Hooked: Recent Episodes
Rachel Diamond
Join your host Rachel on a journey through the perplexing and sometimes deadly world of internet catfishing. Why do people catfish? How many lies can they tell before they get caught? And what happens to the victims who get snared in their tangled web?
Tomi Masters was excited when she found the Snapchat of rapper Mac Miller and he answered her DM, telling her she was beautiful. After a few weeks of chatting, the two arranged to meet. When Tomi found out that the person behind the account was not Miller, but a young man named TJ Woody, she decided to continue the date to see what happened...
CW: Child abuse, suicidal ideation, sexual assault
JT Leroy became famous almost overnight for his novel SARAH, a fictionalized version of his upbringing with his sex worker mother who later forced him into sex work. But as he published more and his fame grew, people started to wonder who JT Leroy really was.
After Klara Maurovna and her two sons moved in with her sister Katerina, Katerina suggested they foster a child. Anicka was 13 years old and the sisters worked hard to get her the medical attention she needed, as well as give her a good home. But Klara noticed that sometimes, Anicka acted like an adult. What she'd discover later was that Anicka had ties to a cannibalistic cult and had a history of catfishing.
Manti Te'o was a college football star, which makes this story of catfishing all the more embarassing for those involved. After mentioning online girlfriend Lennay in an interview, the football community kept an eye on the relationship. When Lennay died from leukemia, they raised money for cancer research and mourned with Manti.
Then, Lennay came back from the dead.
TW: Sexual assault
When Jess moved to a new town at the age of 15, she was relieved to quickly make friends with two other girls, Alice and Gemma. Gemma being two years older and out of school, Jess and Alice spent more of their time together. This included online in MSN chatrooms, where Gemma introduced them to her boyfriend's brother, Aaron. Aaron and Alice started seriously dating, and later, Jess stared dating another one of Gemma's friends, Luke. As time went on, Jess started noticing the similarities between Gemma, Luke, and Aaron, but the boys always denied being related to, or being, her.
Sorry for my voice, I've got a cold!
TW: Suicide, domestic violence, stalking
When Renae Marsden and Camilla Zeidan met at the age of 14, Renae's life took a downward turn. Camilla was a bad influence, but as the teens got older, Camilla became and abuser and a stalker. She made it clear that she was in love with Renae, despite Renae having no interest in her, or women in general. Renae, trusting as she was, happily linked up with one of Camilla's exes- at the urging of Camilla- over social media. While Renae and Brayden started out as friends, Renae broke off a serious relationship to date him on and off, and even ended an engagement to try again with Brayden. But why wasn't Brayden ever able to call her, or send her pictures?
When 17 year old Jessie reacted poorly in the chatroom when Tommy told her he was 46 years old, he said he was just joking and was 18. The two spent almost a year chatting online, talking on the phone, and having virtual sex. In addition to Tommy, Jessie was also talking to a college student named Brian, which incensed Tommy. Eventually, Tommy decided that Brian had to be taken out of the picture.
Chris, a CIA agent, is sent to Mountain City, Tennessee to keep 30 year old Jenelle Potter safe from some mean girls in town who have been hacking her Facebook. As time goes on and the Potter parents worry about their daughter's safety, they tell Chris that they want him to kill one of Jenelle's alleged tormentors, Billie Jean Hayworth. When Billie Jean actually IS murdered, the police discover that Chris doesn't exist- so who killed her?
Despite growing up lower middle-class in Bavaria, Germany, Christian Gerhartsreiter found himself living high life on both coasts of the United States in his adulthood. He managed this by lying his way through everything- and if he was caught, he just threw that life away and began another one.
Cecilie Fjelloy met Simon Leviev on Tinder in January 2018. A month into dating Simon asked her to link her American Express to his because his business "enemies" were tracking his movements. By May 2018, he had convinced Cecilie to take out ten more loans. When Cecilie finally cut him off, she found out that she was hardly his only victim.
SOURCES:
https://www.vg.no/spesial/2019/tindersvindleren/english/ https://www.timesofisrael.com/tinder-swindler-faked-being-medic-conned-his-way-into-early-vaccine-report/ https://swindledpodcast.com/podcasts/season-3/32-the-match/
CW: Suicide, stalking
In Australia, three women- Emma, Jess, and Catherine- were being stalked and manipulated by the same man. It would take concrete threats toward the women and their families to convince the police that their lives were in danger. SOURCES:
https://www.mamamia.com.au/lydia-abdelmalek-catfish/ https://www.mamamia.com.au/lydia-abdelmalek/ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-11/lincoln-lewis-fake-catfish-bridesmaid-stalked-bride/10990198 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-09/lincoln-lewis-fake-catfish-internet-stalker-court-trial/10919538?nw=0
After Mark meets Rachel West in an MSN chatroom, he is devastated when she is kidnapped and murdered by another MSN chat group member. Luckily, Mark has Rachel's stepbrother John to lean on.
