What would you do if you got scammed?

Would you suffer in silence or would you do something about it?

Well, I got scammed once, and this is the story of what I did.

I'm Justin Sales, the host of the wedding scammer, a true crime podcast from The Ringer,

and for seven episodes, we're hunting a comment, a guy with a lot of aliases,

a guy who's ruined a lot of weddings.

And with the help of some friends, I just might be able to catch him.

Listen to The Wedding Scammer on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

It is Wednesday, November 8th. It's Oscar season, of course.

This is a season unlike any other I've ever seen.

The actor's strike, which is still going on as of this taping, probably ending soon, but still happening.

It's upended the usual cadence of awards season. Usually around this time, L.A. would be packed with events and premieres.

Silly cocktail parties and special screenings, stunts to get attention,

actors shaking hands and delving into their process for anyone who will listen. It's a time when people

like Ki-Hai Kwan or Eddie Redmayne or Lupita Nyango go from Who's That to Oh, that person again,

all in the service of winning over awards voters in route to an Oscar.

Award season is a huge business, of course, all the events and award shows and campaigning.

Even being in the conversation can really boost an actor's career to say nothing of a nomination or a win.

And it's all been pretty disrupted this year.

But how much does the silence on the campaign trail actually matter?

Some big awards movies have kind of come and gone without the promotion they probably needed.

Others have been given a little boost because the competition has been unable to really compete.

...