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Who is pretending, and why are we chasing them? Chasing the Imposter digs into the small lies, grand cons, and identity fictions that upend lives and reputations. Each episode unpacks...
show more
Who is pretending, and why are we chasing them? Chasing the Imposter digs into the small lies, grand cons, and identity fictions that upend lives and reputations.
Each episode unpacks real impostors, fraudsters, and confidence games with forensic curiosity and plainspoken storytelling. Expect concise case breakdowns, audio evidence when available, expert context on patterns of deception, and practical takeaways to spot manipulative behavior. The show favors clarity over spectacle: we explain how impostor stories unfold, why they succeed, and what they reveal about trust and risk in everyday life.
New episodes publish every day: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 7:00 PM, so you can tune in nightly for a focused dose of deception analysis and narrative suspense. Episodes are structured to deliver a clear timeline, motive analysis, and a short lesson you can use right away.
Chasing the Imposter is for curious listeners who want to understand fraudsters, impostors, and farsantes without sensationalism — journalists, students of human behavior, and anyone wary of being fooled. If you’re fascinated by how lies are constructed and caught, this show is made for you.
Subscribe now and never miss an episode at 7:00 PM daily.
keywords SEO: impostors, fraudsters, confidence games, deception analysis, farsantes
show less
Each episode unpacks real impostors, fraudsters, and confidence games with forensic curiosity and plainspoken storytelling. Expect concise case breakdowns, audio evidence when available, expert context on patterns of deception, and practical takeaways to spot manipulative behavior. The show favors clarity over spectacle: we explain how impostor stories unfold, why they succeed, and what they reveal about trust and risk in everyday life.
New episodes publish every day: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 7:00 PM, so you can tune in nightly for a focused dose of deception analysis and narrative suspense. Episodes are structured to deliver a clear timeline, motive analysis, and a short lesson you can use right away.
Chasing the Imposter is for curious listeners who want to understand fraudsters, impostors, and farsantes without sensationalism — journalists, students of human behavior, and anyone wary of being fooled. If you’re fascinated by how lies are constructed and caught, this show is made for you.
Subscribe now and never miss an episode at 7:00 PM daily.
keywords SEO: impostors, fraudsters, confidence games, deception analysis, farsantes
Episodes & Posts
Episodes
Posts
24 JUL 2026 · The Fake Doctor Who Hung a Diploma and Stayed for Years
A small-town clinic trusted a woman who presented a printed diploma and a stolen DEA number, and she practiced medicine for four years, eight months, and twenty-five days before a girl’s paper route exposed the fraud - who was she really, and how did she keep it hidden so long? This episode unspools the concrete steps she took: a fabricated diploma from a nonexistent Harwick Regional College of Medicine, a copied DEA registration, and a decade of self-directed medical learning that replaced any formal training.
In this episode, you’ll hear the timeline from the January morning the diploma fell to the strings she pulled to get hired, the discrepancies that later alerted a nurse practitioner, and the community consequences of a clinic that had been without a doctor for eleven months; can the trust of a town explain how long the deception lasted?
Person: Rachel Callahan
Event: Diploma discovered by a fourteen-year-old on January 9, 2014
Duration: 4 years, 8 months, 25 days practicing before exposure
Institution: Harwick Regional College of Medicine (nonexistent)
Location: Clinic on Bender Road, Harwick, Indiana
- The fraudulent diploma was printed six weeks before Rachel’s job interview in March 2009 using Garamond font and gold embossing from a craft heat-stamp kit.
- Rachel copied a licensed physician Stuart Ames’s DEA registration number from a prescription slip and later used it on her own prescription pads.
- The clinic position had been vacant for eleven months after Dr. Howard Seel semi-retired and moved to Fort Wayne.
- Rachel had attended Indiana University for one semester and left after her father’s death in October 2001, then spent about three years working as a medical receptionist and trained as a phlebotomist.
