Scamfluencers - The Scammies

Episode Date: April 3, 2023

Sarah and Scaachi celebrate the one-year anniversary of Scamfluencers by hosting an award show to honor the best, brightest, and most outrageous people they’ve covered on the show. They take a look back at their favorite episodes, offer behind-the-scenes commentary, and share timely updates on everyone from teen “doctor” Malachi Love Robinson and Instagram icon Hushpuppi to television-stars-behind-bars Jen Shah and Todd Chrisley.Support us by supporting our sponsors!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey, Prime members, you can listen to scam influencers add free on Amazon music. Download the app today. Sarah, now that we've been doing this show for almost a full year, what's the scam you think you could pull off? And why do I get the sense that you're already working on the scam? You get the sense because I am already working on the scam. You get the sense because I am actively working on the scam. I'm not gonna spoil it, but I will say it features something we haven't seen on this show before, a blood oath. I can't wait for you to ask me for some of my blood.

BEEP. This year on the show, we talked about scammers who ran Ponzi schemes, pump and dump hustles, or just pretended they were spiritual gurus and got a bunch of rich people on board. What has been most shocking to me, Sarah, is that we have recorded episodes almost every week for a year, and there seems to be no shortage of scams. They just keep coming. It's so funny you say that because I was talking about that with someone recently where I was

like, no, you don't understand. There's an endless list of scams. And I keep thinking like, oh, we're gonna run out. Yeah, I feel like I have been cursed with so many details that are now burned into my brain forever. Like how you can marry your adopted son and a lot of people will not bat an eye.

Or how as long as you have a little bit of an accent, Americans will believe almost anything you say about yourself. And you know, a lot of the people we've featured on this show have done some truly horrendous things. And I am not here to excuse any of it, but personally, I do think there's a lot to be celebrated here. I know what you mean. I personally just admire the sticktuitiveness of people who would rather work very hard at a fake job than regular hard at a real job. Follow your dreams, even when they are completely invented. So today, to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the show, we're gonna do something a little different.

We're hosting an awards show. This is very exciting to me. I've always wanted to host an awards show. Well, to be clear, this isn't a real awards show. It's just some shit I'm gonna sell tickets to and then I'm gonna cancel at the last minute, obviously. And I've decided just now that we're gonna host it at the most fake sounding arena I can think of the Saddle Dome in my hometown

Calgary, Alberta. You know as a Canadian, I do believe that sounds extremely fake. It's super does and yet it is Absolutely real. It is a building that looks like a saddle and it is a dome and so they had the creativity to call it the Saddle Dome. I am very curious. What are you wearing, Sachi? Is it pants? No, I have a Southern Hemisphere design specifically for radio, but this show isn't just about the fashion, although we did feature some pretty fashionable scammers.

Do you remember Hush Puppy? Sachi, yes, of course I remember Hush Puppy, I knew. He was iconic. He was iconic. Well, we'll give you updates on all the luminaries of the scamming world, hand out some fake trophies and categories that are completely made up, and honor the best and brightest amongst these inveterate low lives who have poisoned our brains and yours for a full calendar year. So, let's bring on the awards.

Many involved in crypto saw Sandbankman Freed as a breath of fresh air from the usual Wall Street buffs. But in just one month, his crypto exchange would collapse. From Bloomberg and Wondery Comes Spellcaster, a new six-part docuseries about the wild rise and fall of FTX and its founder Sandbankman Freed, listen to Spellcaster on Amazon Music, or wherever you get your podcasts. I love my kid, but is a new comedy parenting podcast from Wondry that shares a refreshingly honest and insightful take on parenting.

