I met John online. He made me feel wonderful. It was the best feeling in the world. Dirty John: The Dirty Truth, victim, Netflix 2019
Many women were terrorised … a serial predator. ibid. Christopher Goffard, LA Times reporter
… It’s humiliating … I never told him I knew it [wedding ring] was fake. ibid. Tania, first wife
There were so many things that didn’t make sense. ibid. victim’s daughter
John had all the traits of a psychopath. ibid. prosecutor
He had multiple restraining orders against him filed by different women. He was a chameleon. ibid. Goffard
Mark Acklom is Britain’s most notorious conman. In a 30 year criminal career he has defrauded not only his own family but also countless complete strangers. Conman: The Crimes of Mark Acklom, Martin Brunt reporter, Pick 2019
I’ve uncovered his extensive criminal network across Europe. ibid.
The notorious conman Mark Acklom, a man of many aliases who had duped victims across Europe and fleeced them of several million pounds. ibid.
Mark Acklom’s story has gripped me like no other: his extraordinary cunning, his ability to con his victims is matched by his lack of remorse for the suffering he inflicts. ibid.
His son stole his gold Amex card and spent thousands of pounds in London at Stringfellows nightclub, the Savoy hotel and Harrods department store. ibid.
124 charges of theft and deception: the judge branded him a wicked conman and jailed him for four years … his jail sentence was cut in half to two years and he was released. ibid.
He told people he was a businessman and a banker and he was using a variety of names. ibid.
2012: Carolyn Woods met and fell in love with conman Mark Acklom: he then fleeced her [lover] of hundreds of thousands of pounds … Caroline Woods asked me to help track down Mark Acklom because the police couldn’t. ibid.
Acklom used the classic car scam to promote himself. ibid.
Acklom had been selling luxury London flats to Spanish nationals for vast amounts of money. Flats that he didn’t own … He was put on trial … He looked and sounded Spanish. ibid.
‘He is back re-offending, he simply doesn’t stop … The guy is a serial offender.’ ibid. investigator
Acklom had been jailed in Spain five times. ibid.
We go inside a criminal call centre. Footage from their own cameras shows exactly how the fraudsters work. We find the British victims that these scammers are rippers. We identify the crime boss who is making millions. And we ask Why can’t the fraudsters be held to account? Panorama: Spying on the Scammers, BBC 2020
Computer fraud is now the most common crime in the UK. But very few fraudsters are ever caught or convicted. So online, vigilantes are fighting back. They call themselves scam-baiters. They pretend to fall for a scam then turn the tables on the fraudsters. ibid.
Many come from India … many of the call centres dedicated to fraud. ibid.
I just made the world’s easiest five grand. The Sting 1973 starring Paul Newman & Robert Redford & Robert Shaw & Charles Durning & Ray Walston & Eileen Rennan & Harold Gould & John Hefernan & Dana Elcar & James Sloyan & Larry D Mann & Sally Kirkland & Jack Kehoe & Robert Earl James et al, director George Roy Hill, victim in taxi
Luther said you learn fast. I hope he’s right. ibid. Henry to Johnny
Johnny: He’s [Doyle Lonnegan] not as tough as he thinks.
Luther: Neither are we. ibid.
You can’t play your friends like marks, Hooker. ibid. Henry to Johnny
Revenge is for suckers. ibid. Henry to Johnny
Henry: You’re not going to stick around for your share?
Johnny: Naah, I’d only blow it. ibid.
‘I felt like this was the one that I had been waiting for. Maybe it was too good to be true. Did he love me or was this all a game?’ Dateline: The Women & Dirty John, victim, Sky Crime 2020
Who was this guy?: ‘His name was Dirty John. I started snooping and I found everything.’ ibid. other victim
He was handsome, tall and very fit … ‘He said everything right … I fell in love.’ ibid.
She [prospective daughter in law] decided to do some snooping … They were not going to be put off … ‘Did not look to her the actual hands of a doctor.’ ibid.
