Fool Me Twice

Fool Me Twice follows the story of a woman who was swindled out of her money by the convincing lies of an online romance scammer. In this podcast her daughter, in an attempt to understand how this could happen, investigates the shady world of catfishing and internet dating.

It seemed that Jules had finally met a man who had his life together. Truman was a successful project manager at a constructi...

Jules is lonely. She’s exhausted all her options for dating in Hong Kong, so when she hears from a friend about the exciting world of online dating, she jumps at the chance to fish from a bigger pool. She meets Truman, and starts chatting with him regularly – he seems like everything she has been looking for.

Excitement starts to build – could this man be the answer to her feelings of loneliness?

Fool Me Twice - A...

Fake online profiles are easy to set up, but perhaps are less easy to spot. After a string of disappointing dating disasters, Jules is becoming entangled in the web of lies that Truman is spinning. She is starry eyed and excited, and so far unable to see the red flags that have begun to show themselves.

Fool Me Twice - A True Crime podcast is based on a memoir of the same name by Jules Hannaford. It is written and directed by Zara ...

The future she is imagining is looking bright. They share the same dreams, values and hopes for their lives together, and Truman is saying all the right things. It’s helpful that she bares her soul in a “getting to know you” questionnaire, which has handed him ammunition to be able to tug on her heartstrings in just the right way. But, is she just another Little Red Riding Hood being led astray by a cunning wolf?

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Jules boards a flight to Manchester, UK. She meets the man who has crafted a complex identity to hook her into a romantic fantasy, and he immediately pulls her into the first phases of his plans to swindle her out of her money. She is blinded by optimism, and misses the red flags of his blatant manipulation and coercion. A rental car, a pawn shop, and a grand plan for their future together.

Fool Me Twice - A True Crime podcast is b...

On the third day of her trip, Jules agrees to help Truman by loaning him some cash so he can retrieve his jewellery from a pawn shop. Once he has the cash, he gets excited and takes his friends out on the town. Truman starts to let his guard down, and the cracks begin to show. Is Truman even his real name? Did he lie about his age?

Jules begins to grapple with the reality she is now beginning to bear witness to, and starts to wonde...

Truman continues to attempt to extricate money from Jules. He takes her to Liverpool, and tells her about an apartment he is buying, and suggests they could get a mortgage together.

The attempts to squeeze money out of her get more and more desperate, and Truman disappears with the rental car that is under Jules’s name. Finally, she begins to see through the fog… has she been falling for a scam all along?

Fool Me Twice...

With a cold, hard dose of reality, Jules has finally realised that she is in danger. She knows that she needs to get out, fast, from this situation that’s dodgy in more ways than one. She needs to get the car back from Truman. He has taken it, but where? Finally, he returns to the hotel and since he now knows any opportunity to further scam her is impossible, he severs connection from her, and he does it violently.

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Back in Hong Kong, she is out, and safe. However, now comes time for reflection, and with that, the gift (or curse) of hindsight. Jules wonders how she could have missed all the signs! There were so many red flags and it’s up to her to figure out how to learn from these mistakes, heal and move forward. We hear from experts in the field to help us piece together the events and the best ways to grow from them.

Fool Me Twice - A...

FINAL EPISODE: We dive a little deeper into the mechanisms of scamming, and hear from a woman whose online dating situation was downright scary. What are some ways we can protect ourselves from the possibility of being scammed? All the experts keep saying that it can happen to anyone. A huge coup as Jules manages to contact a real-life scammer from Ghana, and interviews him to find out about his motives and tactics.

Fool Me Twice -...

On September 2nd, 2010, 24 year-old Michelle O’Connell broke up with her boyfriend, St. Johns County Sheriff's Deputy, Jeremy Banks. Minutes later, she was dead.

The St. Johns Sheriff’'s Office quickly ruled the case a suicide, without examining crucial forensic evidence or interviewing any key witnesses. Other official investigations failed to gain traction.

Her boyfriend, Deputy Jeremy Banks was never charged and is s...

Jenna Shellman from 'Leading With Your Gut' podcast interviews Jules about her romance scam journey and the making of 'Fool Me Twice' podcast. Get some inside information about Truman and the scam, that has not been shared in either her memoir or the podcast...until now.

Listen to 'Leading With Your Gut': https://apple.co/2vbnOL8

Follow Jenna Renee Shellman & Leading With Your Gut on all social media platforms: IG: https:/...

Our true crime podcast ‘Fool Me Twice’ has been nominated for an award for Best Writing in the 24th Annual Webby Awards. This is huge honour and we are very excited.

There is a People's Voice component, where we would love it if you could please take the time to VOTE for our podcast ‘Fool Me Twice’! It would be really incredible to win.

Please click on the link below to vote? You need to sign i...

‘Fool Me Twice’ is a podcast about diamonds. Jules and Zara were approached by a woman in Hong Kong who owns a diamond business, and had an incredibly compelling story to tell, full of twists and turns. Hearing her story, Zara became interested in diamonds themselves, and started doing some digging. This podcast follows the story of that scam, and attempts to unravel some of the shadier aspects of the diamond industry as a whole. W...

A nondescript woman, Tiffany, visits a locally owned diamond business, Ryder Diamonds, seeking a very specific diamond. The owner Sally Ryder, is away on an overseas trip during the transaction and her sales assistant’s broker the deal. Everything goes smoothly and Tiffany buys two 5 carat diamonds. However, not long after this big sale, Sally’s sales girls’ alert her that there is a problem with the payment for t...

We delve deeper into the machinations of the diamond sale and how the transaction seemed above board but then things began to go horribly wrong. Sally returns from her trip, thinking that there was some kind of mistake with the bank and that the issue with the payment should be able to be easily sorted out. Sally begins to communicate with Tiffany to try to solve the problem.

'Fool Me Twice: All About Diamonds'

‘Fool Me Twice...

Tiffany begins to pay back the money bit by bit but things don’t feel right. Sally reports the incident to the police but they don’t seem interested. She decides to hire a Private Investigator to help her to track down Tiffany and find out more about who she really is. We learn about Sally’s background in the diamond industry.

'Fool Me Twice: All About Diamonds'

‘Fool Me Twice’ is a true crime podcast ...

The Private Investigator uncovers Tiffany's criminal history and Sally begins to realise that she is a victim of an elaborate scam. Her lawyer suggests that Sally befriend Tiffany and try to get her to keep making small payments for the diamonds. Sally finds out what Tiffany did with the diamonds and tries to find them. She contacts the GIA and eventually learns that they have one of her diamonds. Sally thinks this is amazing news&...

Sally discovers that there is another diamond store owner who has been scammed by Tiffany. They compare notes and realise that they have both been duped the same way with the same diamond. They need to work out who owns the diamond that the GIA has in its possession. Sally’s lawyer gives her some advice which she later regrets following.

Trigger Warning: This podcast discusses suicide listener discretion is advised.

'Fool Me ...