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Sachi, have you ever bought any counterfeit products?

Um, not counterfeit, but I do love a dupe, you know? Like it's not trying to be the main thing,

but it basically looks like it. I do feel like counterfeits have gotten a lot better in 2023,

and I'm wondering, do you think you could tell the difference between like a real purse and a fake one?

I sure can't. Well, the story I'm about to tell you is about the length some people will go in

the name of baking it, and why sometimes it's just more fun to believe the lie.

It's August 2010 in Fryberg, Germany. It's a medieval town and a forest at the foot of the

mountains. With all the red gabled roofs and church spires, it looks something out of a story book.

Tonight, it's pouring rain. Wolfgang and Helena Belchocki are on their way to dinner with

their two children. We don't know where they're going, but it is probably somewhere fancy.

They're enormously successful art dealers, and they know how to live in style.

But deep down, they're hippies. Wolfgang has graying, shoulder-length blonde hair and a goatee.

He's probably wearing some loud, colorful shirt and a fedora. Helena is a beauty with blue eyes,

bangs, and long blonde hair that goes almost to her waist. Think Stevie Nicks. All of a sudden,

five vans with flashing lights and sirens pull up and force Wolfgang and Helena's car to stop.

German police officers surround them. Wolfgang, Helena, and their kids are being pulled out of the car

at gunpoint. Wolfgang and Helena seem like gentle artsy people, but they knew an arrest was coming.

For decades, they've been leading one of the most sophisticated and lucrative

counterfeit art schemes in history.

Emily, do you remember when one direction called it a day?

I think you'll find there are still many people who can't talk about it.

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