- In spring 2011, nurse practitioner Sandra Teel found a discrepancy in the DEA registration number on Rachel’s prescription pads while reviewing controlled substance logs. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
24 JUL 2026 · The Chaplain Who Forged a Badge - Loved by the Dying, Exposed by Snow
Cold snowlit discovery: a laminated badge with a fake ordination and registration number was found face-up in a hospice parking lot at 4:15 a.m., but the woman pictured had been quietly serving dying patients for eleven years. How did a fabricated credential, made for about $12-$18, let someone slip into the most intimate moments of care - and what finally unravels when suspicion meets evidence?
In this episode, we tell the story of the badge found by a snowplow driver and the decade-long work life that followed, describing how credentials, coworker doubts, and small administrative gaps shaped a case that raises difficult questions about trust in care settings. What happens when a person becomes exactly who they claimed to be - and also someone else entirely?
Date: December 9, 2019
Person: Emily Zimmerman
Location: Harmon Ridge, Stearns County, Minnesota
Credential number: NFCPE-2004-7731
Found by: Charles Dalton, contract snowplow driver
- The badge was found at 4:15 a.m. on December 9, 2019, in the east-wing parking lot of Harmon Ridge.
- The laminated ID bore a holographic strip and a registration number printed as NFCPE-2004-7731.
- Emily Zimmerman had worked inside Harmon Ridge for eleven years and led the Thursday Reflection Circle with a waiting list.
- The fabricated badge reportedly cost between $12 and $18 to produce using a scrapbook holographic strip and an online template.
- coworker Crystal Ward observed discrepancies over four years before reporting suspicions, noting fluent pastoral vocabulary but missing deeper theological frameworks. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
24 JUL 2026 · The Fake Fire Expert: How a Bolted Certificate Burned Her Life
A museum-quality certificate with a gold-foil embossed seal was bolted to a cinder block alley wall in Harlow Falls, Indiana - and that photograph triggered an unraveling that lasted seven years. How did a woman with no degree in fire science come to be treated as a retained fire cause-and-origin expert whose reports shaped insurance payouts and court outcomes?
In this episode, we trace the career of Judith A. Reynolds from Millhaven, Ohio, to Harlow Falls, and detail the credentials, reports, and relationships that built her authority - and the omissions that would later draw scrutiny. What exactly did Reynolds know, what did she omit, and why did a certificate in an alley matter so much?
Person: Judith A. Reynolds
Location: Harlow Falls, Indiana
Date: November 14, 2011
Case: Reynolds Cause & Origin Consulting
Investigator: Russell Carlson, Indiana Department of Insurance
- The certificate was attached to a cinder block exterior wall in a service alley between a gas meter and a dumpster at eye level.
- Jean Brown, a utility lineman with eleven years on the job, photographed the certificate on November 14, 2011.
- Reynolds graduated Millhaven High in 1986 and accumulated roughly forty college credits before dropping out in 1991.
- Reynolds opened Reynolds Cause & Origin Consulting in 2006 and kept two Hermann's tortoises in a temperature-controlled enclosure she checked daily between 4:15 and 4:30 p.m.
- Reynolds received associate designation with the National Association of Fire Expert Professionals in 2005 and full certified membership in 2009 using workshop attendance, self-written case analyses, and a reference letter from Arthur Delp. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
24 JUL 2026 · The Vanishing Studio: When a Fake Victim Sparked a Real Search
Fear that someone could manufacture grief-and two hundred thousand people would grieve with them-hits first. A folding table, a warm battery pack, and a laminated press credential for Marie Wilson's Unresolved Podcast convinced walkers and deputies they’d found a real crime scene; but why did listeners believe a three-year fabrication so completely?
In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that started with a jogger finding podcast equipment on Whitfield Road and led to a nationwide campaign for a woman who never existed. How did a quiet twenty-six-year-old from Millhaven build two seasons of narrative that produced vigils, amateur detectives, and a six-thousand-member Facebook group before a blogger exposed a crack?
Person: Michael Foster
Location: Whitfield Road, Harwick, Illinois
Person: Marie Wilson
Event: Found equipment and press credential at 5:47 AM
Group: Justice for Lynette Facebook group with 6,000 members
- At 5:47 AM Michael Foster discovered a folding table, laptop, microphone, and a laminated press credential for Marie Wilson at the edge of a drainage ditch.
- Marie Wilson created the podcast Unresolved, which reached 200,000 subscribers by the end of its first season.
