Pirates may look like the ultimate outsiders. Lawless, dangerous and answerable to nobody. But a pirate ship could not survive without rules. There had to be agreement over food, pay, discipline and what happened when someone was injured. In a world beyond the reach of government, trust was what kept the crew together.

In this episode, Mary-Ann Ochota explores the hidden codes that hold criminal worlds together. Pirate historian Rebecca Simon reveals that the real pirate “code” was not a Hollywood fantasy, but a set of articles that governed life on board. They set out how spoils were shared, how decisions were made and what happened when someone broke the rules. Even Blackbeard, one of history’s most feared pirates, depended on discipline and intimidation as much as violence.

Those same questions continue in the modern underworld. Criminologist Federico Varese explains how criminal groups solve the problem of trust when they cannot rely on contracts, courts or public reputations. From Mafia families to gang initiations, he shows how shared crimes, rituals and the threat of violence can create loyalty and make leaving extraordinarily difficult.

Professor Sophie Scott explores why costly tests of belonging can bind people to a group, even when that group is dangerous. Together, these stories reveal the darker side of trust. It’s not simply something freely given, but something that can be demanded, enforced and used as a weapon.

Trust Forward is a podcast from Sumsub, AI-powered trust infrastructure for compliance operations at scale, made in collaboration with This is Distorted. Every story here is really a version of the same problem playing out in a different era. Today it plays out online, in the moment a business has to decide whether to trust a stranger on the other side of a screen. That’s the problem Sumsub exists to solve.

Sumsub's Website: sumsub.com

Sumsub's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/sumsub

Sumsub's Instagram: instagram.com/sumsubcom

Sumsub on X: x.com/Sumsubcom

Sumsub's YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@sumsubcom

Mary-Ann Ochota on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mary-ann-ochota-frgs-9234aa61/

Rebecca Simon: https://rebecca-simon.com/

Federico Varese: https://www.sociology.ox.ac.uk/people/federico-varese

Professor Sophie Scott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sophie-scott-179b6610/

Resources for this episode can be found here: https://trustforward.sumsub.com/episodes/the-code-of-the-underworld

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

The best conmen never have to steal a thing. They just ask, and people hand it over.

In this episode, Mary-Ann Ochota tells the story of William Thompson, the original "confidence man," who spent the 1840s asking wealthy strangers a simple question: do you have the confidence in me to lend me your watch until tomorrow? Most said yes, and never saw it again.

Writer and psychologist Maria Konnikova, author of The Confidence Game, explains how the same trick has echoed through history, from Charles Ponzi's fake investment scheme in 1920s Boston to Victor Lustig, who once sold the Eiffel Tower for scrap metal. The method barely changes: give someone a reason to trust you, then use that trust against them.

It raises an uncomfortable question. If con artists are so predictable, why do we keep falling for them? Cognitive neuroscientist Professor Sophie Scott explains why humans are wired to believe people by default, and Maria, now a professional poker player herself, reveals what a table full of world class liars taught her about reading people, and being read.

It's the next step in a story about how trust gets built, and how it gets broken.

Trust Forward is a podcast from Sumsub, AI powered trust infrastructure for compliance operations at scale, made in collaboration with This is Distorted. Every story here is really a version of the same problem playing out in a different era. Today it plays out online, in the moment a business has to decide whether to trust a stranger on the other side of a screen. That's the problem Sumsub exists to solve.

Sumsub's Website: sumsub.com

Sumsub's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/sumsub

Sumsub's Instagram: instagram.com/sumsubcom

Sumsub on X: x.com/Sumsubcom

Sumsub's YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@sumsubcom

Mary-Ann Ochota on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mary-ann-ochota-frgs-9234aa61/

Maria Konnikova: linkedin.com/in/maria-konnikova-697256/

Professor Sophie Scott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sophie-scott-179b6610/

Resources for this episode can be found here: https://trustforward.sumsub.com/episodes/the-art-of-the-con

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

Science is meant to be ruled by reason and evidence. But for centuries, only certain people were trusted to practise it.

In this episode, Mary-Ann Ochota takes us to Cambridge in 1897, where crowds gathered on the streets to protest against women being allowed to earn degrees. Journalist and author Angela Saini explains how the Royal Society, founded in 1660 on the radical idea of testing claims rather than simply trusting the person making them, became a gentlemen's club that kept women and working class scientists locked out for centuries.

It's a question that's shaped science ever since. If evidence is meant to speak for itself, why has reputation always mattered just as much, and what happens when that reputation is faked, as with Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who convinced billionaires to back blood testing technology that never worked?

To help answer that, Mary-Ann talks to astrophysicist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who discovered pulsars as a PhD student in 1967 and had to fight to be believed by her own supervisor. Cognitive neuroscientist Professor Sophie Scott also joins to unpack why humans are so easily swayed by authority and status.

It's the next step in a story running from ancient coins to today's digital world, asking one slippery question: who gets to decide what's true?

Trust Forward is a podcast from Sumsub, AI powered trust infrastructure for compliance operations at scale, made in collaboration with This is Distorted. Every story here is really a version of the same problem playing out in a different era. Today it plays out online, in the moment a business has to decide whether to trust a stranger on the other side of a screen. That's the problem Sumsub exists to solve.

Sumsub's Website: sumsub.com

Sumsub's LinkedIn: linkedin.com/sumsub

Sumsub's Instagram: instagram.com/sumsubcom

Sumsub on X: x.com/Sumsubcom

Sumsub's YouTube Channel: youtube.com/@sumsubcom

Mary-Ann Ochota on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mary-ann-ochota-frgs-9234aa61/

Angela Saini: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelasaini/

Jocelyn Bell Burnell: https://royalsociety.org/people/jocelyn-bell-burnell-11066/

Professor Sophie Scott on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sophie-scott-179b6610/

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Resources for this episode can be found here: https://trustforward.sumsub.com/episodes/trust-me-im-a-scientist/

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