What would you do if one handwritten letter from a psychic promised to change your life forever? This is the story of 1 million hopeful Americans, the global scam that took $200m from them, and the mastermind who managed it all by sending out thousands of letters a week. Investigative journalist Rachel Browne exposes the shocking details of this massive scam on this season of Smoke Screen: The Greatest Scam Ever Written - available now wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribers to The Binge can...
Aug 05, 2024•5 min
Joke stealing. It's a cardinal sin in the comedy community, but it happens...a lot. Sometimes it's truly unintentional or a case of parallel thinking. But other times... it's downright theft. This week, in our final episode, Alzo is joined by acclaimed writers and comedians Chloe Hilliard and Sydnee Washington to talk about joke stealing, confronting comics, and the murky territory of jokes on social media. A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Son...
Apr 11, 2023•43 min•Season 1Ep. 98
After New Orleans was hit by the catastrophic national disaster of hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Saints quickly became the symbol of America’s team rising up against the odds. With new acquisitions like newbie coach Sean Payton and quarterback Drew Brees, the Saints were turning around their status as a struggling team to a 13 -3 record. By January 2009, the team was just one game away from going to the Superbowl, all they had to do was beat the Vikings. On the field though, it seemed like ...
Apr 04, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 97
A conservatorship or guardianship is a court appointed order which gives someone permission to act on behalf of an individual who can’t make decisions for themselves. Guardians are kind of like carers – but their power extends to all aspects of another person’s life. In most cases, guardianships are needed, and are only recommended as a last result. But what happens when they go very wrong? What happens when someone is stripped of all their rights, and it’s totally legal? A Somethin’ Else & Sony...
Mar 28, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 96
Oobah Butler is a professional prankster. In 2017, he managed to convince the London restaurant scene that he was the owner of the coolest, most popular place in town. A place that didn’t exist. Despite having never served a single customer, this is how The Shed at Dulwich became the No. 1 rated restaurant in London on TripAdvisor. A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life i...
Mar 21, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 95
In the 1980s, The PTL or Praise The Lord Satellite Network founded by Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker broadcast into millions of homes throughout the world with their special brand of prosperity gospel. Jim’s charismatic sermons and Tammy Faye’s musical performances and bombastic personality brought a new kind of Christianity into people’s lives. Their little television studio in Fort Mills, SC quickly grew into Heritage USA, a 2,300 acre resort, waterpark and state-of-the-art recording facility. Paid...
Mar 14, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 94
In 2017, Roy Johnson, a former life insurance salesman turned entrepreneur, opened a new football high school in Ohio. The school's mission was to help students from underfunded backgrounds get a "second chance" at getting into college. Roy promised prospective students new facilities, online classes, and that he'd help get them recruited into the best football college programs. Students from all over the country came to this new school hoping it'd help them achieve their dreams. But when they g...
Mar 07, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 93
How did a trusted British institution manage to have over 600 people convicted for crimes they didn’t commit? In the early 2000’s, the UK Postal Service brought in a new IT system to manage accounts - Horizon. But when a serious amount of cash starts going unaccounted for, innocent employees are blamed. A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcast...
Feb 28, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 92
Goofing around in class one day, Alex and Alan had no idea that they were about to create a decade-long Wikipedia hoax that would spread into some pretty surprising corners of Scotland: from coffee table books to cooking shows to potentially the country’s currency. In this episode of Cheat, we talk to the two men who created “Alan McMasters, the Scottish inventor of the electric toaster”, and to the two people who brought the whole lie to light: a teenage reddit enthusiast and an investigative j...
Feb 21, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 91
Dating is hard. Just about anyone can relate to having trouble meeting new people and making connections. That's why in 2018 Carol Meredith, an actress living in California, decided to give online dating a shot. When she matches with a handsome sports agent named "Mike", and they hit it off right away, she thinks there's a potential partner here. Eventually "Mike" asks Carol out to dinner. But when Carol gets to the restaurant, she notices some things were off – and the date takes a turn for the...