- The fabricated missing person, Lynette Facebook, was presented as a 31-year-old cafeteria worker who allegedly disappeared in October 2009, but no official records exist for her.
- A civil report form dated October 2009 was copied from the Harwick County public website, filled in by hand, aged with tea, and photographed to appear authentic.
- A blogger named Chad Gray identified the first inconsistency that began to unravel the fabricated case. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
24 JUL 2026 · The Badge on the Wall: How a Fake License Lived Undetected
Fear that someone wearing your trust might be a fraud: a plastic hospital badge zip-tied to aluminum siding, an expiration date of March 2001, and a woman who practiced clinical psychology for nearly two decades on the basis of a forged doctoral credential-how did that badge stay visible and her practice stay open until a meter reader photographed it in September 2019? What did two decades of renewals, faculty appointments, and 112 clients hide behind a one-piece-of-plastic clue?
In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that followed that photograph and trace the career it revealed. You will hear how a temporary 18-month orientation badge, a claimed doctoral degree from Vance-Horton University, and a license number issued by the Ohio State Medical Board combined to sustain a private practice and university appointment-and why a single photo began to unravel it all.
Person: Crystal Ann Purdue (also known as Crystal Green)
Location: Crestfield, Ohio
Event: Photograph of a plastic badge taken by a meter reader in September 2019
Case: License number PY748882 issued by the Ohio State Medical Board after a 2000 application
Date: Badge expiration March 2001
- The badge attached to the house listed an expiration date of March 2001 and was 18 years old when photographed.
- Crystal held a client roster of 112 people and ran Green Developmental Associates on Fenwick Court.
- She attended doctoral coursework and passed qualifying exams between 1993 and 1995 but stopped attending in spring 1996 and never submitted a dissertation.
- In August 1999 she attended a five-day practicum orientation at Kellerman Children's Hospital and received a temporary orientation badge.
- She maintained a part-time faculty appointment in the Department of Educational Psychology at Harwick University for nine years as an adjunct clinical instructor. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
24 JUL 2026 · She Wore His Bar Number: The Twin Who Sat in the Third Chair
Fear and fascination collide: for six years Pamela Murphy sat at arbitration tables with a real Ohio bar card, a real bar number and a birth year that made the admission date impossible - and nobody checked. How did a woman born in 1981 operate as a licensed attorney using her twin brother's credentials until a forgotten tote bag in a church basement exposed the truth?
In this episode, we tell the sequence of events that led from Pamela arriving at Hargrove & Seel in 2005 to her work being unmasked in August 2011, following the discovery of a billfold with a laminated Ohio attorney card. What unfolded after the card was found, and what questions about responsibility and oversight did it raise?
Person: Pamela Murphy
Person: Dennis R. Corbin
Location: Paulding County, Ohio; Millhaven, Ohio; Westside Lutheran Church
Date: Pamela born in 1981; discovery on August 9, 2011; admission date on card September 14, 1981
Organization: Hargrove & Seel
- Pamela performed arbitration work from spring 2005 through August 2011 while using bar number 0047-2219.
- The laminated attorney card found in a billfold listed admission date September 14, 1981 - the year Pamela was born.
- Pamela and her twin Dennis Corbin were born eleven minutes apart in 1981.
- Victor Paige, a senior arbitrator with about 30 years' professional judgment, called Pamela "the finest natural arbitrator he had worked alongside in a decade."
- Frank Roberts found Pamela's tote bag with the billfold in the Westside Lutheran Church basement on the morning of August 9, 2011. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
24 JUL 2026 · The Sommelier Who Stole a Cellar - And Left a Pétrus Trail
A single uncorked bottle of 1987 Pétrus was found bone-dry on a granite shelf four and a half miles from the nearest road, four days after the trail opened to the public - why would a rare Bordeaux be left there? The gap between Thorpe’s fabricated credentials and the real, measurable skill he showed raises one central question: was this theft a con, a compulsion, or something else entirely?
In this episode, we follow the timeline from a hiker’s photograph in July 2019 to the discovery that linked a Washington D.C. sommelier to missing cellar wines. We trace how Dennis Thorpe built expertise in private, the false documents he used, and the small anomalies that first drew attention - and ask what the uncorked Pétrus on a Maryland trail reveals about his motives.
