Scam City

Question of the scam: We all have a friend who seems to know someone who knows someone. So imagine that your homegirl presents you the opportunity to “win” a contest for a million dollars. You have to decide three things: do you do it, yes or no?

Do you take your money upfront in a lump sum or in small payments of $50,000/yr for 20 years? Finally, do you pay the $50,000 finders fee she’s demanding to her and all of the “someones” involved upfront or ask that you have a year to pay them back?

Don’t Hate the Player, Hate the Game - How Jerome "Uncle Jerry" Jacobson McScammed $24 Million from McDonald's Monopoly 

It all began in 1987 with a little nationwide Monopoly game McDonald's cooked up, which saw customers feverishly collecting game pieces attached to drink cups, french fry packets, magazine ads and...selling on Bay.  The game promised lavish vacation, cars, and the chance to win $1 million,  but no one ever actually won anything more than a double serving of fries, and that's because the game was rigged for 12 years by a former cop named Jerome "Uncle Jerry" Jacobson.  In deep dive published by The Daily Beast (most recently optioned to be the blueprint for an upcoming film chronicling the grift a la Hustlers) Uncle Jerry had insider access to the pieces while working as director of security for Simon Marketing, the company in charge of producing the game pieces. What started as just stealing one small fry piece, turned into a network of scamming with accomplices that included the mob, psychics, ex-cons, drug dealers, strip club owners, housewives, and a Mormon family, all guilty for falsely claiming more than $24 million in cash and prizes.

Digressions include Titanic, The Wolf of Wall Street, Black mothers asking about your "McDonald's money," and why this grift could've only been executed by a white man. 

Each episode Cass and Taylor rate the scam! Here's this week's results.

OVERALL RESULTS 

Taylor: 2.6 

Cass: 3 

Follow today's sponsored brand, By Santos on Instagram and don't forget to visit By-Santos.com to get a discount using the code featured in this episode! 

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*Spoilers Ahead (even though you  already know the story since you listened to our "Make That Money, Don't Let It Make You" episode, right?!)*

In this very special bonus episode of Scam City, Taylor and Cass discuss Lorene Scarfaria's masterpiece, Hustlers starring Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Lily Reinhart and Keke Palmer. Digressions include Constance Wu's wig,  J.Lo resurrecting her Juicy couture, Usher's cameo, and why Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the only white men we stan. 

Now that this is a professional podcast, we've got our very first sponsor! Listen for the code mentioned in the ad for 15% off your first pair of Mosley Jackson handcrafted clay earrings. While you're waiting for your earrings to made and sustainably shipped to you, follow Mosley Jackson on IG.

If you want to read any of the articles we referenced, you can find them here:

The Oral History of Hustlers 

How Roselyn Keo's Story inspired Hustlers 

How Hustlers Pulled Off the Meta Cameo of the Year

In March of 2019, the internet was #SurvivingCardiB. The hashtag, an obvious play on Lifetime’s Surviving R. Kelly docu-series, was in response to an old video of Cardi admitting to drugging and robbing men back in her dancing days as a means of survival. Before the cancel could set in, a bunch of people said that Cardi’s behavior, while not ok, wasn’t in the same strastophere as R. Kelly’s crimes and that other dancers did this too. 

Unbeknownst to your sisters in scam, they were right - other dancers have done this too. Rosie Keo and Samantha Barbash not only drugged men to rob them, but created an empire out of it. A 2015 article for The Cut broke down the story and inspired the new Hustler’s movie - due out in September of this year. But before we get into the movie (where CONSTANCE WU IS GOING TO PLAY A DANCER!), let’s talk about the story itself. 

This week we talk about about the women behind the Hustlers scam, our predictions about the film (CARDI, J.LO, LIZZO, AGAIN, CONSTANCE WU) and more! 

Cassandra's Overall Scam Score: 3

Taylor's Overall Scam Score: 2

Hustler content 

The infamous Cut article profiling Samantha and Rosie

J.LO, Cardi B and Lizzo team up for true life stripper crime drama

Sam hates J.LO 

With her oversized black sunglasses, Supreme athleisure, and Rimowa suitcase, Anna Delvey (real name Anna Sorokin) posed a German heiress and scammed hoteliers, influencers, NYC elite, and the damn SWISS BANK in order to social climb in Manhattan.

Landing in 'Merica at the age of 28, Sorokin, the daughter of a former truck driver from Russia, migrated from Germany to the United States in 2014. After her arrival, she got a little creative with her backstory and recreated her entire identity, claiming to be a wealthy socialite,  and the daughter of an oil baron...or a diplomat, depending on who asked. She got in with the NYC elite socialite scene and scored even more investment and clout by pretending to raise money to startup her own artsy social club. Anna was kicked out of the NYC scene and thrown into Rikers when her lies finally caught up to her, and her inner circle began to discover that the German heiress was really a broke scammer with good fashion taste. Delvey is now serving 4-12 years in jail and will be deported after her release. Both Lena Dunham and Shonda Rimes are creating shows based on Delvey's hot girl summer. 

This week we talk about about Delvey's whirlwind summer, the trip that cost her everything (and by her, we mean her friend who was left with the bill) and her infamous courtroom looks. 

Cassandra's Overall Scam Score: 2 

Taylor's Overall Scam Score: 2.6

Anna Delvey content 

How Anna Delvey Tricked New York 

My Misadventure with The Magician of Manhattan

Anna Delvey Trial Looks 

At the age of 19, Elizabeth Holmes promised to disrupt the multibillion-dollar blood testing industry with her revolutionary finger-prick tests. The flashy Board! The turtle necks! The deep voice! The generational white wealth! It all helped to create a facade that at the age of 19, while most of us were playing flip cup and making questionable decisions, Holmes had created a device that would undercut blood testing costs and deliver results to sick people in seconds...except she didn't.  The $8 billion company had 800 employees and was operating in Walgreens stores in Phoenix when John Carreyrou's whistleblowing piece in the Wall Street Journal outed Theranos as imaginary technology that was never fully functioning. Pretty much...it was a toy. A fancy toy! 

This week we talk about about how the Stanford drop out scammed her way through the highest ranks of Palo Alto,  raised billions, locked in a Board made up with of Apple execs and a Secretary of State, all to later be outed as a liar with a made up machine. Holmes is currently being charged with  nine counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and face fines of $250k and 20 years in prison. 

Cassandra's Overall Scam Score: 0.33

Taylor's Overall Scam Score: 1 

More Theranos content we cited in this episode 

Theranos price list 

HBO: The Inventor 

The Dropout Podcast

John Carreyrou's WSJ Piece 

Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup 

Applying to college is a laborious task. For most people it means sobbing while you re-write your common app essay 19 times or questioning if losing your sanity is worth your parent's ability to flex to their friends with where you're pursuing a fancy piece of paper. Unless you're one of the kids wrapped up in "Operation Varsity Blues", a scam in which wealthy parents paid their kids' way into colleges and then got caught. Talk about embarrassing. 

This week we talk about how beloved TV Moms/Aunts and a bunch of random CEOs made rookie moves in what is the largest college admission scam pursued by the DOJ. 

Cassandra's Overall Scam Score: 3.6

Taylor's Overall Scam Score: 3.3

Welcome to Scam City, a new podcast where two regular girls who love a good story about a conman (or con woman) break down the wildest scams and what led to its downfall. 

Join pop culture writers Cass Alcide and Taylor Davis every week for dissections, reflections, and deep dives into scams.