Each week, the host will share a parenting story that will have you laughing and thinking, yes, I have absolutely been there. Listen to, I love my kid, but on Amazon music or wherever you get your podcast From Wondery I'm Sachi cool, and I'm Sarah Hagi and this is scam flancers We've been doing this show for a year now and it turns out you guys all love scams as much as we do. We premiered a number one on the Apple Podcast charts. We won a fucking AMVY award, and every day, someone DMs me on Instagram to ask why we haven't

done a Bell Gibson episode. More on that in a moment. But when you're in, it feels like the right time to reflect on our journey together and everything we've learned about what takes a scam from good to great. This is The Scamies. Alright, so we figured it was only fair to kick off this award show by taking a look back at the first episode we ever aired. Sarah, what do you remember about Black Swan? Oh my god, what do I remember? Black Swan is about a couple

Doug and Ashley. They meet at Ben Carson's home at a fundraiser. They get married within two weeks. They start a failed ballet company that is a shit show from beginning to end. Their marriage is in shambles. And at the very end of this story, Ashley ends up shooting and killing Doug. That is very good recall Sarah, excellent work. Well, Doug's daughter Eva is really good at recounting this story. So here she is explaining what happened in a recent TikTok. The day that the ballet company is supposed to debut, the 23 year old that your dad remarried actually ends up leaving your dad and disvalving yourself from the ballet causing a whole shitstorm in the media. Okay, we've heard enough.

And we know how the story ends, with four gunshots and a lot of tragedy. So without further ado, the award I want to give out for this episode is most Florida woman, and it goes to our very own Black Swan Ashley Benefield. So, the last time we caught up with Ashley, she'd been charged with second-degree murder, and she's still free on bond awaiting her trial. Her next court date is April 26th in Bradenton, Florida. Meanwhile, Eva seems to be coping with her father's death by making TikToks, and she's writing a book. Eva will be the first to pre-order it. Keep us posted when the book comes out.

Speaking of Florida people, let's give it up for my personal favorite scammer. West Palm Beach's own Malachi Love Robinson. Zaji, what do you remember about Dr. Heavy Inquotes Love Robinson? I remember that he was a teenager who decided he wanted to become a doctor after having some chronic illnesses and he just made up a bunch of fake degrees and he started to pretend to be a doctor. He put on a lab coat, he walked around, he went to a nearby hospital and then people just sort of like assumed he was a doctor for a little while, but he wasn't. And I remember how much Stockholm syndrome you have for him. Okay, it wasn't Stockholm syndrome.

I'm just gonna clarify that here for the record. It's not that I love him or think he's good. He did bad things, okay? But out of all the stories we've done, I have the most attachment to him because he was a meme. It was like an amazing day on black Twitter when his mugshot was released. And you know, this baby-faced nerdy-looking kid was out here pretending to be a doctor, had a whole freaking medical practice. You had to be there at the moment. It was going viral to appreciate him the way I do.

Listen, whatever you got to tell yourself, man. You know, sometimes you end up thinking like, if he wasn't really screwing over innocent people, I would probably like him. So I will say the award for most likable scammer goes to Dr. Love Robinson, the wannabe teen doctor who gave this absolutely bonkers

Good Morning America interview. Are you a fraud because it seems like everything you're saying to me is either evasive or an outright lie. I don't appreciate your tone. I don't appreciate the way you're portraying this interview to actually be. Are you in big trouble?

I don't know where you're seeing this information from but it is inaccurate. I'm sorry, I'm gonna have to cut this in this interview short. It never gets old. This interview will never get old to me. And, you know, Sachi, we cannot forget our favorite local reporter, Terry Parker, who initially broke the story for TV and U-Station WPBF. That was a good one.

She was amazing. I love one. She was amazing. I love her. She was amazing. You got a lot of sites online, all claiming that you're a doctor. Well, no, they don't claim medical doctors. I am aware of. If you could stop recording, please. I will light like that.

And you know what, Sachee? Malikai was forced to hang up his white doctor's code and put away a stethoscope, but he sadly did not stop scamming. In January of this year, at the age of 25, he was convicted of grand theft and organized scheme to defraud. And he'd been working for a shipping company and apparently told clients to pay him for their services, write to his own personal Venmo and PayPal accounts.

Honestly, got to respect the game. Good hustle. Okay, Sarah, we actually have another Florida connection on the show. Any guess as to which story I'm talking about? I actually don't know. Okay, well that's fair enough because this is kind of a trick question because the Florida connection I'm talking about was actually don't know. Okay, well that's fair enough because this is kind of a trick question

because the Florida connection I'm talking about was actually kind of manufactured. It has to do with Todd Crisley. In early 2017, a reporter for Atlanta's WSBTV breaks a big scoop. Todd likely evaded Georgia state income taxes by claiming to be a resident of Florida on his federal tax filings. The reporter nabs Todd's son, Kyle, for an interview. Were you ever really a Florida resident? No, we went there for really vacation for in the summer. I think she's trying to hide money. He doesn't like to pay what he owes.