Person: Dennis Thorpe
Job: Head sommelier at Ardenne
Location: Washington D.C. and Catoctin foothills, western Maryland
Date found: July 2019
Wine found: 1987 Pétrus (uncorked, bone-dry)
- Thorpe was 38 years old and head sommelier at Ardenne, a three-star restaurant in the West End, when arrested.
- The Pétrus was found four and a half miles from the nearest road on a trail that had been open to the public for eleven days.
- Thorpe identified seven of nine wines correctly in a blind tasting during his Ardenne interview.
- He bought an Oxford Companion to Wine, fourth edition, in 2008 and used it to train himself over three years.
- He obtained a Court of Master Sommeliers certification number belonging to Warren Estep (deceased 2009) by calling and posing as an HR administrator. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
24 JUL 2026 · The Shoebox on Sycamore Creek: Obits for the Living
Fear and fascination collide: a sealed shoebox found above Sycamore Creek's flood line held eighteen obituaries for people who, by every state record, were still alive - and a five-word note pointing investigators to one name. Who would create fake deaths with such care, and why would a small-town obituary writer risk everything to announce lives that continued on?
In this episode, we tell the story of how a newcomer to Millhaven became the author of precise, intimate obituaries and why seventeen years of identity and records could not explain her past. Follow the trail from a banked shoebox to a newspaper office, and ask the question that a judge could not answer: why did she do it?
Person: Gloria Zimmerman
Location: Millhaven, Greer County, Mississippi
Date: June 11, 2019
Case: Eighteen false obituaries found in a shoebox
Amount: $4,027 collected via surcharge
- Shoebox was sealed with two layers of tape and set just above the flood line on the bank of Sycamore Creek.
- Inside were eighteen newspaper clippings, each an obituary from the Greer County Courier for people legally recorded as alive.
- A note tucked between the clippings read five words: "These people are alive. Ask Gloria."
- Gloria Zimmerman arrived in Millhaven in 2008 at age fifty-one and worked four days a week writing obituaries for eleven years.
- She collected a "sourcing and verification surcharge" eighteen times, totaling approximately $4,027, including cases where living people received memorial fund letters after their obituaries ran. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
24 JUL 2026 · The Vest That Let Her Walk Into Four Disasters Unchecked
A single khaki vest bought for three dollars put a young woman into four disaster zones where nobody checked her credentials - and an eleven-minute logistics fix turned her into a trusted coordinator. How did a faded IECN logo and a clipboard become access to thousands of people in crisis, and what was lost when the truth fell off a fence post?
In this episode, we follow the timeline that begins with an estate sale purchase and moves through field deployments, local emergency meetings, and the moment a badge is found on a Teller County fence post that unraveled three years of deception. Listen to how a lack of paperwork, a memorized set of protocols, and one visible logo created access - and ask whether the real crime was identity fraud or the invisible risks it exposed.
Person: Kimberly Berry
Event: khaki vest purchased at an estate sale for $3
Date: June 2016 (Valdosta coordination meeting)
Location: Decatur, Alabama; Valdosta, Georgia; Teller County (badge found)
Period: 2016-2019 (three years of activity)
- The vest with an IECN logo was bought for $3 at an estate sale in April 2016.
- At age 23 in June 2016, Kimberly introduced herself as IECN Southeast regional desk field coordinator at a flood meeting.
- She resolved a supply-routing dispute in eleven minutes during the Valdosta coordination meeting.
- The badge was found on a chain-link fence post in Teller County eleven days after it went missing.
- Kimberly had previously spent six weeks in Honduras in 2012 and later managed inbound freight in Decatur for roughly two years. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
24 JUL 2026 · The Walkman That Unmasked a Phony Dialect Queen
A deteriorating Sony Walkman hidden in a crawl space held a sixty‑minute cassette labeled "STAGE DIALECTS" that taught Received Pronunciation, Birmingham, Liverpool, Glaswegian, Gullah, Boston Brahmin and Midwestern American - and its discovery toppled a fifteen‑year career built on fabricated credentials. How did a thrift‑store tape become the sole artifact that explained why Lauren Perry could pass as an expert and yet leave no verifiable training behind?
