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PRETEND

S605: The Inheritance

PRETEND

Javier Leiva

Society & Culture, True Crime, Technology

4.72.6K Ratings

🗓️ 2 October 2020

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A man says his best friend scammed him out of almost $100,000. Now, he's getting revenge. Jonathan Walton fell for the oldest trick in the book. He said, “It wasn't some Nigerian Prince emailing me in my spam folder. It was a living, breathing, lovable woman.” That lovable woman’s name is Mair Smyth. She’s also known as Marianne Smyth, or Marianne Andle, or Marianne Welch. She has 23 known aliases. The way Johnathan Walton describes her, Marianne Smyth is a gifted con artist who brilliantly juggles lies with ease. Each lie gracefully circles in the air, passing through her hands, without ever getting caught. But when she decided to rip off Johnathan Walton, she picked the wrong mark.  You can learn more about this story by visiting https://johnathanwalton.com/ Bonus episode Historical Cons - The man who sold the Brooklyn Bridge Patreon exclusive episode This is the first in a series of new Patreon only episodes. The series will focus on historical con artists. Today's episode is about the man who sold the Brooklyn Bridge. This week, I'm joined by Rebekah Sebastian with the Die-alogue podcast and the Yellowtape true crime trivia show.  Listen here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/42197195 ------- Story idea? If you have a story to share, email Javier a voice memo or short written description at info@pretendradio.org. For more episodes like this visit pretendradio.org. To get early releases and bonus episodes go to pretendradio.org/donate Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Creative Babel.

0:05.0

I fell for the oldest con in the book.

0:08.0

I fell for the oldest con in the book.

0:17.8

The inheritance scam, except it wasn't some Nigerian prince emailing me in my spam folder, it was a living, breathing, lovable woman.

0:24.8

It's true.

0:25.9

Jonathan Walton fell for the oldest trick in the book,

0:29.1

but in his defense, he was outwitted by a pro.

0:32.4

Marion Smith conned him out of almost a hundred thousand dollars.

0:37.0

Until you dealt with someone like this, it's the furthest thing from your mind that doesn't even enter.

0:42.0

Right, that's the whole thing. They have to

0:44.0

disarm you, they have to earn your trust. I mean this is, and when I say this is

0:47.5

classic, this is classic. Oh no, I know. Well listen, I'm a con artist expert.

0:51.1

I've interviewed hundreds of victims now.

0:53.2

Yeah, she did everything by the book.

0:54.8

So she gets zero points for originality,

0:58.8

but she gets an A for creativity and stealth.

1:02.4

This is a question that everybody asks all the time. How could you have

1:06.2

fallen for that? Oh I can explain. I am not an idiot, right? I've got a 142 IQ. I've got a b IQ I've got a bachelor's in broadcast journalism. I was a news reporter for 10 years.

1:17.0

I'm a TV producer now. I'm a very smart dive, but that's the thing.

1:21.0

The con artists don't outsmart you.

1:24.0

They out feel you.

1:26.0

Con artists don't use your intellect to scam you.

...

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