PRETEND

This is the story of Simple Health Plans, a $150 million health insurance scam that preyed on desperate Americans and left thousands buried in medical debt. We'll meet Dawn, who nearly fell victim to ...

9 Des 202528min

Harry spent nearly two years believing the woman he loved was dying of brain cancer. He stood by her for every surgery, organ failure...None of it was real. In this episode, Harry walks us through th...

2 Des 202541min

In this bonus episode, Ali, one of my longtime Patreon supporters, reached out after listening to the Cancer Sympathy Machine series. Ali talks openly about her past with addiction, stigma, Hep C tre...

28 Nov 202520min

Why would anyone fake cancer? Money? Sure. Attention? Definitely. But as I learned in this episode… the motives are a lot darker, messier, and more human than you might expect. In Part 2 of The ...

25 Nov 202530min

Some people fake cancer for sympathy. Others do it for money. But the truth is darker than most of us want to believe. In this episode, we break down the tactics, behaviors, and mindsets of some of...

18 Nov 202537min

On PRETEND, we tell stories about people who build false identities and hide the truth in plain sight. This week, we are featuring a case that fits right into that world. It is the newest season of Da...

17 Nov 202556min

Smallville's Allison Mack is out of prison, and she's finally talking. What was NXIVM, and how did Allison Mack become a high-ranking member?NXIVM was a self-help organization that sold leadership tr...

11 Nov 202543min

This bonus episode is a chance to step back and make sense of everything that just unfolded in Cracks in the Fandom. If you listened to the series, you saw how an Instagram unfollow spiraled into hara...

10 Nov 202528min