The Best Con Artists & Scams Documentaries

True Crime - 122 free documentaries about con artists & scams.

Start with Counterfeiting Microsoft Windows Restore CDs Landed Me in Prison for a Year (20 min, VICE), then Glitterbomb Trap Catches Phone Scammer (who gets arrested) (23 min, Mark Rober). All 122 documentaries here are free to watch from their makers' official uploads. To read deeper, the top-rated book on con artists & scams is Bad Blood by John Carreyrou.

• Counterfeiting Microsoft Windows Restore CDs Landed Me in Prison for a Year (20 min, VICE)
• Glitterbomb Trap Catches Phone Scammer (who gets arrested) (23 min, Mark Rober)
• India's Thriving Scam Industry: Before You Call Tech Support | Undercover Asia (47 min, CNA Insider)
• The Madoff Affair (54 min, FRONTLINE PBS)
• Crypto Scams | Trafficked with Mariana Van Zeller (44 min, National Geographic)
• The Woman Who Wasn't There (65 min, Real Stories)
• The Art Market is a Scam (And Rich People Run It) (23 min, Wendover Productions)
• Behind Asia's cyber slavery (28 min, DW Documentary)
• Scam City: Jerusalem - The Dark Truth about the Sacred Sites of the Holy City (48 min, Free Documentary)
• How YouTubers Are Fighting Back Against Online Scammers (29 min, Bloomberg Originals)
• Investigating the Online Scam Epidemic | Scammed (83 min, FRONTLINE PBS)
• Facebook Fraud (9 min, Veritasium)
• Beating 5 Scam Arcade Games with Science (18 min, Mark Rober)
• How A Job Scam Turned Me Into A Scammer. I'm Still Seeking Justice (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Innocent Man Scammed And Thrown Into Gambian Prison (43 min, Wonder)
• How Do Beauty Salons Trap You Into Prepaid Packages? Diana Goes Undercover | Talking Point (23 min, CNA Insider)
• How Are Scam Calls Appearing As Local Numbers? | Talking Point (22 min, CNA Insider)
• Inside Southeast Asia's Notorious Scam Hub For China-Linked Syndicates | Insight (45 min, CNA Insider)
• Scam City: London - The Dark Side of England's Capital (46 min, Free Documentary)
• Flying Phone Scam Exposed (so I built a REAL one) (11 min, Mark Rober)
• Broke and Heartbroken | Romance Scams (44 min, ENDEVR)
• Scam City: Amsterdam - Fake Drugs, ATM Scams, Red Light District, Pick Pocketing (48 min, Free Documentary)
• Scam City: Las Vegas - A City with a Seedy Underbelly of Pleasure and Swindlers (48 min, Free Documentary)
• Inside the Mind of The Queen of Cons: Lily Schmidt | Exhibit A (46 min, Real Crime)
• Fakes in the art world - The mystery conman (43 min, DW Documentary)
• Scam City: Prague - Scammers Disguised as Beautiful Girls & Harmless Hawkers (48 min, Free Documentary)
• Scam City: Bogota - Dangerous Drug Renders Victims Helpless to Thieves Requests (48 min, Free Documentary)
• Scam City: Rome - Gritty Underworld that crawls under its thriving Tourist Scene (48 min, Free Documentary)
• The $800 Million Startup That Scammed Its Customers (54 min, Real Stories)
• Public Transport Hijacker Jailed 32 Times for NYC Bus Driver Fraud (90 min, Real Stories)
• How Do You Spot Investment Scams? | Talking Point (24 min, CNA Insider)
• Scam City: Bangkok - Falling for the Gem Scam (48 min, Free Documentary)
• Scam City: Rio de Janeiro - Party Time for Scammers at the World's Biggest Party (48 min, Free Documentary)
• Scam City: New York City - Huge and Dangerous Counterfeit Scams (48 min, Free Documentary)
• Scam City: New Orleans - Organized Crime during Mardi Gras Street Carnival (48 min, Free Documentary)
• Pretending To Be A Forensic Scientist For More Than 20 Years | Conmen Case Files (47 min, Real Crime)
• England's Lord of Fraud: Wolf of the West End (30 min, VICE)
• Scam City: Marrakesh, Morocco - A Maze Without a Guide (48 min, Free Documentary)
• The Perfect 5 Star Hotel Con | Conmen Case Files (47 min, Real Crime)
