This is exactly right.

Everyone thinks they'd never join a cult.

But it happens all the time to people just like you.

And people just like us.

I'm Lola Blanc.

And I'm Megan Elizabeth.

We're the hosts of Trust Me, a podcast about cults, manipulation, and the psychology of belief.

Each week, we talk to fellow survivors, former believers, and experts to understand why people get pulled in and how they get out.

Trust me, new episodes every Wednesday on Exactly Right.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

This story contains adult content and language.

Listener discretion is advised.

Hello and welcome. This is The Knife Off Record.

I'm Pasha Eaton.

And I'm Hannah Smith.

Today we're going to talk about a fraud case that turned into a much bigger story than it appeared at face value.

But first, we're going to discuss a book that

Pasha and I both read and love, and we think you will love as well. We read it and we listened. We did. Which one did we do? I actually listened. I listened. Yeah, I didn't read that. Does that count as reading? I don't know. My mom's a librarian, so I'm going to tell her I read it. Yeah, I think it counts.

The book is called There Is No Ethan, How Three Women Uncovered America's Biggest Catfish

by Anna Akbari.

And the basic synopsis is that Anna takes us through an experience she had meeting this

man named Ethan Schumann on an online dating platform, OKCupid, in late 2010.

...