Working Hard, Hardly Working

Ep.51 Victim or Scammer: Who Really Is Caroline Calloway? ft. Caroline Calloway

07.24.2023 - By Grace BeverleyPlay

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Known for her hugely captivating story, writer, social media influencer and self titled ’Scammer’ Caroline Calloway doesn’t shy away from being controversial. 

Caroline started to build her online presence between 2013 and 2016, documenting her experience during her time at Cambridge university after dropping out of New York University. She rose to fame creating an Instagram following who were given ‘exclusive access’ into the life of Caroline Calloway and her adventures.

However, whilst she gained significant traction and a dedicated fan base which gave her followers a real insight into her life, she faced criticism for her often inconsistent accounts and stories. It was later revealed that alongside forging her place at Cambridge with fraudulent results, she had bought Instagram followers before building an actual audience online. 

In 2019, Caroline promised a memoir “And We Were Like: A Memoir” as part of a $500,000 book deal on the back of her internet popularity but the book never transpired, landing her in $100,000 of debt to the publisher. It was later alleged in a damning article published in 2019 by her university friend Natalie Beach that she was the brains behind the famous Instagram, revealing the apparent truth behind the book deal and uncovering Caroline’s adderall addiction. Just two days after the article was published, Caroline was told that her father had been found dead from suicide. 

Fast forwarding to present life, Caroline has now published her memoir “Scammer” giving a tell-all take into her life and answers some of the questions that are left from her controversies.

Positioning herself as the scammer, Caroline has used this to gain significant fame but how true is this? This episode gets behind the Instagram profile, looking into ‘who actually is Caroline Calloway?’ From following a similar path to me in attending an Oxbridge University and building a following at the same time to where our paths divided and how it went so horribly wrong. This episode cross examines her one-of-a-kind story as I try to work out the real story and whether she really is a scam artist at all.

TW: Suicide & Addiction

How Caroline got her first 40k followers How Caroline became Instagram famous Caroline opens up on the truth about her drug addiction Caroline reveals the extent of her drug addiction How Caroline landed her $500,000 book deal The truth behind why Caroline never fulfilled her book deal Why Caroline's best friend sold a story that cancelled her How Caroline coped with her father’s suicide How Caroline dealt with being publicly cancelled two days after her father's suicide Why Caroline's best friend offered her 15k for her life rights just two days after her father's death

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