The era of the true-crime [1] genre has taken a new turn: scammers. While the grotesque fascination with murder documentaries [2] will never fizzle out, our interest for those who steal, lie, and cheat has skyrocketed over the years. Whether it's Elizabeth Holmes [3] hyping up a blood machine that does less than she claims or Billy McFarland [4] putting together a not-so-luxurious music festival, it's a wild world out there when you don't quite know who you can trust. If you're interested in scandals but could do without gruesome deaths, there's certainly no shortage of content out there. Ahead, we've compiled the best scammer documentaries for your viewing pleasure!
Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
Netflix's Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened gives a behind-the-scenes look of the Fyre Festival, an event coordinated by rapper Ja Rule [5] and Billy McFarland [6]. While it was supposed to draw influencers and celebrities who paid $4,000 to $20,000 per ticket, the event was a disorganised fiasco, far from being a once-in-a-lifetime experience that it was marketed as. The founding duo faced lawsuits by investors and attendees, and McFarland is currently in prison for charges of wire fraud and falsifying investment documents.
Where to watch: Netflix [7]
Fyre Fraud
Hulu's Fyre Fraud [8] takes on the same scandal, branding itself as a true-crime comedy. It looks at the disaster through the lens of capitalism in the digital age. We hear from whistleblowers, victims, insiders, and even McFarland himself.
Where to watch: Hulu [9]
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley
Elizabeth Holmes [10], the subject of HBO's The Inventor, might just be one of the most dangerous scammers of our era. Leading the company Theranos [11], she claimed that she had a machine that could run comprehensive tests on a small amount of blood. But of course, her machine didn't really work, so she ended up defrauding investors and giving patients inaccurate results.
Where to watch: HBO [12]
Author: The JT LeRoy Story
Looking for a bookish scam? JT LeRoy was the writer who never existed at all — the celebrated literary figure, known for being a recluse, was actually Savannah Knoop, a gender-nonconforming artist who put on a disguise to be the persona for their sister-in-law's non de plume. In addition to the Kristen Stewart [13] and Laura Dern biopic [14], you can get a closer look at the story by watching the documentary Author: The JT Leroy Story, which features Knoop as well as the real author, Laura Albert.
Where to watch: Amazon [15]
Dirty Money
Dirty Money follows six separate cases of corruption in the business world. The topics include everything from the HSBC money laundering scandal to shady deals involving Donald Trump [16].
Where to watch: Netflix [17]
Sour Grapes
You'll never find a shortage of food series [18] on Netflix, but Sour Grapes is definitely unique as a cross between the culinary and true-crime worlds. The documentary follows how Indonesian wine collector Rudy Kurniawan sold fake fancy wine for millions. Kurniawan essentially collected empty bottles, filled them up with cheap wine, and created fake labels.
Where to watch: Netflix [19]
The Woman Who Wasn't There
Tania Head claimed to be a survivor of the 9/11 attacks [20], even becoming president of the World Trade Centre Survivors' Network. The New York Times figured out in 2007 that her story was entirely fabricated — in fact, she was not in New York City at the time of the attack, but in her native Barcelona. Her false claims included being engaged with a 9/11 victim as well as working for Merrill Lynch and graduating from Harvard and Stanford. The Woman Who Wasn't There uses interviews of Head before and after the reveal of her scandal.
Where to watch: Amazon [21]
An Honest Liar
An Honest Liar focuses on retired magician James Randi, who now spends his time exposing fraudulent faith healers, psychics, and other con artists. It also looks into his relationship with his partner José Alvarez, who had been living under a false identity.
Where to watch: Tubi [22], Amazon [23]
The Imposter
The true story behind the documentary The Imposter almost sounds stranger than fiction. In 1997, French con man Frédéric Bourdin pretended to be Nicholas Barclay, a 13-year-old boy who had been missing for four years. Despite being much older than the boy at the time and having darker features, Bourdin scammed the Barclay family into believing that he was their long lost son who had escaped from a child prostitution ring. After being imprisoned for passport fraud and perjury, he continued pretending to be lost children several more times.
Where to watch: Tubi [24]
Icarus
While looking into illegal doping in sports [25], filmmaker Bryan Fogel got in touch with Grigory Rodchenkov, the director of Russia's national anti-doping laboratory. Over the course of their correspondence, Fogel found out that Russia had a state-sponsored Olympic doping program that Rodchenkov managed. Rodchenkov eventually testified that his team switched out urine samples that had steroids with clean ones, his confessions culminating into this documentary.
Where to watch it: Netflix [26]
McMillions
Uh, yes, we'd like a Big Mac without a side of scam. For over a decade, Jerome Jacobson, aka Uncle Jerry [27], sold winning pieces for major prizes (think cars, holidays, and cash) in the McDonald's monopoly game. While he was entrusted with pieces for the grand prizes, he built a network of conspirators to make millions for himself. Now, about twenty years later, HBO explores the story of how he cheated the system with a Mark Wahlberg-produced docuseries.
Where to watch: HBO [28] (coming Feb. 3)