And listen, tax evasion was just the tip of the iceberg. Todd and his wife Julie Chrisley repeatedly forged financial documents to pretend that they had way more money than they actually did, and secured massive loans from banks to maintain their lavish lifestyle. Or, as Todd describes it, on Chrisley knows best. We live in a neighborhood north of Atlanta, a gated neighborhood with celebrities here. We live with Sharon and Shepard Jones. We live with Usher. I would also be excited to tell people I live near Usher. Also, he would be the first person I listed,

not Sharon and Chipper Jones. I'd be like, you know, Usher is my neighbor. We know your priorities. We know where you stand. But on top of all of that, to try to save his own ass and distract from a shit show of his own making, Todd pristly threw his own children under the bus, even threatening to release a sex tape of his own daughter, which is why I'm giving out the award for most shameless scammers to Todd and Julie, Chris Lee.

These two 100% deserve most shameless scammers. They had been scamming long before they even got famous. One thing I'll give them is that they were so compelling as a scam subject that my father, who only watches A, the Nightly News, and B, YouTube videos of people eating samosas, started watching Chris Lee Know's best. I have never seen him so invested in two white people that just a single hour earlier, he did not know existed. Sadly for my father, there will likely be no new episodes of Chris Lee Know's Best. On January 17th, Todd and Julie each reported to their respective federal prisons.

Todd will serve his 12-year sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Pensacola, Florida. Again, there's just something about Florida. And Julie will serve her seven-year term in the Federal Medical Center in Lexington, Kentucky. On a podcast recorded before they went to prison, Todd said, quote, I know that this may be my future for a minute, but I also have faith that the judicial system is going to turn it around. I also have faith that the appellate court is going to see this for what it is. All right, well, we actually heard from Josh Weitz, who is the former director of the Georgia Department of Revenue's Office of Special Investigations. You might remember from our episode that Josh was tasked with investigating Todd Crisley, and Todd turned around and claimed in a lawsuit

that Josh targeted him because of his fame. Well, we talked to Josh, and he wanted to set the record straight. He says it's simply not true. He also denies playing a role in setting up the interview between Todd's son Kyle and Jody Feischer, the reporter for Atlanta's WSB TV. He claims he never even spoke to Kyle. He also says his resignation from the Georgia Department of Revenue had nothing to do with Todd, and it also had nothing to do with the fact that he accidentally said he had an associate's degree when he applied for the job.

Josh told us it's all just a big misunderstanding, and the same goes for the accusation that he misappropriated funds from the Department of Revenue. But there's one thing he did admit to. Yes, he absolutely posed for photos on a couch that had been seized from Todd's house. You know what? Good for you, Josh. You know, one thing the show has taught me

is that there are so many ways to be famous or at the very least infamous. But the only real and true influencer in my book was an old school Yahoo boy who scammed his way into tons of money. He had a thing for Versace High tops in Louis Vuitton man bags and head to toe Gucci and Versace obviously I can only be talking about one man, Ramona Bas, aka Hush Puppy, aka the billionaire Gucci Master. What about Hush Puppy, Sachi, is burned in your brain? I feel like the thing I remember most about Hush Puppy

was that he was scamming all over the place and using their money to buy designer threads, but then he kept posting about it on Instagram and geotagging himself. And so people knew where he was and what he was buying. It was so sloppy. I know. The thing is, at his core, he shouldn't have been a scammer.

Like he should have been born rich and just one of those people who's an influencer by birth. He could have done it if he had done it right. Well, you know, he had so much swag. And to me, he's easily the most stylish scammer we've covered, but that's not what this award is for. And said, I wanna give him an award for something else, something you touched on and something that we both

can relate to, unfortunately, a severe case of postersise disease. Here's a clip from his Instagram stories back when life was blissful and good. As much as I'd like to give him most stylish scammer award, he really deserves the Shoulda State Offline Award. Because if Hush Puppy had just stopped posting so much on Instagram, I know we say this often, but I truly believe he may not have ever been caught.