Feb 14, 2023•31 min•Season 1Ep. 90
Collector Marty Martin spent years finding and sourcing incredible ancient artifacts, which he shared with the world in his touring museum. From dinosaur bones to Egyptian hieroglyphic stones, Marty had it all. And when Marty finds a small, family-owned antique shop, specialising in the earliest years of human history, he thinks he’s struck gold. But some things? They’re just too good to be true. A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Ent...
Feb 07, 2023•41 min•Season 1Ep. 88
Growing up in Dixon, Illinois, in the 90s, Li Arellano never understood why his town seemed to be crumbling, the streets were a mess, the library’s roof leaked, and the old downtown theater was an eyesore. It didn’t seem like it should’ve been that way— plenty of people in town seemed to do well for themselves. Especially Rita Crundwell. She owned hundreds of championship show horses that earned her ribbons and fancy belt buckles, and built a successful horse breeding business. Or at least that’...
Jan 31, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 88
Caviar, those little salty fish eggs – are prized by foodies all over the world. The fish that produces caviar, sturgeon, has been struggling to survive in the wild...except in one place: Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin. There, fisheries biologists have set strict rules that limit how many sturgeon can be caught, and what happens to their eggs. Sturgeon eggs can either be kept and processed into caviar or donated to research. But the caviar cannot be sold, bartered, or traded. Then things got fishy. R...
Jan 24, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 87
It's likely you've never heard of a pangolin - they're scaly mammals that look kind of like a cross between an artichoke and an anteater. But these elusive creatures have been trafficked to the point of becoming endangered. Why? In some countries, pangolins are coveted for their meat and scales, especially for use in traditional Chinese medicine. And as the demand for traditional medicine grows worldwide, so has demand for pangolin scales. In 2016, it became illegal to commercially trade pangoli...
Jan 17, 2023•32 min•Season 1Ep. 86
When it comes to social media, there's no shortage of mental health content. And there's a growing number of influencers who are using their platforms to talk about mental health - that includes everything from diagnosing followers to what to expect in a psychiatric hospital. But not all of the information and advice that's being handed out is accurate. What qualifies someone to be an expert in mental wellbeing? And when can it get dangerous? A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment productio...
Jan 10, 2023•38 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Every spring, the best anglers in the Midwest converge on Lake Erie to try to catch the biggest Walleye and win tens of thousands of dollars in cash prizes. Competitive Walleye fishing is no joke — the fish are elusive and challenging to catch. It’s a very technical sport, that needs strategy, patience and lots and lots of lures. So, when two previously unremarkable fisherman start winning competition after competition, everyone starts to wonder if there is more to their success than meets the e...
Jan 03, 2023•35 min•Season 1Ep. 84
In 2007, two Iowa-born brothers launched an artisanal chocolate company, Mast Brothers, out of an apartment in Williamsburg, Brooklyn—the hipster heart of the growing farm-to-table movement. Mast quickly became a well-known operation, partly because their focus was on creating quality chocolate that only required two ingredients: cocoa beans and sugar. And these speciality bars—hand wrapped in expensive, beautifully designed paper—boasted a $10 price tag. It was something people were willing to ...
Dec 27, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 83
In the 1910s, the New York City Post Office was having trouble delivering children's letters addressed to Santa Claus. So every Christmas, thousands of letters went unanswered. Then in 1913, an charming businessman named John Duval Gluck, Jr. started a new charity, “The Santa Claus Association" to fix this problem. The organization was a group of volunteers who responded to children’s letters, and sent the neediest ones to affluent Manhattanites who would provide gifts. The charity became an imm...
Dec 20, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 82
In 1912, a British amateur archaeologist found fossils that would change the face of evolution. Charles Dawson claimed he had found the missing link - evidence that proved humans had evolved from apes. The only problem? It was a complete hoax - one that went on for almost 40 years. What happens when we desperately want something to be true, even when science says it isn’t? A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic....
Dec 13, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 81
In the early 2000’s, a man called Ian Paterson was considered one of the best breast surgeons in England. He was a trusted and respected name within the British medical field. But when rumours start spreading about the ethics of Paterson’s practice, innocent patients are forced to pay the price. A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@...
