u/PathToAutonomy

I try to orient my newsletter around topics when I can (today is technology), and it got me thinking about my own favorite topics to read.

Earlier this week, I shared my favorite scam/fraud stories (thanks for everyone who shared their favorites and reposted the list!), and I keep coming back to those because it is so fascinating to read some of the obvious red flags people just ignore. In the same vein, I love investigations into cults; especially when its an investigation into businesses secretly run by cults! (obligatory story tax below).

• OneZero: Inside the Social Media Cult That Convinces Young People to Give Up Everything
• Texas Monthly: Sinners in the Hands
• NYT (Gift Link): Where ‘Seinfeld,’ a $120,000 Chandelier and a Mysterious Church Converge

Anywho, mostly just interested in hearing from you all. What is your favorite genre, and, if you have it, what's your favorite story in that genre?

Today's edition of Lunch Break Reads covers some of my favorite scam/fraud stories, but I like to keep the newsletter to four stories that you could read during lunch.

There are too many of these stories to fit. So, in that vein, here are some more favorites that were not featured:

• [2024] The Cut (Archive Link): The Day I Put $50,000 in a Shoe Box and Handed It to a Stranger - I cannot believe this story came out two years ago. I still suggest it to people for the absurdity of it. Charlotte Cowles lost $50,000 in a sophisticated phone scam on Halloween, despite considering herself rational and savvy about money. Scammers posing as Amazon, FTC, and CIA agents built an elaborate fake case against her involving drug trafficking and identity theft, keeping her on the phone for five hours and leveraging fear for her toddler's safety to override her judgment.
• [2020] GQ (Archive Link): When a Psychic Reading Costs You $740,000 - A woman named Ruth was scammed out of $740,000 by a New York psychic named "Zoe" who exploited her emotional vulnerability during a painful divorce, convincing her to buy gold and fund increasingly expensive "spiritual protection" through years of psychological manipulation.
• [2021] WIRED (Archive Link): The Lion, the Polygamist, and the Biofuel Scam - A polygamist from a breakaway Mormon sect named Jacob Kingston teamed up with a flashy Armenian-American fuel tycoon named Lev Dermen to defraud the federal government of over $500 million by fabricating paperwork for biodiesel that was never produced, exploiting generous government subsidies meant to encourage biofuel production.

Would love to see some more in this genre if you have a standout favorite!