I think it's really beautiful that we are bringing awareness to chronic postures disease. I have it, you have it, so many of our listeners have it. There is hope. I don't know what the hope is, but I look forward to finding out. Well, I also have an update for you, Sachi. In November of last year, Hush Puppy was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison. Tragically, his Instagram account is no longer available. Sorry, you will not get any outfit in spell anymore. Okay, we're gonna pause to refresh our drinks.

I'm obviously drinking Rudy Curnillo on Toilet Water. I paid $80,000 for it, and I am simply too proud to admit that I cannot tell the difference. I feel like a... Okay, Sachi, it's time to hand out my favorite award to someone who I think we are both very obsessed with. This is someone who dug her heels in at every turn. She remains steadfast. She never wavered from her con,

even as her every move was being filmed by Bravo's TV cameras. The only thing I'm guilty of is being shah-mazing. That's right, I'm talking about Jen Shaw. And anyone who listens to the show knows by now that we are die hard real housewives fans. So us doing an episode about Gen Shaw was obviously a no-brainer. But I have to be honest, it took getting into the weeds of the story to realize just how determined

and accomplished Gen Shaw actually was when it came to her scams. Like, Sachi, I know we could spend a whole other episode just talking about Gen-Shaw, but what do you remember specifically about her telemarketing scam? I remember that she specifically was going after really old people who didn't totally understand what was happening. She was targeting the most vulnerable population. Exactly. And yet, I still can't quit Gen Shaw.

And maybe that's fitting because Gen doesn't quit either. Even after the FTC investigated her, and even after she learned that her own co-conspirators had been arrested by the feds, Gen just kept going. She kept filming. She kept denying on camera. She did everything you're not supposed to do when you're guilty. And that's why I'm giving her the most tenacious scammer award. So when we recorded that episode, Jen had just taken a plea deal. So essentially she agreed to plead guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and in exchange prosecutors dropped the conspiracy

to commit money laundering charge. Well, on January 6th of this year, Genwa's sentenced to six and a half years in federal prison. She was also ordered to fork over six and a half million dollars, 30 luxury items, and this is pretty embarrassing, more than 75 counterfeit luxury items. Plus, she'll have to pay more than $6.6 million in restitution. The U.S. Department of Justice put out a statement about Jen sentencing and they do not mince words about her crimes. Sachi, can you read what they wrote?

Yeah, they said, many of Shah's victims were elderly or vulnerable. Many of those people suffered significant financial hardship and damage. At Shah's direction, victims were defrauded over and over again until they had nothing left. She and her co-conspirators persisted in their conduct until the victims' bank accounts were empty,

their credit cards were at their limits, and there was nothing more to take. Oh, that's ruthless. That's a ruthless crime. Couldn't she just self-fake Berkins? Yeah, and Jen actually does seem to be a bit or morseful. Before she reported to prison, she gave an interview to White Collar Advice,

a crisis management firm with the YouTube channel. For me, it was really when I saw that there were actual victims that were, you know, as a consequence of my bad decisions that there were actually people hurt. Come on. Like, you really have to be in some sort of state of delusion to not see that there are actually people getting hurt by what you're doing. I don't buy this. I find this very flimsy. I think the fact that she's giving an interview to a crisis management firm is really gross.

All of this makes me feel bad. She's ruining the housewives for me and that's really the greatest crime here, I think. We've talked a lot about scammers who ended up behind bars, but there is one person we featured on the show who may never go to prison or face any real consequences. And that's because when the FTC tried to shut him down,

he just got back up again with his green drinks and vigorous massages and all kinds of so-called immunity blends. Sachi, I am talking of none other than Alex Guerrero. You know what, I'll let of none other than Alex Guerrero. You know what? I'll let Tony Robbins describe Alex. Here's what he says about him in his Get the Edge series of cassette tapes.

Alex is the closest thing to genius I've seen. He's a doctor of Chinese medicine, and he's known because he's able to take two extremes of people and help make a difference. He takes peak performance athletes when they're burning out and turns them around. This clip is from the late 90s, by the way, and you know what? Alex has only become more famous, more influential, and more wealthy since then, especially ever since he teamed up with Tom Brady and then founded TB12 with him, which is why, regrettably, I am giving Alex the award for most thriving.