Not that you mind killers; your book is full of killers. The Night of the Hunter 1955 starring Robert Mitchum & Shelley Winters & Lillian Gish & James Gleason & Evelyn Varden & Billy Chapin & Peter Graves & Sally Jane Bruce & Don Beddoe et al, director Charles Laughton, Mitchum to God
Salvation is a last-minute business, boy. ibid. Mitchum in prison
I’ve been married to my Walt that long and I swear in all that time I just lie there thinking about my canning. ibid. old lady
I’m good for something in this old world and I know it too. ibid. old lady
She’s an extrovert … Her father Robert Maxwell had been an incredibly big figure in England. He was a big newspaper publisher. In fact he’s been something of a fraudster con man but he’d lived a huge life. Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich: Follow the Money s1e2, Vicky Ward, Netflix 2020
No-one wants to be fooled. People are fooled by art much more than we know. The director at the Metropolitan museum was once asked, How many fakes do you think could possibly be on the walls? To which he responded, I have no idea. It’s embarrassing. Worse than that, I think, is that they don’t want to own up. Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art, Freedman, Netflix 2021
‘I Am the Central Victim’: Art Dealer Ann Freedman on Selling $63 Million in Fake Paintings. ibid. online article James Panero 27th August 2013
It started with the news of Knoedler closing. And that was shocking because Knoedler was very old-guard institution in the art world. And nobody really knew the details of that until you know, news started leaking out about this forgery scandal. ibid. M H Miler, The New York Times
A con that went on for nearly twenty years. ibid. Patricia Cohen, The New York Times
None of the works Rosales brought to the gallery were in the catalogues raisonnés of the artists. ibid. Luke Nikas, Freeman’s lawyer
‘A 75-year-old artist [Pei-Shen Qian] who went from selling his paintings for a couple of hundred dollars to selling them for millions.’ ibid. television presenter
‘I firmly refute the accusations that I misled anyone concerning this transaction. I believed in the authenticity of the Pollock at the time [of sale] and continue to do so.’ ibid. Ann Freedman, The Financial Times 9 December 2011
She seemed to be a supermodel on the brink of superstardom. She seemed to be the perfect best friend. But the truth as a secret so bizarre it shocked everyone. And a scheme so brilliant it left investigators struggling to catch her. Masterminds e5: Double Crossed, truTV 2003
The glamorous seventeen-year-old blonde model cheerleader who calls herself Shannon Ireland is really a twenty-five-year-old conman and an impostor. ibid.
Charles is kicked off the cheerleading team and fades from the limelight. ibid.
Again Daughtery retreats from the spotlight. ibid.
Scientology always has been a game of power and control. L Ron Hubbard was the ultimate con man, and it's hard to figure out how much of Scientology was an experiment in brainwashing and controlling people, and how much of it was truly intended to help people. Jenna Miscavige Hill, ‘Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape’
I’m in a nightclub on the edge of town. It’s a bad situation and I don’t know how to get out. Scam City s1e2: Prague
Not all taxicabs in Prague are playing by the same rules. ibid.
Lady pickpockets followed by fake drugs. ibid.
The clip joint scam: the victim is sucked in with the promise of a good time. ibid.
In 2008 a Texan tycoon landed his helicopter on the hallowed turf of Lord’s, the spiritual home of cricket. He came with a proposition – a showdown between England and his own Caribbean team at his personal ground in Antigua. He was offering one of the greatest cash prizes ever for a team sport. $20 million. But nobody knew where Sir Allen Stanford’s money really came from. The Man Who Bought Cricket I: Lord’s, captions, Sky Documentaries 2022
In 2008, the biggest and most lucrative tournament in the world was the Indian Premier League, or IPL. ibid.
Just as Sir Allen was flaunting his wealth at Lord’s, US authorities were starting to question how he’d made his billions. ibid.