PRETEND

Investigative series on con artists, scammers and their victims AI summary

Creative Babble, LLC Visit website › True Crime · EN · 331 episodes · latest 2026-11-10 · explicit

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What it is about

PRETEND is an investigative true crime podcast about real people who lie for a living — con artists, scammers, and the victims caught in their web. Hosted by journalist Javier Leiva, PRETEND exposes the human psychology behind deception and fraud. Each episode follows a real case of manipulation — from financial scams and Ponzi schemes to digital hoaxes and emotional cons PRETEND explains how and why deception works without shaming victims, combining ethical journalism with cinematic storytelling. Featured in lists of the best podcasts about con artists and scams, PRETEND investigates crimes of persuasion, trust, and betrayal. New episodes drop regularly with stories that reveal how manipulation shapes modern life, both online and off. PRETEND is produced by Creative Babble, LLC. © 2026 Creative Babble LLC [CLAIM:B6BT3XC4]

Publisher’s own description, taken unchanged from the podcast feed.
Creative Babble, LLC. All rights reserved 2026

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Latest episodes

  1. The Hypnotist, Part 1 (Revisited)

    2026-11-10 · 52 min

    When I was eight months old, I pulled a rice cooker full of boiling water and oil off the kitchen counter, and it spilled down the left side of my body. I still have the third-degree burn scars, but I have no memory of…

  2. The Babalawo - Secrets of Santeria Revisited

    2026-11-03 · 48 min

    Growing up Catholic in Miami, I heard all kinds of stories about Santeria. People talked about dead chickens on doorsteps, curses, and spirits taking over people’s bodies. Even the people who didn’t practice it all said…

  3. The Stalker: Fit to Stand Trial? Part 24 E

    2026-10-27 · 27 min · Season 12, episode 24

    According to police, Shelbey Fernandez ran a stalking campaign for years. She used burner numbers, fake accounts and fake 911 calls. She asked Google how detectives trace a texting app, how long a burner number lasts,…

  4. The Prophet: A Word of Faith Fellowship Minister Back in Court, 13 Years Later

    2026-10-20 · 40 min · Season 3, episode 12

    A 19-year-old says members of his church held him down, choked him, and beat him for two hours, trying to cast out what they called his “homosexual demons.” That was in 2013. Thirteen years, a mistrial, and countless…

  5. The Gypsy Rose Obsession, Part 10

    2026-10-13 · 56 min · Season 27, episode 10

    When Gypsy Rose Blanchard was a little girl, the thing that comforted her most was her mother's touch. In the final episode of The Gypsy Rose Obsession, I ask Gypsy when that changed. I also track down the attorney who…

  6. 2026-10-10 · 44 min

    This week I'm handing the feed over to Andrea Dunlop and her show, Nobody Should Believe Me. Andrea has spent years covering medical child abuse, and she came to the subject through her own family. In 2019, Dr. John…

  7. The Gypsy Rose Obsession, Part 9

    2026-10-06 · 37 min · Season 27, episode 9

    When Gypsy Rose Blanchard announced she was pregnant, the internet opened an investigation. The woman who spent her childhood trapped inside her mother's medical lies was now raising a daughter of her own. In this…

  8. BONUS: How Doctors Diagnose Medical Child Abuse

    2026-10-03 · 35 min

    How does a doctor actually decide that a parent is making their child sick? Dr. John Melville is a child abuse pediatrician, president of the Ray E. Helfer Society, and one of the people who helped write the board exam…

  9. BONUS: Gypsy Rose Blanchard's Partner Ken Urker Has Died

    2026-10-03 · 15 min

    Ken Urker, Gypsy Rose Blanchard's partner and the father of their daughter, Aurora, died on October 1, 2026, his 34th birthday. The sheriff is still investigating, and no official cause of death has been released. Gypsy…

  10. The Gypsy Rose Obsession, Part 8

    2026-09-29 · 40 min · Season 27, episode 8

    Gypsy Rose Blanchard thought no one was listening. For years, everything she said from inside Chillicothe was being recorded. Now it's public. More than five hundred hours of it. Some of those recordings broke through…

Episode details from the publisher’s feed. Playback happens at the publisher.

Publisher details

Owner
Javier Leiva
Oldest episode in feed
06/2017 · over 9 years
Typical length
38 min
Format
Serial Meant to be heard in order

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