Latest Grifter Podcast Episodes
Faking your death
Scams & Cons - April 25, 2024 06:00 - 25 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsIt sounds exotic to fake your death, then just walk away, expect it almost never works. One woman was found in her home closet. Another was found by just pinging her phone. Then there is the woman who researched how to fake her death and took it so far as to hold her own death certificate in her ...
News: A Nebraska woman is conned out of a gold bar a woman buys the wrong kind of gift card, frustrating a scammer, but still losing her money
Scams & Cons - April 18, 2024 06:00 - 14 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsNews: A Nebraska woman is conned out of a gold bar and a woman buys the wrong kind of gift card, frustrating a scammer, but still losing her money Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Witness Protection Programs -- it's not an easy way to vanish
Scams & Cons - April 11, 2024 06:00 - 18 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingst would seem if federal and state governments wanted you to disappear for your safety, it would be an easy thing to do. They can create all the documents you need, give you some money to get started and grease the wheels needed to get a new job. If only that were the case. Being uprooted is just...
Woman recovers $147k from scammer and a man tries to own the New York Hotel
Scams & Cons - April 04, 2024 06:00 - 13 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsWoman recovers $147k from scammer and a man tries to own the New York Hotel Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Hear from Maureen, a woman whose husband disappeared and she doesn't know why
Scams & Cons - March 28, 2024 06:00 - 29 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsThe theme of this series has been the long con of vanishing. Instead of a scammer targeting you, you are the one scamming everyone else. To be successful, you must do this the rest of your life, making it possibly the longest con of all. Maureen is the victim of this con. Her husband went missin...
Scammers break into a physician's prescription system, creating orders for tens of thousands of addictive drugs and a lawsuit has been filed against CitiGroup for not doing enough to protect customers
Scams & Cons - March 21, 2024 06:00 - 11 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsScams & Cons News for March 21, 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Vanishing: Where to go and dealing with loneliness
Scams & Cons - March 14, 2024 06:00 - 15 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsOnce you've decided to vanish, the question is: where do you go? In this episode we explore those possibilities and what you need to keep in mind when choosing a place. The odds are you'll end up somewhere that's not familiar and among people you don't know. That loneliness is one of the main r...
Woman uses soap opera scheme in attempt to kill husband; catfishing scam hits business for $4 million
Scams & Cons - March 07, 2024 07:00 - 11 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsScams & Cons News for March 7, 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Vanished: How to go missing and avoid those searching for you.
Scams & Cons - February 22, 2024 07:00 - 26 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsThe longest con of all may be vanishing -- leaving the place you know, going somewhere unfamiliar and never having contact with anyone or anything from your past life. In this episode, we tell you how to go missing and avoid those who will be looking for you. Private Investigative Services Lear...
Scams & Cons News: Scammers use a smartphone with Bluetooth to steal 800 gallons of gasoline and the DEA accidently gives $500,000 to scammers
Scams & Cons - February 15, 2024 07:00 - 10 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsScams & Cons News for February 15, 2024 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The longest con of all -- vanishing. Why would anyone want to do it?
Scams & Cons - February 08, 2024 08:00 - 17 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsA good scam creates a reality where the mark thinks it makes perfect sense to go along with the con. A great con is when everyone else is fooled and you are the only one to know the truth. The next few episodes are about the longest con of all -- vanishing. These are people who voluntarily disap...
Season 6 -- A user's guide
Scams & Cons - February 08, 2024 07:00 - 5 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsRegular listeners are accustomed to hearing about different variations of a con in each regular episode. In season six, we're doing something different. We'll be focusing on one con -- vanishing.Vanishing may be the longest con of all because, if you're successful, no one will hear from you again...
Scams & Cons News: A dating app leads to a carjacking and are you being smished?
Scams & Cons - February 01, 2024 07:00 - 9 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsAre you being smed? It's a scam that involves both texts and social engineering. A dating app leads to a carjacking in Florida and a Swiss bus museum. A cashier stole more than $1 million between 2008 and 2019 by reselling museum tickets twice.These stories and MUCH more on Scams & Cons News. Lea...
BONUS: Lee Goldberg tells how he writes scams into his books and TV shows
Scams & Cons - January 25, 2024 07:00 - 22 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsAny con, any story of a con, begins in the head of the author. Lee Goldberg isn't a con artist -- unless you count how he leads readers toward wrong conclusions -- but he does write successful books and TV shows that involve cons.In this episode, Lee talks with us about how he does it, how he com...
