Love Fraud

The set up for this show seemed so juicy. The delivery left a lot of unanswered questions. This wouldn't even qualify for a full "Dateline" show. "48 Hours" wouldn't waste their time. The producers need to go into some other business. They're not good at this. The guy was just not that interesting, once you took a closer look.

Being from KC I think added something to this because I knew many of the places they went I've been to one of the bars they were doing karaoke and it's basically a meat market so it's not surprising he chose a place like it to pull his con. One of the women featured works with one of my friends and I've been out drinking with them. She seemed cool and level headed so I was shocked when she popped up on here. Which is what brings me to the point of this series. This can happen to people you would never expect that it could. This guy knew what he was doing by how and who to play. People will think these women are stupid, but we never know what a person has been through. People in abusive relationships probably would be enamored with some guy that treats them like they're everything. You'll see his targets all had low self-esteem or was desperate for companionship and he was a white knight that rode in to their life which he ended up exploiting their weakness and taking everything he could. All of this I found interesting. Now where I wasn't feeling this doc? Carla! Oh boy what was this? You know those people that are all talk and you can just tell? I've been in her company before and this one almost made me fall off the couch when she first came on the screen. Her telling these women to get on farmers only made me LOL. You ever been on there? Have some drinks with some friends and scroll through it. You'll thank me. She also talked about how in the Ozarks they don't disrespect women and went on this rant about how he would disappear if he did that to a woman down there. Rural areas are not immune to abuse or any of societies problems. They didn't use the Ozarks for the setting of the show Ozark for no reason. I party down there. I know what goes on from party Cove all the way back in the deepest parts of the woods. This could've been so much more if you just take her out. This show wanted this B.A. to be this hero, but instead they got something that was cartoonish. Anyways these con artists destroy people lives and get caught and they get a slap on the wrist. There needs to be more of these so people see it and know when they're being played, but no more Carlas. She almost made me shut it off. It's a 8 or 9 without her, but with her it's a 2-4. The 4 is the times she was so outrageous that she made me laugh with her BS.

Intriguing story that would've been more captivating if it were two or three episodes instead of four. A lot of thumb-twiddling through useless animation and silence. Seriously. Don't try to stretch it out like the Rose Ceremonies of the Bachelor.

A rare doc series in which the perpetrator is stalked, filmed live .... AND gives an interview! Lots of interviews from interesting women amazingly willing to tell their story. You can hear the producers' voices at times being honest and it's a pretty cool reveal of braving the delicate layers of people's private lives. Starts out slow and has some creative coverage in places where they had to cover audio and didn't have picture etc. Picks up in Ep 2 and definitely by 3. Editing is fantastic giving suspense and with the treatment of interviews showing personality. Graphics beautifully intertwine character from old photos. And best of all a lesson for everyone about con artists!

"Love Fraud" (2020 release; 4 episodes of about 50-55 min. each) is a TV documentary mini-series about a group of women in the Kansas City area who have been swindled by a con-man, and are now out for revenge. As Episode 1 opens, we hear a telephone message from some guy: "I want to be wanted. You just gotta trust me." We are in "The suburbs of Kansas City" and are introduced to Tracy, who tells her too-good-to-be-true story of meeting a guy on-line and hitting it off when they meet up. In fact, she is swept off of her feet, and they get engaged. We then meet Ella, and later Sabrina, who have remarkably similar stories. One day, Tracy's daughter finds a blog where this guy is exposed as a con-man and a fraud. Then yet more women come forward, and slowly but surely they decide that something needs to be done. For starters, they engage a woman bounty hunter to track down this guy...

Couple of comments: this is the latest documentary written, produced and directed by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady, veterans in the genre ("12th & Delaware", among many others). Here they bring us the unbelievable but true story of how one guy manages to prey upon and then swindle woman after woman after woman, all in the Kansas City area. It immediately raises so many questions: how exactly did he do this? where were the Kansas City authorities in all this? and, correlating, why hasn't this guy been put behind bars? Your heart goes out to these unsuspecting women (hard to tell how many exactly, but at least a dozen, likely more), all of which fall for this guy, one after another, getting engaged and/or married. It just blows the mind how all of this is possible. It will be interesting to see how all of this will unfold in the remaining episodes. The bounty hunter is one tough cookie who will not be messed with (when she hears what has been happening, she immediately agrees to help these women, pro bono no less.

"Love Fraud" premiered this weekend on Showtime and Episode 1 is now available on Showtime On Demand and other streaming services. New episodes air on Sunday evenings at 9 pm Eastern. If you are interested in a good true crime story and/or matters of the lonely heart's club band, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.

*UPDATE* 9/21/20 I watched the 4th and last episode this weekend. This is quite the mini-series. The last episode stands out as it contains an extensive interview with the con-man himself. You can't make this stuff up!