SCAM

We look at the rich tradition of cults buying up land across the world – the occasional successes and the many, often bizarre, dangerous and sometimes fatal, failures.

“Stealing from the ultra-rich is not a sin,” says the infamous thief Vincenzo Pipino who stole gold, art and jewels worth millions and shared his profits with the poor.

From the Black Axe Gang performing romance scams on lonely singletons to fake crypto hustlers in South Korea, fraud is expanding at an alarming rate.

Seung-Woo Yang entered the universe of the Korean Yakuza in his teens. A personal tragedy made him start photographing the world, to cement his memories with his friends.

Behind every scam call is a scammer. Some feel no guilt, but some know they’re doing the wrong thing. We speak to a scammer turned savior, to learn why he swapped sides.

Digital ad guru Kenny Hyder wrote clickbait articles as a fake blogger, "Rachel Brewson", but it all fell apart when Rachel's article about dating a Republican went viral.

VICE’s Sydney Lima meets two notorious art forgers who created 1000s of fake paintings during their careers. She takes a fake to a forensic lab. Will it fool the expert?

Frédéric Bourdin is a serial impostor. Beginning his impersonations as a child, he’s assumed around 500 false identities – three of them were missing teenagers.

Not many thieves end up on Interpol’s most wanted list, but Mark Blaney did. He told us about his years as a jewellery thief across Europe.

What seemed like the career opportunity of a lifetime turned into a dangerous situation.

Saqib Mumtaz couldn’t resist one last audacious crime and it came in the form of a $2 million dollar jewellery heist whilst intimidating the Prince of Brunei.

It was a scam based on extortion... and emotion.