True Con Artist

It’s a chilling reality that homicide investigators know all too well: the last face most murder victims see is not that of a stranger, but of someone familiar. Whether only an acquaintance or a trusted intimate, such killers share a common trait that triggers the downward spiral toward death for someone close to them: they are masters at hiding who they really are. Their clever masks let them appear safe, kind, and truthful. They are anything but - and almost no one can detect the murderous impulses buried deep in their psyches.

Missing people are far more common than you might think. Every year, around the world, hundreds of thousands of people vanish into thin air. Usually, they have simply been involved in a freak accident that has led to their death. Sometimes, they vanish on purpose and don't wish to be found. On very rare occasions, there is violence at play and the person has been deliberately removed from the public or even killed. In this audiobook, we will be examining the various circumstances in which people happen to vanish.

The Baldwins were a strong Christian family living in Plano, Texas. When their 17-year-old daughter, Mackenzie, met Aadam in a random-match online chat room, she fell for his good looks, his charm, and his respectful conversation. He told her he lived in New York, and they began an online friendship. But over the course of a few months, Aadam revealed that he actually lived in Kosovo and had only pretended to live in New York so Mackenzie would keep chatting with him.

The ultimate collection of Australia's craziest cons and mad schemes from a master storyteller. Australia is the birthplace and setting of some of the wildest, craziest and least-likely-to-succeed cons and rorts in history. From the cleverest double-crosses to the most unlikely and maddest schemes, master storyteller Jim Haynes reminds us that we've never been shy of pulling a trick or two.

From trust to terror... from security to survival...The author of The Stranger Beside Me brings her brilliantly informed understanding of the sociopath to this riveting true crime collection. Only Ann Rule, who unknowingly worked alongside the smart and charming Ted Bundy - America's most notorious serial killer - could lend her razor-sharp insight into these cases of the spouse, lover, family member, or helpful stranger who is totally trusted but whose lethally violent nature, though masterfully disguised, can and will kill.

In 1989 a woman fishing in Texas on a quiet stretch of the Colorado River snagged a body. Her “catch” was the corpse of Johnny Jenkins, shot in the head. His death was as dramatic as the rare book dealer’s life, which read, as the Austin American-Statesman declared, “like a best seller”. At the time of his death, Jenkins was about to be indicted by the ATF for the arson of his rare books, warehouse, and offices. Another investigation implicated Jenkins in forgeries of historical documents, including the Texas Declaration of Independence.

I Did It is the story of Gina Champion-Cain, the mastermind behind the largest woman-led Ponzi scheme in US history—$400 million. This real-life story includes a multitude of participants, banks, hedge funds, egomaniacs, and small-time crooks, all fueled by greed, stupidity, and a keen desire to look the other way. And even when they were looking in the right direction, all of these people and entities saw nothing.

In the heart of Indian country in the American west, clandestine criminals were profiting greatly from the sale of sacred Native American artifacts stolen from tribal lands. These artifacts were so ancient they had been used since the migration of the first Americans into North America some 15,000 years ago. In the year 1998, the illegal trafficking of these artifacts peaked in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In 2016, on stage at Wembley Arena in front of thousands of adoring fans, Dr Ruja Ignatova promised her followers a financial revolution. The future, she said, belonged to cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. And the Oxford-educated, self-styled cryptoqueen vowed that she had invented the Bitcoin killer. OneCoin would not only earn its investors untold fortunes, it would change the world.

A true story of a loving father facing formidable legal odds to secure custody of his two small children. Using wiretap technology in ways never seen before or since, he turns the tide in his favor in the case of a cheating wife and a predatory gynecologist. It’s a story of humility and perseverance triumphing over arrogance, status, and the powerful influence of sex addiction while delivering lessons in conscience and consequences. With recorded intimate details, this riveting account gained national acclaim for the legal precedent of the case.

