Chameleon
Chameleon is a weekly true crime podcast hosted by journalist Josh Dean, exploring stories of deception, fraud, and impostors. Each episode delves into stranger-than-fiction tales of people pretending to be something they aren't. Produced by Campside Media and Audiochuck, it offers a new obsession for fans of cons and scams.
Episodes
Program Pusher: A Trojan Horse Cult For Troubled Teens
When Esther was a teenager, her parents supported her in joining a group that promised to help her with her drug problem. She found a world of secret rituals, forced confessions, endless meetings — and a community that for a while at least, seemed to be exactly what she felt she had been missing her whole life. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information abo
The Problem Dog Whisperer: Too Good To Be True
Steffen Baldwin was a tattooed dog whisperer with an apparent gift for rehabilitating dangerous animals. He was a beloved local celebrity with a reputation for saving the most difficult dogs from being put down. But after one pit bull named Remy vanished, a determined owner, a vet and a local detective began to piece together a pattern of deception that revealed a far more sinister character than
Jacob and the Lion: A Cult, A Gangster And A Billion Dollar Tax Fraud
Jacob Kingston wanted money, status and the approval of his family. Then he met a charismatic Armenian oil tycoon called The Lion. What began with a deal over a shipment of stranded biofuel turned into a sprawling billion dollar scam where religious extremism, organized crime and green-energy policy collide.Listen to Michele’s podcast Kingdom of FraudChameleon is a production of Campside Media and
The Four Mrs Wilsons: The Spy Thriller Author with a Real Life to Match
When Mike Shannon was nine years old, he was told that his father had died fighting the Germans at the Battle of El Alamein. Michael’s father hadn’t died at all. He’d been a successful novelist and, quite possibly, a spy. We follow one journalist down a rabbit hole into the astonishing hidden lives of Alexander Wilson.Read Tim Crook's book The Secret Lives Of A Secret AgentChameleon is a productio
REVISITED: The Undead Tour: How The Fake Zombies Fooled America
A British band called The Zombies had a smash hit single in America with ‘Time of the Season’ in the late 60s. Shortly afterwards, four handsome Texans hit the road pretending to be the Zombies. This is the unbelievable true story of rock’s most brazen imposters… two of whom went on to form ZZ Top.
Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.
Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleon
A View To Deceive: An Artist Goes Undercover To Expose The Uber Rich
The views from New York's luxury high-rise apartments can be spectacular. And the higher up you go, the more exclusive, and expensive the properties become. An artist became obsessed with those views, and the hidden world hiding behind them. She just needed to find a way in.
Discover more about the Andi Schmied and her book “Private Views A High-Rise Panorama of Manhattan”
Chameleon is a produ
The Artist of Cons: The Unbelievable but Totally Real Life of Milwaukee’s Most Interesting Man
As a teenager in Milwaukee, Art Rapkin became a hustler, karate champion and a fake Bob Dylan. Then he started smuggling cocaine, before ending up in a Mexican prison, where he was tortured, before working with he FBI and DEA.
Read Poison for Rats by Arthur Rapkin and Alec Banks
Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.
Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpod Hosted by Simpl
Lie in The Sky: Is Frank Abagnale Jr's story too good to be true?
Frank Abagnale Jr. became America's most famous con artist. He said he stole millions of dollars, posed as a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer, before working for the FBI. His story became a bestselling book, a Hollywood blockbuster and a Broadway musical. But what if the greatest con Frank Abagnale pulled was convincing the world that any of it was true?
Listen to Javier Leiva’s podcast The Real Fran
Cultivated: The Self-Proclaimed Prophet Hiding In Plain Sight
In the summer of 1991, a young woman walks into a police station in Ogden, Utah. She claims that just blocks away, amongst the manicured suburban sprawl, a self-proclaimed prophet has spent years building a secret religious empire — fuelled by fear, manipulation, and systematic abuse.
