3 episodes
American Grift American Grift
-
- Society & Culture
-
-
2.9 • 38 Ratings
-
Your one-stop podcast for all the most outrageous scams, grifts, cons, frauds, chicanery, swindles, and flimflammery.
-
Episode 12: The Wedding Grift
We are BACK, baby! After a two-year hiatus (sorry about that), Oriana and her rotating cast of cohosts have returned with a new, personal tale to jumpstart the revived American Grift.
This installment centers around a wedding gift that led Oriana down a rabbit hole of petty grift and a web of deceit weaved in North Canton, Ohio, of all places.
To discuss this story are Oriana's husband Steve Parkhurst (@ssssparkers on Twitter) and friend of the show and financial journalist/content director Ismat Mangla (@ismat on Twitter). You can follow us at @AmericanGrift! -
Episode 11: Aunt Becky's College Admissions Scam
We're back, baby, with an hour on the college admissions scam dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues" by the FBI. Comedian Gabe Gonzalez and freelance writer Aly Semigran join Oriana to talk about how weird it is that bribes to colleges are legal if they come in the form of a building you buy.
Reading: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5766243-College-Admissions-Case-Complaint.html -
Episode 10: Instagram Influencers
We're back from hiatus with a crazy one about how rotten the dark heart of Instagram Influencing is, told through the lens of one particular "Influencer": Caroline Calloway. Pajiba pop culture writer and critic Kayleigh Donaldson joins Oriana to talk about parasocial relationships, ghostwriting, and empty mason jars.
(First read Kayleigh's definitive story: http://www.pajiba.com/web_culture/the-case-of-caroline-calloway-and-her-creativity-workshop-tour.php)
Photo by Jo Naylor via Flickr Creative Commons (https://www.flickr.com/photos/pandora_6666/)
Customer Reviews
Lackluster at best
Poor audio, too many people on the mic; hosts talk more about and amongst themselves than they discuss the subject matter. Pass.
Just terrible
Unorganized, rambling, and the host hasn’t even done any research - she just falls back into mumbling, “I dunno.” The host is also super unkind and cynical about people who are older, younger, or live in a different state than she does. The point of this podcast is about everyday people who have been scammed - they certainly don’t deserve to be mocked for possibly being scammed by some grifter. Don’t waste your time listening, it’s just bad.
Storytelling
The hosts need to learn how to do it. There’s no start, middle or end to these stories, it’s just a jumble of conversations. The assumption is that the listener already knows what’s going on which in that case… why am I listening to you? Terrible.