Dee Dee Blancharde was a model parent: a tireless single mom taking care of her gravely ill child. But after Dee Dee was killed, it turned out her daughter Gypsy had never been sick at all.
“You’re preying on someone’s hopes, you’re preying on someone’s dreams. You’re preying on a particularly vulnerable population who all have artistic sensibilities.”
Faith Hope Consolo had the entire press fooled, including us. Then a message came in.
He was a Harvard Law professor who taught a class on judgment, which made him an unlikely target for an elaborate paternity scheme that nearly cost him his house and family.
She calls claiming to be Amy Pascal, Kathleen Kennedy, or some other powerful woman in entertainment. She knows personal details about her mark as well as the woman she is impersonating.
She offers work, then sends them—photographers, make-up artists, soldiers—around the world to bilk them out of modest amounts of cash.
Arno Smit bilked millions out of Tulare County dairy workers (and at least one wealthy widow). Then he disappeared.