It's kind of a double-edged sword, this sword, isn't it? Yeah, it is. And, you know what? As for our boy Tom Brady, we're giving him an honorary scammer award, most pathetic. Oh. Now, Sasha, in this episode, it really seemed like Tom came out on top. He left his long-time team of the New England Patriots

to play quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And after he joined the Bucks, he immediately won the Super Bowl with Alex by his side. But then in October of last year, Tom and Jizal Bunchan, his Supermodel wife of 13 years announced they were getting a divorce. You know, I've always said that me and Jisal had a lot in common.

And I didn't know that the thing we had in common was that we would both file for divorce last October. But I would guess that her reason was because Tom decided suddenly to unretire and my reasons for divorce were, shall we say, more boring. Well, actually, the divorce is when everything started to unravel for him. The Tampa Bay Bucks had a terrible season. They lost more games than they wanted, but made it to the playoffs because their division was literally the worst in football, and they immediately got beat by the Dallas Cowboys. While all that was happening,

FTX was collapsing. The entire company exploded like a bottle of Mountain Dew and Sam Bankran freed cargo shorts. And it is now worth nothing. And you know what, Tom Brady owned more than a million shares of it. He even appeared in a series of commercials for FTX, but don't worry, Tom and Alex's TB12 is doing just fine. In fact, the TB12 method is now being adopted as a part of a pilot program in a Florida school district. Move over critical race theory. Let's talk about the danger of tomatoes. I'm so tired of everything going back to Florida. We gotta go. I wanna go.

I don't want I'm good. You can go to Florida. Well, Sarah, speaking of questionable diets and wellness influencers, how could we forget the subject of one of our most talked about episodes? Guru Juggit. Oh my God. Sarah, I know you remember this episode,

but I need to know what is one weird detail about Guru Jagat aka Katie Griggs that you wish you could forget. One thing I want to forget is her general appearance, her outfits. You know, she was a white lady in a turban. Yeah. She wore the clothes of what she thought someone like her should be wearing.

Yes, a lot of the scammers we've covered co-opted beliefs, languages, and even their names from non-white cultures, and they use them to gain fame, or at least notoriety. If you've listened to our show before, you know how much we love to talk about white people who get away with their scams in large part because they're just so fair and lovely. We're not mad about it. I mean, I do it too if I could, but here, Guru Jagat takes the cake.

Remember, she went to a solstice gathering at an Ustram in New Mexico, studied with a guy named Yogi Bajan, who popularized Kandala Nyoga and turned out to be a predator and got a loan from her mom to open her own hippy-dippy Uber Expensive Studio in Venice. And then, all over the world. Meanwhile, she stole money from her studios

to finance her own lifestyle while everyone else got stiffed. And so, the award for the scammer who has benefited the most from White Privilege is none other than the turbine rocking rocking condolony sim per self. And we're going to use her real name here, Katie Griggs. I feel like the twist at the end of episode two was an actual recording of the most shocked I've ever been. Like, I truly knew nothing about her and I remember feeling so tortured

by every piece of information you were giving me. And when she died, I was genuinely shook by that. It was like such a genuine deep shock that I did not see coming at all because I remember you telling me do not under any circumstances Google this at all do not read ahead. I was like, okay, I want, I want, I want, and that was just absolutely insane. And you know, also it is the episode that has gotten us the most response because we famously started off by you asking me. What do you not want a white person to teach you? I mean, we had an answer. We had an answer, and people got so mad about it,

but yeah, it's true. There are certain things I want them to teach me like how to make a meatloaf. Would I want them to teach me how to dance? No, would I want them to teach me how to do yoga? No. Judging by your Apple Podcast reviews, people are still very attached to Guru Jagga.

Oh, brother, namaste. I have noticed that the people who do leave spicier Apple reviews think that we are quick to deride white scammers for using their privilege, and they also suggest that we're a little too soft on scammers of color. Well, brown privilege does exist, we admit it. So I wanna give out an award

for the best use of brown privilege, and that goes to Anthony Gignac, our fake Saadi Prince. Oh, Tony, I gotta say this guy was so freaking hilarious to me. I mean, again, not hilarious because I could ever cry. Not hilarious, huh? More hilarious, like, oh boy. Like the gall.