In this episode, we present the story of Lauren Perry and the tape that shaped her work: where she grew up, the Goodwill find, the fashions on the cassette, the jobs she won with a falsified résumé, and the unanswered questions that remained after investigators heard the full recording. What does the tape reveal about skill, proof, and the industry that trusted her?
Person: Lauren Perry
Age: 48 in spring 2019
Discovery object: Sony Walkman with sixty‑minute cassette labeled "STAGE DIALECTS"
Early life location: Decatur, Georgia
Key supporter: Steven Park described her as the best dialect coach he had worked with
- The cassette label had four words in blue ballpoint: STAGE DIALECTS.
- Lauren moved to Midtown Manhattan and presented a résumé claiming study at the British American Drama Academy and Guildhall.
- A faxed certificate accompanying her paperwork showed a slightly off logo and a typeface one point larger than the institution standard.
- The Walkman tape Side A contained Received Pronunciation, Birmingham, Liverpool, and Glaswegian; Side B contained Gullah, Boston Brahmin, and Standard Midwestern American.
- Lauren listened to the tape hundreds of times over two years while working at a copy shop and later practiced accents in the car and shower. To listen to this podcast ad-free and access premium episodes, try our subscription with a 14-day free trial at obomedia.com.
© 2026 OBOMEDIA. All rights reserved.
This episode and its content (audio, text, and related materials) are the exclusive property of OBOMEDIA and are protected by applicable copyright laws. Reproduction, distribution, editing, or commercial use, in whole or in part, without prior written permission from OBOMEDIA is prohibited. For permissions, licensing, and business inquiries: business@obomedia.com.
Who is pretending, and why are we chasing them? Chasing the Imposter digs into the small lies, grand cons, and identity fictions that upend lives and reputations. Each episode unpacks...
show more
Who is pretending, and why are we chasing them? Chasing the Imposter digs into the small lies, grand cons, and identity fictions that upend lives and reputations.
Each episode unpacks real impostors, fraudsters, and confidence games with forensic curiosity and plainspoken storytelling. Expect concise case breakdowns, audio evidence when available, expert context on patterns of deception, and practical takeaways to spot manipulative behavior. The show favors clarity over spectacle: we explain how impostor stories unfold, why they succeed, and what they reveal about trust and risk in everyday life.
New episodes publish every day: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 7:00 PM, so you can tune in nightly for a focused dose of deception analysis and narrative suspense. Episodes are structured to deliver a clear timeline, motive analysis, and a short lesson you can use right away.
Chasing the Imposter is for curious listeners who want to understand fraudsters, impostors, and farsantes without sensationalism — journalists, students of human behavior, and anyone wary of being fooled. If you’re fascinated by how lies are constructed and caught, this show is made for you.
Subscribe now and never miss an episode at 7:00 PM daily.
keywords SEO: impostors, fraudsters, confidence games, deception analysis, farsantes
show less
Each episode unpacks real impostors, fraudsters, and confidence games with forensic curiosity and plainspoken storytelling. Expect concise case breakdowns, audio evidence when available, expert context on patterns of deception, and practical takeaways to spot manipulative behavior. The show favors clarity over spectacle: we explain how impostor stories unfold, why they succeed, and what they reveal about trust and risk in everyday life.
New episodes publish every day: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday at 7:00 PM, so you can tune in nightly for a focused dose of deception analysis and narrative suspense. Episodes are structured to deliver a clear timeline, motive analysis, and a short lesson you can use right away.
Chasing the Imposter is for curious listeners who want to understand fraudsters, impostors, and farsantes without sensationalism — journalists, students of human behavior, and anyone wary of being fooled. If you’re fascinated by how lies are constructed and caught, this show is made for you.
Subscribe now and never miss an episode at 7:00 PM daily.
keywords SEO: impostors, fraudsters, confidence games, deception analysis, farsantes
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| Author | OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENT |
| Organization | OBOMEDIA ENTERTAINMENT |
| Categories | True Crime |
| Website | - |
| creators@obomedia.com |
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