Chameleon

They were a hot new band and storming up the charts. But something seemed off about Velvet Sundown. Was this the work of AI? When someone behind the band came out denying it, this looked like mystery solved. But this was only the beginning of an internet hoax with many layers.

When one tech founder tweets a warning about a seemingly prolific engineer named Soham Parekh, it sets off an avalanche. Turns out, Soham has been hired and paid by dozens of start-ups, sometimes working at several at once. He dazzled founders with coding tests, then vanished into a fog of excuses.

When the book The Salt Path was published, readers were moved by the story of a couple who, after losing everything, rebuilt their lives through nothing more than determination, their love for one another, and a very long walk. A decade later, journalist Chloe Hadjimatheou begins to pull at a thread—and what unravels is a much darker and more complicated tale.

When Liberty German and Abigail Williams, two young girls from a small Indiana town, tragically lost their lives in February 2017, a nationwide manhunt ensued for the “man on the bridge.” After a five-year investigation, a suspect was finally arrested. Brandi Churchwell, host of 13th Juror, traces the long, difficult path to answers, the arrest of Richard Allen, and how the prosecution assembled its case.

Colton Harris-Moore was just a teenager when he began breaking into homes across the Pacific Northwest. But soon, he was stealing cars, boats... and then planes. This is the unbelievable true story of a kid outrunning the cops to become one of the first folk heroes of the internet age.

A gifted, mysterious young man with a tragic past and talent for long-distance running is admitted to Princeton. He dazzles everyone from admissions officers to elite dinner clubs. But behind the alias “Alexi Santana” was James Hogue, a serial imposter who had left a long trail of lies in his wake. This week, the extraordinary story of the man who scammed his way into the Ivy League—and kept going.

He dated a Hollywood princess and claimed to be the Vatican’s man in America. But Raffaello Follieri wasn’t all he appeared to be. He convinced some of the world’s richest people to hand over millions — before it all came crashing down. How did a charming Italian from a small town in Puglia rise to the top? Now, following deportation, is he rising again?

Introducing Chameleon. A new weekly show about scammers, con artists, and imposters hosted by Josh Dean. Every week, a new twisty, jaw-dropping story about someone, somewhere, pretending to be something they are not. From Campside Media and Audiochuck. Launching November 13th wherever you get your podcasts.

Are you obsessed with cons, frauds, and imposters? Well, then, Chameleon is the show for you. Every week, veteran journalist Josh Dean (co-creator and host of The Clearing, Hooked, and White Devil) takes you inside an incredible, stranger-than-fiction story about someone — or some people — pretending to be something they aren’t. Coming this November, your new weekly true crime obsession, from Campside Media and Audiochuck.