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True Consequences - True Crime

Introducing: PERSONA: The French Deception

True Consequences - True Crime

Eric Carter-Landin

Society & Culture, True Crime, Documentary

4.8587 Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2022

⏱️ 5 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Introducing the true crime podcast Persona: The French Deception— the story of Gilbert Chikli, one of the greatest con artists of all time. What does it feel like to pick up the phone and scam someone out of $50 million? Host and award-winning journalist, Evan Ratliff, investigates how Chikli successfully duped some of the world’s most powerful people into handing over their fortunes. He explores how Chikli evaded the law for years and became a Robin Hood-like hero. More than just a tale of criminal genius, this is a show about the moment we’re living in right now — the golden age of scammers — and the power of seduction. But what happens when the fantasy we’ve been lured into finally crumbles away? For all that and more, follow “Persona: The French Deception” wherever you get your podcasts. Or you can listen early on Amazon Music or early and ad-free by subscribing to Wondery Plus in Apple Podcasts or the Wondery app: http://wondery.fm/TC_Persona

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-consequences-true-crime--4347262/support.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hi, Eric Carter-Londine here from True Consequences. It feels like scam stories are really having a

0:05.7

moment. There are so many shows and movies lately about these crazy con artists, and I honestly can't

0:11.8

get enough of them. Speaking of, there's a new podcast I want to tell you about called Persona,

0:17.3

the French Deception. This is the true story of Gilles Bair Sheckley, one of the greatest

0:22.1

con artists of all time. Have you ever wondered what it would be like to pick up the phone?

0:26.6

Call someone and in the phone call $50 million richer? This series investigates how

0:31.9

Schicli successfully duped some of the world's most powerful people into simply handing over

0:36.6

their fortunes. It explores

0:38.5

how he evaded the law for years and evolved into a Robin Hood-like hero to many. More than just

0:44.0

a tale of criminal genius, this is a show about the moment we're living in right now, the golden

0:49.3

age of scammers and the power of seduction. But what happens when the fantasy we've been lured into

0:55.6

finally crumbles away? Listen to find out. In fact, I'm about to play you a preview of persona

1:01.3

the French deception while you're listening. Follow persona the French deception wherever you get

1:05.9

your podcasts. Or you can listen early on Amazon music or early and add free by subscribing to Wondry Plus in Apple Podcasts or the Wondry app.

1:21.2

Hello.

1:23.5

Hello.

1:26.3

There's this word in French that means scam, arnaq.

1:30.6

A scammer or a con artist is sometimes called an arnaker.

1:35.0

An original definition translates roughly as one who amuses in order to defraud.

1:40.2

Ah, yes.

1:41.2

It's a good way to think about scams, I find, or at least the most inspired ones.

1:50.2

I'm not talking about street-level swindles. I'm talking about the most elaborate confidence schemes.

...

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