Basically, he was an orphan in Columbia, a really nice family in Michigan adopted him. He was the only brown kid in town. He got obsessed with wealth from watching TV, specifically a show about the rich and famous. And it imprinted on him in this way where he's like, that's going to be me. And I do remember like the scamming started

at such an early age of him convincing a Mercedes dealer to let him test drive a car at 12 years old because he said he was a son of a Saudi king. And I think it's like that was like the light bulb moment in his mind where it's like, oh, these people won't believe anything. Yeah, and when he's questioned by police, later as an adult, he just starts rambling

in a made up language and claiming it's Arabic. This is a police interrogation from the HBO documentary Generation Hustle. Have a listen. If I can get on the phone right now, I just say this is clear also. from the HBO documentary Generation Hustle. Have a listen. He's literally talking in squiggly. It's like when you watch a movie where they are like brown terrorist and that's the voice you hear in the background of like America's sniper or something. Like, it is just like, truly otherworldly that he got away with this for so long.

And that was a fake aerobank he was doing. It's almost like he's earned it, honestly. Pfft. Well, I have some updates for you. Tony is now in his early 50s, and he's about three years into his 18 and a half year prison sentence. So, there isn't much new to report. Maybe he's actually learning Arabic.

And with that, it's a wrap on our first-ever scamful insurers award ceremony. Congrats to all our award-winning scammers, grifters, influencers, spiritual leaders, and morally bankrupt fashion icons. But the show's not over yet. Stay tuned to finally hear our take on Belkipson. Sarah, I know people say you should never read the reviews of your own projects, but as you know, I am mentally ill. So obviously I read almost all the reviews people write about our show. Oh my God, same.

Like why wouldn't I read every single review anyone's ever written about me, my voice, my thoughts, my feelings, my point of view, my existence? Yeah, exactly. And a lot of people have said some really lovely things about us, and thank you all for that. It really helps the show. But the reviews I can stop thinking about are obviously always the bad ones.

A common theme in our negative reviews is that we talk about gender, race, and politics too much. You know, girls aren't supposed to do that. Like this review, which said, hate men much, Not bad content, but can stand the cackling laughter and the thrown in progressive views. Sarah, what about this one? I really wanted to like this, but seems like every other episode or just about every other sentence is about how terrible white people are. The first time I overlooked it, but it just seems like more and more, it's all about how terrible every other races

accept brown people. Or there's this one. This show is so woke I can't even continue. The constant man-bashing is so 2016. Get over it. You sound pathetic. The rich white people are evil narrative is so offensive. You point out everyone's color. You are the racists.

That's rude, that hurts my feelings. Well, finally, Sarah, I have to share with you this review that popped up right after we dropped the shady bunch part one and the shady bunch part two. Will you read this for me and then tell me what you think? Hhh, Okay, disgusting. I wish I could give this a no-star rating. You don't deserve a star.

The Shady Bunch, Part 1 and the Shady Bunch Part 2 are some of the most disgusting episodes I ever listened to. The statements in these episodes are so beyond vals, it's not even funny. The accusations against them are fabricated. The Georgia government went after them and then created a narrative for everyone to devour. You ate the bait, you are a fool. Three white-hand clapping emojis do not follow this podcast.

Hmm, I wonder who wrote that. Who do you think it is, Sarah? My personal opinion is that it could be Todd Crisley. Can't you just hear him sassin' us? I mean, we never will know for sure because he is locked up. But what I do know is that if you're listening to this and you're enjoying our show,

go ahead and write us a review because chances are we will probably read it because we are demended and addicted to hearing what's wrong with us and also addicted to hearing praise and then it makes us uncomfortable and it's this whole thing. So please leave us a review. Participate in it, please. Well, Sarah, there is something else that our listeners feel really strongly about. Since the very, very, very beginning

of the show, our inboxes and DMs have been flooded with people asking for an episode about one particular scammer. And that person is Bell Gibson. I seriously cannot tell you how many people have written to us about Bell. One email I got was just Bell Gibson's name in all caps with a ton of exclamation marks. Honestly, it started to feel like you guys were doing PR for Bell Gibson. Yeah, the thing that is most surprising to me about this desire for a Bell Gibson story is that the people who want the story the most already know everything. Yeah, you guys are pretty well-dreamed on who Bell Gibson is. I don't know what more we could possibly say.