Dec 06, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 80
During the 19th and 20th centuries, the people who helped build and shape American society were some of history’s most notorious swindlers. Many of these scams still exist today - in some form or another. Alzo sits down with Duke University Professor Edward Balleisen, author of “Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff”, to dig into the relationship between American business and fraud. A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entert...
Nov 29, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 79
In 2016, over 100,000 Bitcoin were stolen from customers using the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. The theft rattled the crypto world. At the time of the hack, Bitfinex was considered one of the most stable exchanges in the realm of virtual currency. And there wasn’t much that the company—or authorities—could do to retrieve the stolen coins. They sat in an anonymous wallet for years, accruing value. Millions turned into billions. Earlier this year, investigators got a lead. And they ended up a...
Nov 22, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 78
Cheating usually takes the fun out of games. But with the rise of competitive gaming in the past decade, more people are willing to cheat – and are paying to do so. This is a story about Cheat Ninja, the biggest video game cheating operation that made millions by not playing by the rules. A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymus...
Nov 15, 2022•34 min•Season 1Ep. 77
The Church of Scientology has been the subject of public fascination, government investigations, movies, and books for as long as the organization has been around. But what might be less well-known is the Church’s longstanding feud with the Internal Revenue Service of the United States. After the IRS revoked the Church of Scientology’s tax exempt status in the 1960s, the Church, under L. Ron Hubbard’s leadership, launched an elaborate operation to infiltrate the US government with scientologists...
Nov 08, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 76
Lotteries should be all about luck. But what if you could beat the odds? Would you do it? In 2010, Hot Lotto – a multi-state lottery game – featured an advertised prize of over $16 million. The owner of the winning ticket wanted to remain anonymous and claim the money to an off shore account. What happened next turned out to be the largest lottery scam in American history. A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music Entertainment production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic....
Nov 01, 2022•33 min•Season 1Ep. 75
Koko is perhaps the world's most famous gorilla. She was known for her ability to communicate using thousands of signs and gestures taught to her by her caretaker, Francine "Penny" Patterson as part of a research project that spanned 40 years. KoKo captured the public imagination with the way she appeared to think and emote like a human. But as Koko’s fame grew, animal behavioral theorists started to have doubts about the study’s method. How much did Koko really know? What did Koko the talking g...
Oct 25, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 74
In 2013, beef burgers—and other products advertised as beef—that were sold across Europe were found to contain traces, and in some cases, substantial portions of horse and pig DNA. Turns out, this wasn't a labeling mistake. It was a perfect storm: a largely self-regulated industry combined with precarious economic conditions, which led to a food safety scandal that rocked the world. This incident would raise pressing questions about transparency in food labeling, and how to prevent food fraud on...
Oct 18, 2022•32 min•Season 1Ep. 73
When Indian journalist Nidhi Razdan was tapped for a job as an associate professor at Harvard, she was overjoyed. She went through a full hiring process - resumes, interviews, recommendations, before receiving an offer. She quit her job and began preparing to move to the US. Then, one thing after another went wrong. Classes were delayed. Her housing wasn’t ready. Turns out there was no job, and Razdan was the victim of a bizarre phishing scam that cyber security experts are still trying to unrav...
Oct 11, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 72
Toby Groves was running a mortgage brokerage when he discovered a small mistake that had been losing the company money, hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of money, very quickly. Toby was willing to do anything he could to save his company and the employee jobs that came with it – even if it meant breaking the law, over and over again. At first it started with just one little, fraudulent loan, then another and another, until things snowballed into catastrophe. A Somethin’ Else & Sony Music E...
Oct 04, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 71
Nigeria was struggling with a kidnapping crisis, that is until Abba Kyari took over as the head of an elite police unit. Kyari earned the spotlight through his ability to capture the country’s worst criminals: robbers, kidnappers, bombers, arms dealers, terrorists. His work was so dangerous—and he was so successful at it—that people started calling him “super cop.” He insisted he would go to any length to find criminals, but his rogue operations were actually covering up a much bigger crime. A S...
Sep 27, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 70
