Hooked

Known as the Lonely Hearts Killers, Raymond Martinez Fernandez and Martha Beck traveled around the US fleecing hardworking women of their money and valuables. Eventually, when a few of them gave them too much trouble, the couple turned to murder.

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CW: This episode contains discussion of suicide

Mark Drybrough and Nadia Kajouji both completed suicide after being sent instructions on how by a friend on the internet. But who was this friend really, and why did they encourage dozens of people online to kill themselves?

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SOURCES

In a preview of what patrons will receive as bonus episodes, Rachel tells the story of the murder of Cynthia Hoffman. 

On June 2, 2019, Cynthia Hoffman was found dead in a popular park in Anchorage, Alaska. Her best friend Denali seemed upset, but soon it would be revealed that she was being blackmailed into murder by her online boyfriend. Tyler.

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When documentarian and journalist David Farrier discovered Competitive Endurance Tickling by accident, he contacted the organizer about doing a piece on them. Instead of declining politely, Jane O'Brien Media began a harassment campaign full of intimidation and homophobic slurs. 

Undeterred, Farrier and his crew set out to make a documentary about Competitive Endurance Tickling, only to discover a dark world of lies, blackmail, and of course, a big ol' catfish.

SOURCES

"Tickled", documentary (2016), David Farrier
https://www.indiewire.com/2017/03/david-damato-dead-tickled-villian-died-1201794767/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tickled

On May 15 2001, one of the most beloved bloggers of the early internet died from a brain aneurysm after battling leukemia. 

On May 19, 2001, the internet learned that Kaycee Nicole Swenson had not, in fact, died. She had never existed.

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SOURCES:

https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/31/technology/a-beautiful-life-an-early-death-a-fraud-exposed.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaycee_Nicole 
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kaycee-nicole/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2001/may/28/internetnews.mondaymediasection
https://www.webtimemedias.com/article/transfernet-fabulous-fate-kaycee-nicole
https://metatalk.metafilter.com/20653/Kaycee-Nicole-Metafilters-first-investigation 
https://www.metafilter.com/7878/The-Kaycee-Nicole-Swensen-Faq 

Join your host Rachel on a journey through the perplexing and sometimes deadly world of internet catfishing. Why do people catfish? How many lies can they tell before they get caught? And what happens to the victims who get snared in their tangled web?