The Grift

Panoply•www.thegriftpodcast.com

When we hear about confidence games, we think, “never me.” Welcome to The Grift, a show about con artists and the lives they ruin. Best-selling author and New Yorker writer Maria Konnikova takes us to the darker side of human nature and deceit. Ten stories about card sharks, cult leaders, art forgers, impostors, and more. Why do we fall for them time and time again?

Last refreshed: January 3rd, 2026 at 4:41 AM ⓘ

Follow this podcast in the Metacast mobile app to refresh it and see new episodes.

Follow on

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

RSS

Podcasts are better in Metacast mobile app

Don't just listen to podcasts. Learn from them with transcripts, summaries, and chapters for every episode. Skim, search, and bookmark insights. Learn more

Episodes

The Grift Presents: Family Ghosts

The Grift presents an episode of another Panoply podcast we think our listeners will love: Family Ghosts. When Nick's grandfather died in 1994, something bizarre happened: his aunt Susan stole the body and hid it. Susan died shortly thereafter, and for the last twenty-three years, Nick and his family have agonized over his grandfather's whereabouts - but much to Nick's frustration, never enough to actually try and find him. This week, Nick asks "Family Ghosts" host Sam Dingman to see what he can...

Dec 11, 2017•56 min

The Greatest Impostor

Ferdinand Demara is quite possibly the greatest con artist you’ve never heard of. With good reason: he hardly ever used his own name. Demara was a professional impostor. In his long and prolific career, he passed himself off as a surgeon on a warship, an engineer, a college dean, a cancer researcher, a cop. And the list goes on. Demara operated for over fifty years, and impersonated at least fifty people, that we know of… and he got away with all of it. We hope you enjoyed the last episode of th...

Jun 06, 2017•39 min

Crooked Carnival

Peter Fenton made a career out of crafting that con we’ve all fallen for: the con of fantasy, of alternative realities that are much more pleasant than the existing one. This week, we go inside the world of carnival game scams, why we fall for them even when we know the odds are against us. Later, Peter recounts his career as a tabloid fabulist. Peter Fenton is the essential grifter – he sells us the stories we most want to believe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adch...

May 30, 2017•32 min

Psychic Faith

A fraud is lurking on most every block of most every city and town, all over the world: the psychic. When you’re down, when you’re alone, when you’re uncertain: that’s when you’re perfectly vulnerable to that old teller of the future, the person who offers you certainty and clarity and counsel and support when you most need it. The person who knows just how to take advantage of the basic human desire for control over our lives. They search for the perfect victim, work their way into her life, an...

May 23, 2017•32 min

For a Small Investment...

Oscar Hartzell, born to humble beginnings, would go on to craft one of the most elaborate and successful mail fraud cons of all time. Pirates, lost treasure, the Wild West — it's the Spanish Prisoner, with a very English twist. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

May 16, 2017•32 min

The One Who Almost Got Away

Sam Israel not only ran one of the most successful Ponzi schemes in history, he would eventually go on to the single most extreme con there is: the con of life and death. Who knows how often it happens? After all, its success stories are dead….or so we think. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

May 09, 2017•31 min

Loving a Lie

Maria talks with the Atlantic’s Emily Yoffe about the most common grift of them all: the sweetheart scam. It’s a catfishing bait and switch where the person you fall in love with isn’t the person you thought. It has likely happened to someone you know. Someone intelligent, nice, attractive. Someone like you. Because where are we more vulnerable than in matters of the heart? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...

May 02, 2017•31 min

The Religion of the Black Dog

A small secretive cult was started in the 1970s and operated out of New Jersey for decades without notice. A survivor tells us her dark story of abuse and manipulation at the hands of the charismatic cult leader, and how she eventually escaped his clutches. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apr 25, 2017•44 min

The Self-Made Heiress

Cassie Chadwick was one of the most famous, or infamous, seductresses of the Gilded Age. She excelled at impersonating high society royalty—and at getting everyone in her path to shower her with cash, even though they never got anything in return. And she got away with it – until she took the con too far. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Apr 18, 2017•32 min

Genuine Fake

The only thing Ken Perenyi loved as much as art was swindling the art world. He relished the contest of wits, the risk of getting caught, the thrill of deception, the sense of power that comes with a successful con. But more than anything else, he wanted to see his work get the recognition he always felt it deserved. This week, we speak to the man behind some of the greatest art frauds of the twentieth century. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...

Apr 11, 2017•41 min

Fast Jack, the Card Shark

“Fast Jack” Farrell is one of the greatest card and dice manipulators of the twentieth century - an undisputed leader in the vast world of crooked gambling. He cheated John Wayne and Frank Sinatra, worked for mobs in several states and several continents. Fast Jack turned cheating into an art form. If you’d like to hear more from Jack, you can check out his memoir Fast Jack, the Last Hustler . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices...

Apr 04, 2017•35 min

Introducing: The Grift

Coming soon from Panoply and Maria Konnikova, The Grift: stories about con artists and the lives they ruin. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mar 30, 2017•2 min

Hosted on Megaphone by Spotify

For the best experience, listen in Metacast app for iOS or Android