6. Pulling the Strings

Protective mother Mel confronts con woman Samantha Azzopardi after she traumatised Mel’s 13-year-old daughter Georgia. Mel and her daughter film the confrontation on a phone, capturing rare footage of the camera-shy Samantha. But Samantha is already chasing her next victim. Melbourne mum Carnie is about to hire her as an au pair for her four children, including a four-month-old baby. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Another Melbourne family employs Samantha as 18-year-old nanny ‘Saskiah’. Samantha secretly whisks their two small children hundreds of kilometres away from their home. The police are on her trail. Can Samantha Azzopardi finally be stopped before she endangers the lives of innocent children?   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

French traveller Lucie thought she was helping with a practical joke, but she’s embroiled in a child kidnapping case in Sydney. The “child” is finally exposed as yet another identity of con woman Samantha Azzopardi. Samantha’s cons are starting to accelerate. Her next target will be a young girl with big dreams. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Samantha is now taking big risks and running two cons at once. One of her targets is 13-year-old aspiring model Georgia. Samantha poses as a talent agent, convincing Georgia to pretend to be an abuse victim. When Georgia’s mum Mel starts to realise all is not well, she decides to confront this mysterious woman and defend her family at all costs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Teenage backpacker Emmy is plunged into a dark and twisted world, thanks to serial con woman Samantha Azzopardi. Samantha, masquerading as Swedish backpacker Annika, convinces Emmy to commit fraud. Then Emmy finds herself trapped in a freezing ‘safe house’, desperately trying to extricate herself from Samantha’s toxic web.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emmy believes she is finally free of Samantha, but she unwittingly helps her to pull yet another con in Canada. A few years later, French backpacker Lucie meets Samantha in Sydney, where she convinces Lucie to carry out a series of “phone pranks”. But this is no joke. Lucie is suddenly implicated in a child kidnapping case. 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.

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.

A distressed 14-year-old is found on the streets of Dublin, believed to be the victim of sex trafficking. Police spend weeks searching for her family, before discovering she’s not a child. She is 25-year-old Australian Samantha Azzopardi, a serial con woman. Two years earlier in Perth, Western Australia, Russian gymnast Emily Sciberras befriends teenager Hope and convinces Hope’s family to adopt her. Hope thinks she has found the sister she always wanted. But she’s wrong. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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.