Television series
The Puppet Master: Hunting the Ultimate Conman
This Netflix docuseries reconstructs the decade-long reign of Robert Freegard, a man who convinced students and lovers he was a secret agent protecting them from IRA assassins — then used that fiction to isolate, control and financially ruin them. Told through his survivors' own testimony, it's less whodunit than howdidhegetawaywithit, and it sits with the psychological wreckage longer than most true-crime documentaries do.
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The Tinder Swindler2022
A modern spin on the same predator playbook — fake identity, fabricated danger, total control of victims' finances and self-belief — told with genuine dread and righteous fury.
But Its slicker, more meme-able tone might feel a touch glossy next to Freegard's story — this one's built for viral outrage as much as reflection.
Don't F**k with Cats: Hunting an Internet Killer2019
A community of amateur detectives obsessively track down a manipulator hiding behind a fabricated persona online — the same slow-dawning horror of realising how deep the lie goes.
But The internet-sleuth structure means less focus on victims' interior lives, and the true crime here escalates into far darker territory than manipulation alone.
Dirty John2018
Christian Slater plays a charming predator who talks his way into a family and slowly dismantles it from inside — dramatised, but cut from the same cloth as a true story.
But It's scripted drama, not documentary, so the queasy reality-check of real victims speaking for themselves is traded for polish and pacing.
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
F for Fake1973
Same fascination with what makes people believe a con and what it costs the teller — but told from inside the deceiver's head rather than his victims'.
Orson Welles turns a real art-forgery scandal into a dizzying essay on lying itself, folding in his own reputation as a hoaxer (War of the Worlds) along the way. Playful, brilliant, and decades ahead of its subject.
But There's no rising outrage or tidy victims here — it's a philosophical prank of a film, not a takedown, and some will find it maddeningly slippery.
More like this (8)
Abducted in Plain Sight2017
A jaw-dropping account of a family that let a manipulator back into their lives again and again — proof that a good enough liar can override every alarm bell a family has.
But The sheer disbelief factor can tip into something close to dark comedy, which some viewers find tonally uncomfortable given what actually happened.
The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley2019
Elizabeth Holmes talked investors, doctors and patients into believing a machine that didn't work — a masterclass in how conviction alone can manufacture trust at scale.
But The victims here are largely institutions and money rather than isolated individuals, so it lacks the intimate, personal devastation of Freegard's story.
Three Identical Strangers2018
Starts as a heart-warming reunion story and turns, methodically, into something far stranger and colder — a documentary that ambushes you the same way its subjects were ambushed.
But The central deception is institutional rather than personal, so it's a cooler, more clinical kind of betrayal than the up-close manipulation here.
Fyre2019
Billy McFarland's talent for selling a lie he couldn't possibly deliver is compulsively watchable — a study in charisma outrunning consequences until it can't anymore.
But It's played more for absurd disbelief and schadenfreude than sympathy, so the human cost lands lighter than the story here.
Wild Wild Country2018
A sprawling, six-hour dive into a real commune's collapse into manipulation, propaganda and crime — showing how one persuasive figure can bend an entire community's reality.
But It's a much longer commitment and a wider lens — more about a movement's unraveling than one predator's grip on individual victims.
LuLaRich2021
The rise of a leggings empire built on manufactured belonging and financial ruin for its believers — a lighter-toned but recognisable cousin of the same control tactics.
But The stakes are money and self-esteem rather than safety or freedom, so it's a much gentler landing than Freegard's story.
Holy Hell2016
The same manipulator's toolkit — charisma, isolation, manufactured intimacy — turned on a family-sized group instead of one victim at a time.
Filmed from inside a cult for decades by one of its own members, this is what total psychological control looks like from someone who lived it and slowly realised he'd been had.
But It's slower and stranger than a hunt for a con man — there's no chase, just the long, quiet unravelling of a lie people wanted to believe.
Catch Me If You Can2002
The same charming-liar-in-a-costume premise, but sold as a crowd-pleaser rather than a cautionary tale — a reminder of how easily a con becomes entertainment.
Spielberg turns a real-life impostor's spree into a breathless, gorgeous caper, all charm and consequence-free thrill, with DiCaprio at his most disarming.
But It's Hollywood forgiveness dressed as biography — the wreckage left behind barely registers, which makes it strange, uneasy company for this story.
People
Production
- Bart LaytonExecutive Producer
- Rebecca NorthExecutive Producer
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The Tinder Swindler, Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives., Love Fraud