Hi, it's Evan. You may have noticed that I've been doing fewer interviews for the show over the last few months.

Or maybe you haven't noticed. That's okay. But either way, the reason I've done fewer interviews is that I was working on a new podcast that I'm hosting called Persona.

It's a different kind of show than this one with a single serialized story over eight episodes.

The first season is called The French Deception, and it's the story of a truly innovative con artist and his almost impossible to believe scams.

Reporting it took me all over the world, and in the end, it's a show not just about this one con man, but about the golden age of scamming that we are unfortunately currently living in.

And it's about the way we tell stories, which is basically what we're talking about in long form all the time.

So if you've enjoyed long form over the years, I think you'll like this new show of mine. Again, it's called Persona, The French Deception.

The first two episodes are out right now, wherever you're listening to this. Please go check it out and subscribe. And for a little taste, here's the trailer.

Hello, hello.

The best scams are irresistible. I don't mean irresistible to hear about, although that too.

I mean to the person being conned, the mark. A good scam is in a single event in time like a robbery.

The problem, the bank is saying me.

No, a truly great con is a story, one that taps into the listener's greed or loneliness or vanity.

As you know, I'm sending you 45 million dollars.

To run this kind of scam, you have to invent a whole imaginary world and then put your mark inside it. Make them a part of it so they're playing a role in happening a new persona, just like you are.

That's the art part of being a con artist. If you could do that, if you could make a story so enticing that the listener lives inside of it and doesn't want to leave, you don't even have to steal their money, they'll just give it to you.

Well, the fairy tale, but it wasn't real.

I'm Evan Ralliff, and this is the story of Jelbert Schickley, one of the greatest con artists of all time.

The way he confirms to give him money, he's a genius.

A man who started out as a two-bit scammer, but whose ambitions kept growing.

A new email scam known as CEO Fraud, and the FBI says it's on the rise.

As he chased richer targets, with more brazen schemes.

...