Kath tells Pat about the King of Bougainville, Noah Musingku, who turned a ponzi scheme borne of an economic crisis into a would-be monarchy in the emerging island nation of Bougainville.

Much of the information in this episode comes from the Harper's article The Island King by Sean Williams, which you can read here: https://harpers.org/archive/2024/11/the-island-king-sean-williams-bougainville/

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Kath tells Pat the story of Alan Todd May, who turned an engaging personality and a small inherited oil claim into a Ponzi scheme that had him living large across the country with a series of young boyfriends.

Much of the info in this episode comes from Charles Bethea's article on May in the New Yorker, "The Fake Oilman", which you can read here: https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-south/the-fake-oilman

Pat and Kath talk some topical scams, frauds, and thefts. We cover some pope-related shenanigans, Fyre Fest 2, a Looney Tunes-style break-in, and more in this roundup episode.

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In this episode, recorded in person in Austin, Pat tells Kath about the reason behind the modern scourge of fake job listings, wasting applicants' time and inflating economic indicators.

Kath tells Pat about a would-be communication breakthrough for nonverbal and autistic people that maintains popularity, despite being labeled a pseudoscience.

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Kath tells Pat credit repair agencies, an industry which take the scam that is the credit score an adds another scam on top of it. We talk about the conditions that allowed this industry to flourish, and recent attempts to protect consumers from its manipulations.

Much of the info in this podcast is available in Maddy Crowell's recent article "The Big, Empty Promises of the Ballooning Credit Repair Industry", available here: https://newrepublic.com/article/192064/big-empty-promises-ballooning-credit-repair-industry

Pat tells Kath about Shawn Bolz, a Charismatic Christian who combines two classic forms of scamming: "psychic" cold reading and prophetic ministry.

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On this dual-subject episode, Pat tells Kath about the history of Deadwood, South Dakota, a town filled with liars, frauds, thieves and bullshitters, and gives us an update on a bullshitter he knew personally back in his pawn shop days.

Kath tells Pat about a classic scammer archetype: the gambler who's convinced he has a system, and gets in over his head. Viktor Gjonaj was a successful real estate mogul in Michigan before roping an innocent, down-on-his-luck friend into a multi million dollar ponzi scheme that involved the bulk purchasing of lottery tickets, as Gjonaj was convinced he'd discovered a pattern in the numbers.

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Kath tells Pat about Anthony William, The Medical Medium, a health guru who claims to have the ability to commune with the spirit world about his clients' health. Despite ringing endorsements from a whole host of celebrities and a cushy appointment writing for GOOP, not all of William's clients have been so fortunate.