20 Of The Best Scam Documentaries To Keep You Aware And Informed

Scams are almost inevitable but these documentaries tell us what's really going on with them.

Daphnie

• Published in Film & TV
• May 29, 2022

Scams are something that many of us have heard of and that all of us find extremely annoying. From scam calls to those trying to scam for personal information to manipulating scammers, it's unfortunately, a common thing we deal with in today's time.

The good thing is that filmmakers are on top of explaining some of the craziest scams there have been so that you know what red flags to look for. Some of these documentaries feature specific cases surrounding the scammer themselves, while others go through a broad type of scammer you might encounter.

Some documentaries are more dramatized and give a storyline to help you imagine a situation like that, but either way, these documentaries can be helpful and entertaining. Some of the featured documentaries are "LulaRich," "Sour Grapes," and "Inventing Anna."

There's really something out there for everyone because these documentaries go through many different categories. Get ready to take some notes so you have new documentaries to watch this summer because we've got 20 different documentaries to tell you about.

You can find most of these on HBO, Netflix, or Hulu. Here's a list of the 20 best scam documentaries to keep you informed, aware, and entertained.

1. "Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened"

This Netflix documentary is based on the Fyre Festival that was coordinated by rapper Ja Rule and Fyre Media founder Billy McFarland. Influencers paid up to $12,000 per ticket for a festival that was nothing like how they expected.

The duo faced lawsuits from investors and attendees.

2. "Fyre Fraud"

"Fyre Fraud" is about the same Fyre Festival scandal, but this one is Hulu's version of the documentary.

3. "The Inventor: Out For Blood In Silicon Valley"

This documentary is about Elizabeth Holmes. There's also other documentaries out there on this story and her company Theranos.

4. "Author: The JT LeRoy Story"

This particular documentary is about the author that never was. Savahha Knoop was the one behind all of this. The documentary shows how things turned out for her and the real author.

5."Dirty Money"

This series documentary goes through many different cases of where "Dirty Money" was seen, including drug cartels, shady deals with former presidents, and more.

6. "Sour Grapes"

"Sour Grapes" is a documentary about a wine company that was ripping off their buyers by selling cheap wines marketed as very expensive wines and charging an excessive amount of money for them.

7. "The Woman Who Wasn't There"

This is one of the biggest public lies that has surfaced. Tania Head claimed to be a survivor of 9/11, but upon further investigation she had everyone fooled as she was never even there.

8. "The Honest Liar"

James Randi learned all he could about magic and being an escape artist which then helped him to expose fake healers, psychics, and more.

9. "The Imposter"

"The Imposter" is a documentary about Frédéric Bourdin who pretended to be a missing 13-year-old boy and went to the family of the missing boy to convince them that he was him.

10. "Icarus"

"Icarus" is a documentary that looks into the hard history and very prominent issue of illegal doping in sports.

11. "McMillions"

"McMillions" is a documentary about the biggest scam that was done using the McDonald's Monopoly game. It goes into the story of Uncle Jerry and what he did to scam people which caused the end of the monopoly McDonald's era.

12. "The Puppet Master: Hunting The Ultimate Conman"

This documentary is about Robert Hendy-Freegard and his story which consisted of him conning women by getting into relationships with them just to steal their money.

13. "Bad Vegan"

"Bad Vegan" is about Sarma Melngailis who was a vegan restaurant owner whose husband drove her restaurant to the ground. When that happened, she ended up stealing and lying, which resulted in her career tanking and her employees never getting paid.

14. "Trust No One: The Hunt For The Crypto King"

Gerry Cotten is the main aspect in this film as he was a conman who was suspected of stealing millions from people who invested money into his cryptocurrency exchange program.

15. "WeWork: The Making And Breaking Of a $47 Billion Unicorn"

WeWork was a company that had many investors behind it that put in billions, but the business didn't have a proper withstanding plan and therefore lost billions in the downfall.

16. "LuLaRich"

This documentary stems from the clothing company LuLaRue which was convicted of using a pyramid scheme in order to get women to both buy and promote their clothes.

17. "Operation Varsity Blues"

This documentary was one many of us should remember happening. It stems around the event of wealthy families, such as those of Lori Loughlin, securing a spot in elite universities by buying them in.

18. "The Tinder Swindler"

This new documentary is based on a man named Shimon Hayut who got into romantic relationships with women and then would tell them wild stories about why he needed money from them. He conned many women out of millions.

19. "Art And Craft"

"Art And Craft" is a documentary about an artist who gifted famous works, but turns out all his donations were completely forged.

20. "Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art"

This documentary is about the biggest art scam in US history which was about the Knoedler Gallery which sold millions worth of fake art.

These documentaries are actually really wild and some of these stories are absolutely bonkers. It's crazy that these types of scams are way more common than we think.

It's very difficult to imagine some of these situations, but it's always best to be prepared and know the red flag signs of a scammer.

Daphnie