Well, let me explain who Bell Gibson is for the, I don't know, five of you. I don't already know. Bell Gibson is an Australian pseudoscience pusher who faked having cancer and then claimed that diet, exercise, and alternative therapies cured it. She raised money under the guise of charity, and then she spent it all on her own lavish lifestyle. And trust me, I am so fascinated by her story. I very distinctly remember watching her on Australian 60 minutes around like 2018, and she just looked so panicked, and her eyes were so wet, and she just kept lying. Sarah, take a look at this clip.

I've not been intentionally untruthful. I've been openly conveying and speaking about what was my reality. Everyone at the show has done a lot of research into it. We really have. We looked into her childhood, growing up with a mother who had MS, and looked at the influence of Tom Cruise ranting against psychiatric meds and how long she was pretending to be sick. But you know

what guys, Bell's case feels almost too simple. Her scam is just that she's a delusional liar. Like, that's it. I think when the story was big, it was like the beginning of the oversharing economy, which is what made it extra crazy. Yeah. But there are so many delusional liars like her now that it, it honestly, it's a classic story, but it doesn't actually stand out in a huge way. So to everyone writing to us about Belle, we hear you, we see you, and we are just as obsessed with Belle as you are, but we're not going to do a full episode on her.

There's just not enough story there. So this is all you're getting. Eat my shorts. Also if you do actually want to see someone covered on the show, please shoot us a note at scamfluencersatwondery.com. And you know, I really do earnestly want to thank all of our listeners because as much as we are joking about people being into us, most people have been so, so nice. And we have the best people working on this show. We get such amazing writers, our producers, our editors. Everyone's really great. And yeah, just very earnestly, thank you so much.

This has been so fun so far. Well, Sarah, that's so sweet. I feel like you have truly scammed your way into my heart. And you know what? When we started this, we didn't really like each other and now look at us. I know. Who could have seen this coming? Nami.

All right, we can't end the show without talking about what we learned today, because there are so many lessons to be learned from scammers. And after putting out dozens of episodes over the last year, I think we should share a few key takeaways. Sarah, do you want to start? Yeah, never trust a man who claims to be from a famous family but has absolutely no contact with anyone in his family.

There should be one cousin at least, someone who looks like him, someone who can show you baby pictures of him with his rich family. I'm sorry, there's no way that someone is that money and has zero contact with their source of money. Second, never go to a second location with a housewife. I assume this is obviously self-explanatory. If you're gonna do a scam, try not to tell everyone

about it by posting $200,000 worth of designer bags and clothes on Instagram. And you know, geotagging yourself on the non-extradition island where you're hiding out on is also a big no-no to me? Actually, on that note, make sure you only visit non-extradition islands for the foreseeable future. You'll think us later. Well, that's it for this week. We hope you had fun with us. We hope you've enjoyed the last year of this show. Don't forget to leave us a review on Apple Podcast, unless you want to call us a racist,

in which case, find your nearest volcano and scream into that instead. Talk to you soon. [♪ Music playing in background, Music app today, or you can listen ad free with Wondery Plus and Apple podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondery.com slash survey. This is the Scamies. I'm Sanchi Cole, and I'm Sarah Haggi. Sarah Annie in Gen Swan wrote this episode, additional writing by us, Sanch Cole, and I'm Sarah Haggy. Sarah Annie in Gen Swan wrote this episode,

additional writing by us, Sachi Cole and Sarah Haggy. Our senior producer is Gen Swan, our producer is John Reed, our associate producers are Charlotte Miller and Lexi Peary, our story editor and producer is Sarah Annie. Allison Wyntrop is our story editor. Sound Design is by Matthew Chalelley, additional audio assistance provided by Adrian Topia. Our music supervisor is Scott Velasquez for Free's On Sync.

Our managing producer is Matt Gantt and our senior managing producer is Tanja Thigpen. Kate Young and Olivia Rashard are our series producers. Our senior story editor is Rachel B. Doyle. Our senior producer is Jenny Bloom. Our executive producers are Janine Cornelot, Stephanie Jen's, Jenny Lauer Beckman, and Marshall Bluey for Wondry. You're under one.