Listen to Mike King’s podcast Gardens of Evil: Inside the Zion Society Cult
Chameleon is a production of Campside
The Archangel Made Me Do It: The French Mayor And The “Fortune Teller” Who Has His Ear
The mayor of an idyllic seaside town in France had seemingly fallen under the spell of a glamorous mystic who claimed she could speak to the dead. Their relationship soon pulled the whole town into a mind-blowing scandal that blurred the line between personal loyalty and political corruption.
Listen to Leo’s podcast The Mystic and the Mayor
Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audioch
Big Man on Campus: The Hoops Phenom Who Tried High School Twice
A promising high school basketball star seemed to appear out of nowhere—a talented homeless kid trying to rebuild his life after Hurricane Harvey. But Rashun Richardson was no ordinary freshman. In fact… He wasn’t even a teenager.
Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.
Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for
Going Places: The College Art Students Who Fooled a Nation
In the late 1990s, a group of art students from Leeds, England, announce a week in Spain as their latest “conceptual artwork” — and Britain’s tabloids lose their collective mind. But as the headlines pile up, it becomes clear the “holiday” is only the surface story. And the Art is aimed straight at the culture machine that’s reporting it.
Sarah Thornton's artist website
Read Griselda Pollock’s b
The Wannabe Pilot: Fish Swim, Birds Fly, and Randy Lies
His friends, family and a string of partners all believed a version of the same thing. That Randy was a former marine who now flew commercial airliners. But as the people around him started to look more closely, their ideas about who this charming man was began to wobble. And if Randy has been taking such great liberties with the truth then what else isn’t true?
Chameleon is a production of Campsi
For The Love Of Dogs: The Scam Shelters Abusing Animals For Clicks
A network of animal shelters in Uganda started posting heartbreaking videos of starving, mutilated dogs on social media, begging for donations from animal lovers. But as a group of women around the world began comparing notes, they uncovered something much darker: a sprawling scam operation where animals were being tortured for clicks, sympathy and cash. And they started fighting back.
Follow Nico
REVISITED: The Kid Who Couldn’t Stop Playing Cop
In 2009, Vincent Richardson walked into a Chicago police station and reported for duty. No one noticed he wasn’t actually a cop. No one noticed he was 14 years old. This is the story of the teenager who fooled the system time after time. Was it a prank? A cry for help? Or something else entirely?
Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck. Launching November 13th wherever you get y
Mother of All Stories Part 2: Mom On The Run
When Heidi Cloud was twelve years old, she became the first child in America to be sent to jail for refusing a court-ordered visit with her father. As she grew up, Heidi came to understand that the real danger had been much closer to home. Her mother spent decades pulling everyone around her into a relentless world of conspiracy. Then she disappeared.
Chameleon is a production of Campside Media an
Mother of All Stories Part 1: A Daughter Falls Under A Spell
Heidi Cloud's childhood never stood a chance of being normal. A mother with a warped way of seeing the world keeps the family on the run and embroiled in an impossible custody battle with a historic and horrific conclusion. How does Heidi begin to untangle the truth when her own mother is as manipulative as she is convincing.
Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.
Follow Chame
Mr 10 Percent: The Suburban Dad Who Fleeced Global Soccer
He rode a mobility scooter through Central Park with a parrot on his shoulder. He also helped pull off one of the biggest financial scams in sports history. This is Chuck Blazer, the flamboyant soccer bureaucrat turned FBI informant whose corruption helped reveal criminal activity at FIFA — the organization responsible for world soccer, including the World Cup — from the inside.
Chameleon is a pr
Fetal Attraction: The Reality Star And The Woman He Wished He’d Never Met
When Clayton Echard’s season of The Bachelor ended, he thought the public humiliation was behind him. Then a woman he barely knew claimed she was carrying his twins — something which, according to Clayton, was impossible. As the story exploded online sleuths begins pulling at loose threads. What they uncovered led to allegations of deception, forgery, and a pattern stretching back years.