MeTooSTEM, a Twitter movement created by Dr. BethAnn McLaughlin, was an internet gathering place for all the STEM women online to congregate and support one another. BethAnn's right-hand woman, known only by her Twitter handle, @Sciencing_bi, was always there to retweet and support BethAnn's latest project. But when COVID hit in March of 2020, Sciencing_bi blamed her getting it on her employer, Arizona State University. And when Sciencing_bi died of COVID complications, the mourning #MeTooSTEM community made the mistake of looking into their friend's life.
www.patreon.com/hookedthepod
SOURCES:
https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/07/metoostem-founder-out-vanderbilt https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/04/style/college-coronavirus-hoax.html https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/turmoil-metoostem https://www.media.mit.edu/posts/announcing-the-winners-of-the-2018-mit-media-lab-disobedience-award/ https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/peteraldhous/metoostem-sexual-harassment-science https://heavy.com/news/2020/08/sciencing_bi-bethann-mclaughlin-asu/
13 year old Megan Meier had just started a new school after being bullied at her previous one. Missing her friends, she created a MySpace. Megan's parents took all the right precautions: only they had the password, they had to be in the room while Megan was signed on, and they had to approve all friend requests. But even with all their safety precautions, a boy named Josh Evans slid into Megan's DMs. Megan was in love with him and, as it turned out, was correct when she said that Josh was the kind of boy a girl would kill herself over. But who was Josh REALLY?
www.patreon.com/hookedthepod
SOURCES:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_of_Megan_Meier
https://www.meganmeierfoundation.org/megans-story
https://www.nytimes.com/topic/person/megan-meier
https://medium.com/@alissaphillips/cyberbullying-and-the-tragic-case-of-megan-meier-9bb9d3611094
Treva Throneberry was 25 when she enrolled at Evergreen High School, saying that her name was Brianna Stewart and she was 17. Over the past few years, Treva had bounced from city to city using different names and staying with foster families, always claiming to be a teenager. She told tall tales of Satanic ritual abuse, murder, and sexual assault. People believed her, but for how long?
www.patreon.com/hookedthepod
SOURCES:
https://www.texasmonthly.com/articles/the-day-treva-throneberry-disappeared/ http://jclass.umd.edu/archive/newshoax/casestudies/idfraud/IDOtherWillaBrit1.html https://www.wweek.com/portland/article-3798-the-girl-from-electra.html
In 2015, a new singer called Lucia Cole released her debut album. She had allegedly worked with famous singers and claimed her godfather was Shaquille O'Neal. After people realized that Lucia's music was actually repurposed Jessica Simpson songs, one would think she'd step out of the spotlight... but Lucia did just the opposite.
www.patreon.com/hookedthepod
https://www.popculturediedin2009.com/post/124021395251/trainwreck-of-the-week https://www.popculturediedin2009.com/post/147369293921/one-year-later-lucia-cole https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/katienotopoulos/how-teen-boys-on-the-internet-uncovered-the-greatest-catfish http://citationpod.com/episode/lucia-cole/
CW: Childhood sexual abuse, suicidal ideation
Known as the Lonely Hearts Killers, Raymond Martinez Fernandez and Martha Beck traveled around the US fleecing hardworking women of their money and valuables. Eventually, when a few of them gave them too much trouble, the couple turned to murder.
www.patreon.com/hookedthepod
CW: This episode contains discussion of suicide
Mark Drybrough and Nadia Kajouji both completed suicide after being sent instructions on how by a friend on the internet. But who was this friend really, and why did they encourage dozens of people online to kill themselves?
www.patreon.com/hookedthepod
SOURCES
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Francis_Melchert-Dinkel https://www.gq.com/story/suicide-nurse-mark-drybrough-chatrooms-li-dao https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/american-stalked-hillfields-man-internet-3049931 https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/internet-predator-who-urged-midland-6865626 https://people.com/crime/suicide-chat-room-tragedy-inside-nadia-kajoujis-death/ https://www.bramptonguardian.com/news-story/3072906-nadia-kajouji-remembered/
In a preview of what patrons will receive as bonus episodes, Rachel tells the story of the murder of Cynthia Hoffman.
On June 2, 2019, Cynthia Hoffman was found dead in a popular park in Anchorage, Alaska. Her best friend Denali seemed upset, but soon it would be revealed that she was being blackmailed into murder by her online boyfriend. Tyler.
Want more bonus episodes? Become a patron at www.patreon.com/hookedthepod
When documentarian and journalist David Farrier discovered Competitive Endurance Tickling by accident, he contacted the organizer about doing a piece on them. Instead of declining politely, Jane O'Brien Media began a harassment campaign full of intimidation and homophobic slurs.
Undeterred, Farrier and his crew set out to make a documentary about Competitive Endurance Tickling, only to discover a dark world of lies, blackmail, and of course, a big ol' catfish.
SOURCES
"Tickled", documentary (2016), David Farrier
https://www.indiewire.com/2017/03/david-damato-dead-tickled-villian-died-1201794767/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tickled
On May 15 2001, one of the most beloved bloggers of the early internet died from a brain aneurysm after battling leukemia.
On May 19, 2001, the internet learned that Kaycee Nicole Swenson had not, in fact, died. She had never existed.
www.patreon.com/hookedthepod
SOURCES:
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/05/31/technology/a-beautiful-life-an-early-death-a-fraud-exposed.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaycee_Nicole
https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kaycee-nicole/
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2001/may/28/internetnews.mondaymediasection
https://www.webtimemedias.com/article/transfernet-fabulous-fate-kaycee-nicole
https://metatalk.metafilter.com/20653/Kaycee-Nicole-Metafilters-first-investigation
https://www.metafilter.com/7878/The-Kaycee-Nicole-Swensen-Faq
Join your host Rachel on a journey through the perplexing and sometimes deadly world of internet catfishing. Why do people catfish? How many lies can they tell before they get caught? And what happens to the victims who get snared in their tangled web?