Longform

  • Podcast
  • Best Of
    • 2021
    • 2020
    • 2019
    • 2018
    • 2017
    • 2016
    • 2015
    • 2014
    • 2013
    • 2012
  • Archive

    • Sections
    • Publications
    • Writers
    • Tags
  • Random Article
  • Contact

    • podcast@longform.org

Tags

Scam Artists

Best Article Crime

Crowded House

They thought that they’d found the perfect New York apartment. They weren’t alone.

Tad Friend New Yorker May 2013 30min Permalink

Crime

The Hollywood Con Queen

“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.”

K.J. Yossman Marie Claire Feb 2020 25min Permalink

Music

The Unbelievable Story of Threatin: Heavy Metal's Fyre Festival Moment

After faking his entire career and becoming a viral sensation, the heavy metal singer shares his side of the story.

KJ Yossman Kerrang! Oct 2019 15min Permalink

The Balloon Boy Hoax—Solved!

The country was captivated by the Balloon Boy. But what really happened?

Robert Sanchez 5280 Oct 2019 25min Permalink

Business Crime

The Grindr Grifter

Daniel Spence used dating apps to scam his way across the U.S. Could he be caught before taking over one of Brooklyn’s hottest media companies?

John H. Tucker Observer Jun 2019 25min Permalink

Crime

“He Actually Believes He Is Khalid”: The Amazing 30-Year Odyssey of a Counterfeit Saudi Prince

Investors all over the world fell for the schemes of the man who called himself Khalid bin al-Saud. But the truth turned out to be more incredible than the lie.

Mark Seal Vanity Fair Oct 2018 20min Permalink

Media

Who is Anna March?

A story of literary ambition, fabulous parties and a hidden past.

Melissa Chadburn, Carolyn Kellog LA Times Jul 2018 15min Permalink

Crime Tech World

Inside the US Government's War on Tech Support Scammers

The fall of PCCare247, an Indian company in the business of selling fixes to problems that didn’t exist.

Nate Anderson Ars Technica May 2014 15min Permalink

Crime

The Murder Hustle

How a Harvard-educated neurologist, a courtly southern gentlemen, and a Hollywood rent boy ended up at the center of an international manhunt that spread from the staid business community of Columbus, Ohio to the coffee shops of Amsterdam.

  1. Part I: The Murder Hustle

  2. Part II: The Trail of a Hustler

  3. Part III: The End of the Hustle

Ann Louise Bardach Vanity Fair Oct 1989 2h15min Permalink