About this episode
The episode discusses various historical imposters and fraudsters, culminating in the story of Stephane Bourgoin, a serial killer expert who was exposed as a fraud.
History is loaded with the stories of imposters, fraudsters and outright liars. Princess Caraboo, an Englishwoman who pretended to be a Princess from a fictional island. Frank Abagnale, Jr.- who in his career, impersonated a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer, just to name a few. Victor Lustig, who sold the salvage rights to the Eiffel Tower…twice! And my favorite, from the “gullible file,” David Hampton, con man and robber, who convinced a number of people in the 1980’s that he was the son of actor Sydney Poitier. Subject of the play and movie, “Six degrees of Separation.” But none match the chutzpah of Stephane Bourgoin, the serial killer expert who fooled the world. If it weren’t for “The 4th Eye,” a group of True Crime enthusiasts in Bourgoin’s home country of France, he might be still chugging along today. The group exposed Bourgoin for the dangerous fraud that he was. In 2022, author Lauren Collins wrote, "The Unraveling of an Expert on Serial Killers," for The New Yorker. In August 2024, Bourgoin was the subject of a National Geographic docuseries entitled "Killer Lies." Please join out host, Jim Sulanowski, as he welcomes the producer of “Killer Lies”, Ben…
People in this episode
Host: Jim Sulanowski
Guest: Ben Selkow
Topics covered
- imposters
- fraudsters
- serial killers
- true crime
- deception
- documentary
Keywords
- imposters
- fraud
- true crime
- serial killers
- documentary
- deception
- Bourgoin
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: The 4th Eye, National Geographic
Books & works: Six degrees of Separation, The Unraveling of an Expert on Serial Killers, Killer Lies
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