At the birth of the 20th century the advent of train travel throughout the United States brought assorted smooth-talking, quick-thinking con men. These men took people's money. Seasoned journalist Will Irwin chronicled the true confessions of a master swindler, card cheat, circus barker and master of persuasion. THE CONFESSIONS OF A CON MAN details one man’s apprenticeship into larceny and his journey as a criminal mastermind of daring swindles.

Of the millions who go missing every year around the world, there are those who simply vanish and are never seen again. The sheer volume of people who disappear each and every year are, when examined in detail, terrifying. In this audiobook, we will touch upon some of the most terrifying, touching, strange, and worrying stories. In this audiobook, we hope to examine the sheer range of cases which have enthralled the interested, and distressed those involved for many years. Some of these cases became national stories, while others remain private tragedies.

After her father died in 2003, Susan Fensten turned to a genealogy message board to search for surviving relatives. Days later, she was delighted to receive an email from someone claiming to be a distant cousin. In fact, Susan had just been ensnared by a relentless sociopath. She soon became the target of an elaborate cyber-hoax involving dozens of frightening characters, including known sex offenders, who made threats of kidnapping, murder, rape, torture, and cannibalism. Remarkable in its complexity, this story of Internet stalking is also a harrowing tale of courage in the face of madness.

The third of a trilogy, this collection features 16 of the world's most outrageous scams and hoaxes. They all really happened, and were taken from firsthand accounts, newspaper reports, or historical documents found in public libraries. They date as far back as the late 1800s, but most are more recent. However, you won't find any defrauded widows or orphans in these stories; the victims are institutions or corporations quite capable of defending themselves, and the crooks who match wits with them are just as savvy. You could almost call it a fair fight!

Belle Gibson convinced the world she had healed herself from terminal brain cancer with a healthy diet. She built a global business based upon her claims. There was just one problem: she'd never had cancer. In 2015, journalists uncovered the truth: this hero of the wellness world, with over 200,000 followers, international book deals and a best-selling smartphone app, was a fraud.

Zwischen 1975 und 1978 erpresste ein sich 'Monsieur X' nennender Mann mit ungewöhnlich persönlich begründeten Drohbriefen und gezielten Sabotageakten die Deutsche Bundesbahn, wobei er trotz großer Polizeianstrengungen lange unentdeckt blieb und erst nach der Ausstrahlung eines Aktenzeichen XY-Beitrags durch einen entscheidenden Hinweis identifiziert werden konnte.

The killing of six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey—found in the basement of her family home in Boulder, Colorado, with a smashed skull and a garrote placed around her neck—remains one of America’s most shameful unsolved crimes. A flawed investigation, fraught with police, prosecutorial misconduct, and widespread evidence tampering, means that the little girl’s killer remains at large after more than two decades.

Don't hint that Richard Hauptmann was executed as an innocent man. Don't dare to think that Charles Lindbergh had clean hands when it came to the kidnapping and murder of his son. It's unpopular and may be dangerous to say aloud, but there was no kidnapping at the Lindbergh estate in 1932...No kidnapping...Instead of the story of the American hero and the trial, those parts are summarized, and the emphasis is on the actual evidence and the investigation. Hauptmann was innocent, there was no kidnapping, and the true killer is named.

There has never been a con-man trickster in American history as devious, or as likeable, as Randolph "Soapy" Smith. He was a sociopath with a smile that could melt the hardest heart. He was a man without a conscience, a natural criminal quite willing to steal from the hapless poor and the greedy rich with an equally shameless eagerness. Soapy’s only measure of man was the wallet he could empty from the day he learned how to cheat at cards, hide the pea in a shell game, or invent a scam.

Entre mayo y junio de 2019, se juzgó en Nueva York al falso gurú de la autoayuda, Keith Raniere, por un cúmulo de delitos que incluyen lavado de dinero, esclavitud sexual, extorsión, entre otros. Raniere aseguró por años ante sus fieles ser el hombre más inteligente y ético del mundo, aunque nunca demostró ninguno de estos dos atributos.