REPLAY: Luxury scams
Scams & Cons - January 18, 2024 07:00 - 20 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsWhat time is it? 4:23? Thanks.You could have gotten the answer from your phone, a sign in front of a bank or dozens of other sources. So, why spend $150,000 for a Rolex to give you the same information.Luxuries are perceptions and scammers use those perceptions to make you think you're getting a ...
REPLAY: Three Card Monte - Remastered
Scams & Cons - January 11, 2024 07:00 - 20 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsIt’s a simple game. It’s just a guy flipping three cards on top of a worn cardboard box. If you’re the sucker, the game is easy. It’s meant to be that way. A lot of effort by a lot of people has gone into creating that scene. No wonder Three Card Monte is called the longest running show on Broadw...
REPLAY: The Russian Bride Scam
Scams & Cons - January 04, 2024 07:00 - 19 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsIf you are a six and a 10 shows interest in you, at the very least you’d feel flattered. You might even spend a little time with them just to feed your ego. And if that contact happens online, it seems even better. No dinners to buy. No gifts to exchange. And you can walk away at any time.But if...
See ya next year
Scams & Cons - December 28, 2023 07:00 - 1 minute ★★★★ - 45 ratingsWe're taking a break for the holidays, but we'll be back early next year. In the meantime, please enjoy some replays that have been a hit among our fans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
#35) The Most Wonderful Episode of the Year (with Sam Negus)
UnAmerican - December 24, 2023 16:20 - 2 hoursOn this episode: Brandon, Franklin and Jim invite friend of the show-Sam Negus back for another Christmas Special after nearly a year long hiatus. Happy Holidays!!
Miracle cures have arrived! Whatever the ailment, they will do the job
Scams & Cons - December 14, 2023 07:00 - 24 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsThink of all the music jingles you've heard over the years, promising that this pill or that one will help prevent cancer, ease your aching bones or guarantee you a longer, healthier life.It's snake oil and in this episode we tell you the difference between Western medicine, alternative medicine ...
Scams & Cons News: Funeral home scammer takes money from widow, bank disses woman who was scammed, asking if her husband did it, and more!
Scams & Cons - December 07, 2023 07:00 - 11 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Scams & Cons News: Funeral home scammer takes money from widow, bank disses woman who was scammed asking if her husband did it and more!
Scams & Cons - December 07, 2023 07:00 - 11 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsSupport the show
Robo calls -- How they work, who makes them and how you can cash in by listening
Scams & Cons - November 23, 2023 07:00 - 16 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsWe've done stories about robo calls before, but this one is different -- we're telling you how the technology works, who makes the calls and how you can make money by simply listening to the sales pitch, getting answers to a few questions and mail a [email protected] for ch...
Scams & Cons News for November 16, 2023
Scams & Cons - November 16, 2023 07:00 - 7 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
You can be the victim of a con. Here's how.
Scams & Cons - November 09, 2023 07:00 - 20 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsOur lasts episode asks how con artists reconcile the impact of their actions and how it harms their victims beyond the money they have stolen.This time we ask what is it about people that make them suckers for scammers. Certain behaviors signal scammers that we're good for some cash. Listen in an...
Scams & Cons News for November 2, 2023
Scams & Cons - November 02, 2023 06:00 - 11 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsScammers are pulling gasoline dispensers from customers' hands to fill their own cars.Canadian women are more willing to report scams than men.And ProPublica says a scammer has succeed in getting people kicked off Instagram, then blackmailing them to release the account. He claims to have made $3...
Justification: Scammers explain why they do what they do
Scams & Cons - October 26, 2023 06:00 - 19 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsScammers might take people for a little or a lot of money. Sometimes their scams ruin people's lives and leave them feeling unsafe -- maybe for the rest of their lives.In this episode, scammers tell us how they became scammers and how they rationalize what they do. Learn more about your ad choice...
Scams & Cons News for October 19, 2023
Scams & Cons - October 19, 2023 06:00 - 6 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsLearn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Scams & Cons News 2023-10-19
Scams & Cons - October 19, 2023 06:00 - 6 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsScammers don't steal your money, they create a world where it makes perfect sense to hand your cash over to them. Three-card-monte, the longest running show on Broadway, seems easy. You're watching the tosser and you always see the queen. What you don't see is a group of shills working you into t...
Imposters: Which is real: Batman or Bruce Wayne?
Scams & Cons - October 12, 2023 06:00 - 16 minutes ★★★★ - 45 ratingsScammers become other people to convince you to turn over your money, but sometimes they want something else. Your pity, your admiration or your love.We take a look at imposters and why they do what they do.And check out the Pretend podcast. It's one of our favorites and when you hear Javier's st...