Listen to
Laundry Man: The Wild Ride of the Pig Butcher's Banker
A swashbuckling South African expat, Benjamin Mauerberger, rose up as a boiler-room stock hustler in Southeast Asia, then reappeared years later with a diplomatic passport and extraordinary wealth. When reporters start pulling at threads, they uncover an entirely new identity: this stock scammer seems to now be a key player in the industrial “pig butchering” scam economy. How does a small-time con
Introducing: Crimeless
Join your Chameleon host Josh Dean and his partner in (dumb) crime, comedian Rory Scovel, as they dive into the incredible story of a shady Swami who scammed Newark, New Jersey into adopting the Hindu city of Kailasa as a “sister city.” The problem: Kailasa doesn’t exist. And the swami behind it? A notorious scammer who’s on the run from various charges, some of them very serious. “Very embarrassi
Dumpster Fire Phoenix: The “Festival” Organizer Who Just Can’t Stop Himself
Fyre Festival was sold as the most exclusive party on earth — a luxury music festival in the Bahamas for influencers, celebrities, and the ultra-wealthy. It became one of the most shared disasters of the social-media era, but by the time the truth had emerged, thousands of people had already bought into the dream. And if the organizer was right, could be persuaded to do so again. And again. And ag
Catch Him if You Ken: The Dating Scammer Who Targeted Influencers
The story of a mild-mannered guy who charmed his way into the lives—and bank accounts—of women on two continents by posing as a wealthy heir with big crypto dreams. But Ken’s real talent isn’t getting your money — it’s disappearing before anyone can prove what he’s done.
To listen to Natalie and Abukar’s podcast: Catch Me If You Ken
Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.
Foll
Whiteout: The Olympic Snowboarder Who Became A Cocaine Kingpin
A former Canadian Olympic snowboarder should have been a footnote—a guy who raced once, finished 24th, and faded away. But in early 2026, Ryan Wedding resurfaces as a fugitive on the FBI’s Most Wanted list, accused of running a sprawling cocaine network and ordering hits across borders. How did a middle-class kid from a ski family end up here?
Ready Alyssa and Tisha’s reporting on Wedding for ES
High Stakes: Life inside a Vampire Cult
As a lonely, grieving teenager in the early days of the internet, Celeste Mott is drawn into a secretive message board called "The Looking Glass": a place where self-proclaimed vampires demand total belief, reward devotion, and punish doubt. What begins as fantasy soon becomes something much more dangerous: a closed world built on manipulation, hierarchy, and psychological control. Years later, Ce
The Journalist And The Voyeur: It’s Not So Easy When You’re The One Being Watched
Gay Talese thought he’d landed a once-in-a-lifetime story every journalist dreams about: a motel owner who built a hidden viewing platform so he could watch guests in their most private moments and kept meticulous “research” notes for decades. But when Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi starts pulling at the threads, the story begins to unravel into something messy. A source who can’t stop exagge
A Master's Puppet: Jeffrey Epstein's Money Man
The unsettling story of Leslie Wexner—the Midwestern retail billionaire who built Victoria’s Secret, then gave Jeffrey Epstein extraordinary access to his money and credibility. But how much did he know?
Listen to Vanessa and Justine’s podcast Fallen Angel
Read Gabriel Sherman’s Vanity Fair article on Epstein and Wexner.
Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.
Follow Chameleo
The Real Eddie: His Scamming Is Insaaaaane!
The rise and spectacular fall of Eddie Antar, the electronics mogul behind the Crazy Eddie brand. Who scammed his way from the streets of Brooklyn to Wall Street and then vanished without a trace.
Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.
Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection
The Mesh Mill: How Scammers Took Advantage of Women's Pain
Shortly after Christmas, Sharon gets a terrifying call. A stranger tells her the pelvic mesh inside her body has been recalled. It's a “ticking time bomb," and she needs emergency surgery to remove it. So Sharon flies to Florida. What she’s walking into is a scam embedded in America’s mass tort machine: stolen medical data, a call center, and huge profits powered by the pain of women like Sharon.
