If You Loved 'Apple Cider Vinegar,' Here Are 19 Other Scam Stories To Watch And Listen To

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21-02-2025

Apple Cider Vinegar is a riveting Netflix series inspired by the real story of Belle Gibson, an Australian wellness influencer who was accused of fraud — including faking cancer.
Starring Kaitlyn Dever, Alycia Debnam-Carey, and Aisha Dee, the show is both funny and heartbreaking — made all the more so by the fact it's based on a true story.
TV Shows:
1. Inventing Anna
Aaron Epstein / AARON EPSTEIN/NETFLIX
Like Apple Cider Vinegar, Inventing Anna is a Netflix series inspired by the true story of a young woman with a striking accent who turns out to be a scammer. This time it's Julia Garner who stars as Anna Delvey, a con artist who makes her way through the New York party scene before being exposed by journalist Vivian Kent, played by Anna Chlumsky and inspired by real-life reporter Jessica Pressler.
2. The Dropout
Hulu
Rounding out the inadvertent trilogy of true crime series focused on young white lady scammers with particular voices is The Dropout. It stars Amanda Seyfried in an incredible performance as Elizabeth Holmes, founder of Theranos, who was charged with fraud after her company's "revolutionary" blood test turned out to be fake. The ABC News podcast the show is based on is also well worth a listen.
3. The Act
Hulu
The Act stars Patricia Arquette and Joey King and is less about a scam itself and more about the horrific consequences of a health fraud. It's a fictionalized adaptation of the true story of Gypsy Rose Blanchard and her mother Dee Dee, who was murdered by Gypsy's boyfriend at the time, Nicholas Godejohn, after Gypsy accused Dee Dee of medical abuse.
4. Dirty John
Bravo
Based on the podcast of the same name, the first season of Dirty John is a fictional version of the story of John Meehan, a conman whose grift begins to unravel after he marries businesswoman Debra Newell. The series has a great cast including Julia Garner, Eric Bana, and Connie Britton.
5. Dopesick
Hulu
Before Apple Cider Vinegar, Kaitlyn Dever gave another amazing performance in a different kind of fraud story in Dopesick. Based on the nonfiction book Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy, the show focuses on the opioid epidemic and the fraud case against OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma.
6. Dr. Death
Peacock
Dr. Death is an anthology series, with each season focusing on a different medical horror story, just like the podcast it's based on. Season 1 stars Joshua Jackson as Christopher Duntsch, a neurosurgeon who was convicted of maiming patients — two of his patients died, while others were permanently injured. Season 2 stars Édgar Ramírez as Paolo Macchiarini, a surgeon and researcher who was convicted after unethically experimenting on his patients. It's harrowing viewing.
7. Scamanda
Hulu
Like Belle Gibson, Amanda Reilly was a young mother who faked having cancer, built a large internet following, and convinced people to give her a lot of money. The docuseries is a wild ride that was already a hit podcast and remains a compelling watch.
8. Sweet Bobby: My Catfish Nightmare
Courtesy of Netflix
Sweet Bobby and the podcast it's based on both give the firsthand account of Kirat, a woman who for several years believed she was dating a man named Bobby — only to discover she was being catfished the whole time. The twists in the tale make for serious WTF moments.
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9. Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives.
Courtesy of Netflix
This docuseries tells the wild story of Sarma Melngailis, a Manhattan restauranteur who married a conman and wound up funneling millions of dollars from her raw vegan restaurant to him on the promise that he would make her dog immortal. Sarma herself is interviewed in the series, along with friends, family, and business associates.
10. Love Has Won: The Cult of the Mother God
HBO
Love Has Won was a cult led by Amy Carlson, who told followers she was a god — Mother God, to be precise. She claimed she could heal people's cancer, amongst other things. This three-episode documentary is hard to look away from, unraveling the unhinged tale through interviews with Amy's followers and family members.
11. LuLaRich
Amazon Prime Video
This four-episode series explores the rise and fall of LuLaRoe, an infamous clothing company accused of running a pyramid scheme. The entertaining series features interviews from LuLaRoe founders DeAnne Brady and Mark Stidham as well as former employees and sellers.
12. The Way Down: God, Greed, and the Cult of Gwen Shamblin
HBO
Gwen Shamblin was the leader of the religious movement The Remnant Fellowship as well as the founder of the Weigh Down diet, so this series sits at the perfect intersection of wellness and cult horror stories. The first three episodes were produced while Gwen was alive, while the last two were made after her death in a plane crash and after the first part of the series was released — allowing for an interesting meta-narrative to be woven in.
13. Bitconned
Netflix
Although female scammers are really having a moment (see: most of this list), there are plenty (plenty) of men conning people all over the world. This feature-length documentary follows a few of them — most notably Ray Trapani, who says he "always wanted to be a criminal" and co-created a crypto debit card that didn't actually work — but still made him millions. The documentary is slick, unsettling, and enraging.
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14. The Woman Who Wasn't There
Entertainment One
Tania Head was so vocal about her remarkable story of surviving the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001, that she later became the president of the World Trade Center Survivors' Network — until it was revealed, in 2007, that not only had she not been a victim in the attacks, she hadn't even been in the US at the time. This documentary explores her lies.
15. Nobody Should Believe Me
True Story Media
Nobody Should Believe Me is a podcast about Munchausen by Proxy hosted by Andrea Dunlop, a writer whose sister was investigated for medical child abuse. Each season goes in-depth on a different case, with Season 1 exploring the story of Hope Ybarra, a woman who not only faked her own terminal cancer but also medically abused her child. It's difficult listening at times, but compelling.
16. Scamfluencers
Wondery
Scamfluencers is, as the name suggests, a podcast about influential people who turn out to be scammers. Hosted by Scaachi Koul and Sarah Hagi, the podcast focuses on a different case every week — and there's certainly no shortage of them.
17. Believable: The Coco Berthmann Story
Dear Media
Hosted by Sara Ganim and Karen Given, this podcast focuses on the complex and twisted story of one scammer: Coco Berthmann, a woman who claimed to have survived child sex trafficking and later faked having cancer.
18. Maintenance Phase
Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes co-host this thoughtful podcast that focuses on wellness and diet culture, debunking myths and junk science, and unpacking key people, companies, and trends responsible for perpetuating these ideas. This naturally involves often telling the stories of wellness scammers — they even have an episode on Belle Gibson.
19. The Dream
Pushkin Industries
The Dream focuses on a different kind of grift each season: Season 1 explores MLMs, Season 2 focuses on wellness culture, and Season 3 is all about life coaches and self-help gurus. Hosted by journalist Jane Marie, it's a fascinating deep dive into these issues.