Scamfluencers
You can never truly know someone, especially on the internet. In our digital age, influence has become a shortcut to wealth and fame, but it often leads to disaster. “Scamfluencers” exposes the most cunning con artists of our time, and we’re their targets. Hosts Scaachi Koul and Sarah Hagi dive into jaw-dropping tales of fraud across social media, fashion, finance, and wellness. Read our review of Scamfluencers and discover the top episodes of Scamfluencers.
Sympathy Pains
“Sympathy Pains,” hosted by Laura Beil (“Dr. Death”), exposes Sarah Delashmit’s 20-year deception. Faking cancer, disabilities, and tragic losses, she manipulated others, not for money, but for something much more precious: their compassion.
Queen of the Con
Michelle Mack runs a luxury theft ring from her Southern California mansion, using a crew dubbed “The California Girls” to steal millions in high-end goods. While neighbors believe she’s a wedding planner, she’s actually the mastermind behind a decade-long Amazon resale scam. Now, with one of her thieves flipping on her, her empire is about to crumble.
Believable: The Coco Berthmann Story
Listen to Believable: The Coco Berthmann Story
Coco Berthmann rose to online fame by recounting her harrowing childhood experience as a sex trafficking survivor in Germany. Adopted by Utah families, she blended faith with her growing public profile, until 2022, when her arrest for faking cancer fundraising made people question: Was her entire story an elaborate fabrication?
Bad Batch
“Desperate patients seek miracle cures, only to land in critical care. As investigators scramble to prevent more harm, all signs point to a flashy medical firm and its charming CEO. Laura Beil (‘Dr. Death”) exposes the dark intersection of greed and hope in the billion-dollar stem cell industry. A Wondery investigative series.
The Opportunist
“The Opportunist” reveals how ordinary people transform into con artists, thieves, or even cult leaders when given the chance. What makes someone cross that line? Sometimes the most dangerous individuals are those who seem perfectly normal, proof that darkness might lie dormant in anyone, just waiting for its moment.
Fool Me Twice
Jules Hannaford, successful yet lonely, tried online dating after years alone. She kept meeting scammers, until Truman, a “perfect” project manager, appeared. But when she flew to meet him, the fairytale collapsed. This podcast exposes sweetheart scams and online dating’s dark side.
The Dropout
Elizabeth Holmes’ rise and fall reads like fiction: a billionaire wunderkind, hailed as “the next Steve Jobs,” whose revolutionary blood-testing company Theranos collapsed amid fraud claims. How did her groundbreaking tech endanger millions? Why did so many believe her? And how did it all end in criminal charges?
Who the Hell is Hamish?
Listen to Who the Hell is Hamish?
Hamish Watson, a Sydney surfer turned master conman, faces jail in 2019 for scamming victims of $7 million, just his latest fraud. For decades, he’s duped people across five countries, morphing identities and evading capture. Where did all his stolen millions go?
The Ever Evolving Truth
Listen to The Ever Evolving Truth
“The Ever Evolving Truth” investigates shocking cases. Season 1: Is this cancer-stricken single mom a victim, or a con artist? Season 2: The mysterious disappearance of Anna Maciejewska, was her husband involved? The truth keeps changing.
Carrie Jade Does Not Exist
Listen to Carrie Jade Does Not Exist
“Carrie Jade Does Not Exist” unravels the shocking tale of a master manipulator who adopted six fake identities to prey on vulnerable victims. Hosts Sue Perkins and journalist Katherine Denkinson reveal how Carrie Jade constructed an impeccable facade, conned her way into the book industry, and ultimately got caught in her own intricate web of deception.
Read our review of Scamanda