Harry And Rachel Part 2: When True Love Dies
For 563 days, Harry believed the love of his life was dying of stage-four cancer. Then Rachel’s husband called, and everything Harry thought he knew collapsed. A pattern emerges, revealing a woman he no longer recognizes and a trail of emotional wreckage stretching back decades.
Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.
Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpod Hosted by Simple
Harry And Rachel Part 1: When True Love Lies
In 2001, Harry meets Rachel in Houston. And so begins a complicated and uncertain kind of love story. An on-again, off-again connection that would stretch across two decades of tragedies, lucky breaks, and relentless second chances. Sometimes the hardest lies to see are the ones you want to believe the most...
Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.
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Extra Credit: The Rise and Fall of a Frat House Ponzi Scheme
Syed Arbab looked like the next financial prodigy—a frat house day trader who turned beer-soaked bravado into a successful hedge fund. Except that wasn't exactly the whole truth. When the SEC came knocking, Syed doubled down, lied, and kept going.
Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.
Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pc
Master Manipulator and Commander: Trust Your Gut
She thought she'd met the real deal: a decorated Navy officer, stationed at the Pentagon, opening hospitals in war zones. But what begins as a whirlwind romance slowly unravels into a portrait of compulsive deception. In the aftermath, this seasoned journalist is determined to get to the bottom of not just how and why her partner lied, but why she believed him.
Chameleon is a production of Campsid
The Vampire Catfish: A Message Board And The Boy Who Believed
Michael was 16, lonely, and stuck in a small Southern town when he met someone called Dennis on a vampire-themed online message board. What began as a thrilling, romantic connection soon spiraled into something darker. We follow Michael’s journey as he tries to make sense of the many layers of deception two decades later.Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.Follow Chameleon o
Goodfellas: The Country Bar Theme Scheme
When an Arizona reporter starts looking into a flurry of closures at country music-themed restaurants, he thinks it’s just another boring business story. But he uncovers a collapsing franchise empire and millions in fraud, all linked to a mysterious character with mob connections living a double life.Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleo
Face Plant: The Woman With A Thousand Boyfriends
What's it like to have your image used as the bait in thousands of online romance scams? This is what happened to Janessa Brazil—whose image has been hijacked and used to con hundreds, maybe thousands, of lonely people out of hard-earned cash. This is a story of love, lies, and the faces behind a billion-dollar catfishing industry.Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.Follow C
The Velvet Sundown: The band that’s not quite Human, not quite machine.
They were a hot new band and storming up the charts. But something seemed off about Velvet Sundown. Was this the work of AI? When someone behind the band came out denying it, this looked like mystery solved. But this was only the beginning of an internet hoax with many layers.Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpod Hosted by Simplecast
Engineering to Deceive: The Talented Coder Who Just Keeps Getting Jobs
When one tech founder tweets a warning about a seemingly prolific engineer named Soham Parekh, it sets off an avalanche. Turns out, Soham has been hired and paid by dozens of start-ups, sometimes working at several at once. He dazzled founders with coding tests, then vanished into a fog of excuses.Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpo
Memoir Mystery: The Blockbuster True Story That Maybe Wasn't True At All
When the book The Salt Path was published, readers were moved by the story of a couple who, after losing everything, rebuilt their lives through nothing more than determination, their love for one another, and a very long walk. A decade later, journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou begins to pull at a thread—and what unravels is a much darker and more complicated tale.Chameleon is a production of Campside
The Author Trap: Inside The Scheme Selling Lies to Hopeful Writers
Brent Crane is being chased through a mall in the Philippines. He's on the trail of Page Turner, the company that has been accused of stealing $44 million from hopeful writers in one of the most brazen scams the book publishing world has ever seen.Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpod Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pc
White Lies: The Scammer Who Left Brides In The Lurch And Couldn't Stop
Michael Esposito hired 50 journalists, promised them a dream job, and disappeared without paying a dime. Years later, he resurfaced under various new names, taking tens of thousands from couples on their wedding day. But one of his early victims never let it go in their attempt to unmask the scammer who just wouldn’t stop.Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.Follow Chameleon
The de Kooning Job: Teachers Turned Thieves
In 1985, a priceless painting vanished from a university museum in Arizona. The FBI had no leads. 32 years later, it turned up behind a bedroom door in a suburban New Mexico home. Turns out the retired couple living there may have pulled off one of the most audacious art heists of the 20th century.Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpo
Gay Girl in Damascus: A Viral Kidnapping And An Internet Fantasy
The story of a Syrian-American blogger whose posts during the Arab Spring captured hearts around the world—including a woman in Montreal who believed she was falling in love. But Amina Arraf, the author of Gay Girl in Damascus, wasn’t real. She was a hoax. So how did so many people, including news organizations and governments, fall for it? And at what cost?Chameleon is a production of Campside Me
Fake It 'Til You Graduate: The Honor Student Who Conned a Town
In 2012, a Ukrainian man enrolled at a high school in Pennsylvania, pretending to be a teenage prodigy named Asher Potts. He made the honor roll and became a local hero. Until the day police showed up in class and arrested him. The immigrant who scammed his way into the American dream.Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpod Hosted by S
Spine Collector: Where Have All The Manuscripts Gone?