• Crime Prodigy: The 13-Year-Old Conman | Conmen Case Files (47 min, Real Crime)
• The Femme Fatale Fraudster | Conmen Case Files (46 min, Real Crime)
• Fake Armani, XANAX and MORE | Inside Britain's Black Market (30 min, ENDEVR)
• Scam City: Paris - Pick-up Artists, Pick-Pockets and Slight-of-hand Scams (48 min, Free Documentary)
• Scam City: Barcelona - World's Most Skilled Con Men and Thieves (48 min, Free Documentary)
• How This Crypto Queen Stole $4 Billion and Vanished (53 min, Real Crime)
• "Dr." Paul Bint: The Fake Physician | Conmen Case Files (49 min, Real Crime)
• Fake Beams - Smarter Every Day 186 (12 min, Smarter Every Day)
• How Car Dealerships Scam America (18 min, Wendover Productions)
• Catching Singapore’s Very Own 'Tinder Swindler' | Catching A Scammer (46 min, CNA Insider)
• Life Savings Lost to Fake Lover | Romance Scams (44 min, ENDEVR)
• Despicable Man Pretends To Have Cancer To Scam Friends And Family | Conmen Case Files (52 min, Real Crime)
• Are Supplements A Scam? | The Truth About Vitamins (50 min, Real Stories)
• Why fake accounts dominate Instagram - VPRO documentary (49 min, VPRO Documentary)
• Inside Myanmar's Notorious Scam Centres In Myawaddy (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Confessions of a PsyOps Officer | Fake News in the 70s (68 min, ENDEVR)
• Nationwide Meat Fraud Scheme | Big Little Crimes (86 min, Real Crime)
• The Fake Professor Who Completely Duped His Family | Conmen Case Files (46 min, Real Crime)
• Would You Be Fooled By The Casanova Conman? | Conmen Case Files (47 min, Real Crime)
• Fake Student Caught Lying to Airport Security | Border Force (43 min, Wonder)
• I Found My Face In A Fake Investment Ad. So I Followed The Scam | Talking Point (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Who Are The People Behind Malware Scams? - Part 2/2 | Talking Point (22 min, CNA Insider)
• MLMs: Business Opportunity Or A Scam? | Talking Point (24 min, CNA Insider)
• Fake Homeless: Who's Really Begging on the Streets? (36 min, ENDEVR)
• Scam City: Buenos Aires - Deception & Trickery in the 'Paris of the South' (48 min, Free Documentary)
• Carnival Scam Science (and how to WIN) (11 min, Mark Rober)
• Criminal Masterminds: Billionaire Exposed As A Scammer (57 min, Real Crime)
• Lawyer Marries A Con Artist And Fugitive | Bizarre Murders (45 min, Real Crime)
• Seasoned Conman Pretends To Be A Barrister | Conmen Case Files (47 min, Real Crime)
• Paul Williams: The Psychic Conman (46 min, Real Crime)
• The Man Who Tried To Con The Royal Family | Conmen Case Files (46 min, Real Crime)
• The Real Story Of The Puppet Master | Conmen Case Files (46 min, Real Crime)
• Swindlers Used My Image to Scam Women! (44 min, Real Stories)
• Archeologists Challenge The Holy Nails: Genuine Relic Or Ancient Fake? (52 min, Odyssey)
• This Fake Doctor Gave Healthy People Chemo (94 min, Real Crime)
• Conman Pretends To Be Part Of The Rothschild Family | Conmen Case Files (47 min, Real Crime)
• The Conman Who Faked His Own Death (48 min, Real Crime)
• Inside the Mind of a Con Artist: The Science of Mega Scams | Full Series (202 min, Free Documentary)
• Russell King: The Fake Billionaire Pulled Off The World's Biggest Ever Sports Scam (89 min, Real Stories)
• Exposing The Schemes Of A Spiritual Conman In Indonesia | Catching A Scammer (46 min, CNA Insider)
• The Man That Conned Pro-Athletes And Senior Politicians | Serial Swindlers (28 min, Real Crime)

Top-Rated Books About Con Artists & Scams

1. Bad Blood by John Carreyrou (4.3/5) - View on Amazon
2. Catch Me If You Can by Frank W. Abagnale - View on Amazon
3. The Wizard of Lies by Diana B. Henriques - View on Amazon
4. The Confidence Game by Maria Konnikova - View on Amazon