Hope’s world is about to implode as she realises there’s more to Emily than meets the eye. Hope is heartbroken when she discovers the real identity of her teenage best friend. In Sydney, three years later, Californian backpacker Emmy is also caught in a make-believe world of secrets and spies. 

She’s about to be drawn into Samantha Azzopardi’s vortex of lies.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2011, Russian gymnast Emily Sciberras tells her new best friend that her entire family has been killed in a murder-suicide, including her 15-year-old twin sister. In 2013, a distressed teenage girl with no name is found on the streets of Dublin after escaping a human trafficking ring. She is so traumatised she cannot speak. In 2014, 14-year-old Aurora Hepburn stumbles into a clinic in Canada, after fleeing a cult.

What do these women and their terrifying stories have in common? They are all fake identities, convincingly created by one Australian woman – Samantha Azzopardi – a serial con-artist who has amassed more than 75 aliases and repeatedly deceived her victims and authorities around the globe. Yet she is not in it for the money.

Samantha does not fit the usual profile of a con artist. Samantha is female, 34 years old and her motives are a mystery. She doesn’t physically hurt anyone and barely steals from them. She does not con for financial gain. Although, as this series reveals, the emotional and psychological toll she takes on the lives of her victims is often devastating.

This gripping 8 episode podcast, based on the hit international television series, crosses three continents and features world exclusive accounts from Samantha's victims. Listeners are taken on an intriguing quest to find out - who is the real Samantha Azzopardi? And why does she do this?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.