For years, someone was tricking publishers into handing over yet-to-be-published manuscripts—from bestselling authors and total unknowns alike. There were no ransom demands. The books were not leaked. The motive was unclear. An international mystery that baffled the publishing world for years. But two journalists in lockdown set out to solve the mystery and uncover the peculiarly obsessed culprit.
The Barefoot Bandit: Catch Him If You Can
Colton Harris-Moore was just a teenager when he began breaking into homes across the Pacific Northwest. But soon, he was stealing cars, boats... and then planes. This is the unbelievable true story of a kid outrunning the cops to become one of the first folk heroes of the internet age.Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpod Hosted by S
The Undead Tour: How The Fake Zombies Fooled America
A British band called The Zombies had a smash hit single in America with ‘Time of the Season’ in the late 60s. Shortly afterwards, four handsome Texans hit the road pretending to be the Zombies. This is the unbelievable true story of rock’s most brazen imposters… two of whom went on to form ZZ Top.Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck.Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpo
An Admission of Lies: The Man Who Fooled Princeton
A gifted, mysterious young man with a tragic past and talent for long-distance running is admitted to Princeton. He dazzles everyone from admissions officers to elite dinner clubs. But behind the alias “Alexi Santana” was James Hogue, a serial imposter who had left a long trail of lies in his wake. This week, the extraordinary story of the man who scammed his way into the Ivy League—and kept going
The Kid Who Couldn't Stop Playing Cop
In 2009, Vincent Richardson walked into a Chicago police station and reported for duty. No one noticed he wasn’t actually a cop. No one noticed he was 14 years old. This is the story of the teenager who fooled the system time after time. Was it a prank? A cry for help? Or something else entirely?Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck. Launching November 13th wherever you get yo
The Follieri Affair: Who Conned Anne Hathaway?
He dated a Hollywood princess and claimed to be the Vatican’s man in America. But Raffaello Follieri wasn’t all he appeared to be. He convinced some of the world’s richest people to hand over millions — before it all came crashing down. How did a charming Italian from a small town in Puglia rise to the top? Now, following deportation, is he rising again?Chameleon is a production of Campside Media
Introducing... Chameleon: The Weekly
Introducing Chameleon. A new weekly show about scammers, con artists, and imposters hosted by Josh Dean. Every week, a new twisty, jaw-dropping story about someone, somewhere, pretending to be something they are not. Chameleon is a production of Campside Media and Audiochuck. Launching November 13th wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Chameleon on Instagram @chameleonpod Hosted by Simplecast, a
Chameleon
Are you obsessed with cons, frauds, and imposters? Well, then, Chameleon is the show for you. Every week, veteran journalist Josh Dean (co-creator and host of The Clearing, Hooked, and White Devil) takes you inside an incredible, stranger-than-fiction story about someone — or some people — pretending to be something they aren’t. Coming this November, your new weekly true crime obsession, from Camp
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