#7 - Jho Low
Born to a wealthy Malaysian family, in 1981, Jho Low began making connections with powerful
individuals, from a very young age, after being sent to the elite Harrow School in London
to complete his pre-college education. The aspiring businessman then attended the University
of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. While there, he garnered a reputation as an avid partier and
was given the nickname “The Asian Great Gatsby”. It stemmed from his propensity to regularly spend
thousands of dollars on elaborate social gatherings at some of the area’s most fashionable
venues. After graduating from Wharton, Low set out to use the connections he’d forged with
influential business figures to make a name for himself in the investment world. He ultimately
partnered with Malaysia’s new prime minister, whose step son he’d befriended while attending
the Harrow School. Low took control of 1MDB, a strategic development company owned by the
Malaysian Ministry of Finance. The prestigious position gave him access to seemingly unlimited
financial resources and he soon resumed his habit of throwing lavish parties, which were
bankrolled by 1MDB. Low became famous for his glamorous social functions, which were attended
by celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Megan Fox and Paris Hilton. It would later emerge that
Low had actually paid many of the high-profile figures hundreds of thousands of dollars to make
appearances at his parties. Federal investigators eventually delved into 1MDB’s financial dealings,
whereupon they discovered that the company had embezzled billions of dollars
that were raised for fraudulent investment projects. As a result, Low faced money laundering
charges in Malaysia and the United States. He subsequently became a fugitive from justice and,
as of the latest updates on the matter, was believed to be residing somewhere in China.
#6 - Melissa Caddick
On November the 12th of 2020, Australian financial advisor Melissa Caddick went missing,
after she’d become the focus of a Securities & Investments Commission investigation. The day
prior to her disappearance, the 49-year-old’s New South Wales residence had been stormed by
federal agents, following accusations that she’d stolen approximately $30 million from
investors in her financial services business. Caddick’s own friends and family members were
also determined to have fallen prey to her cons. Subsequent reports detailed how, in 2017,
the woman had encouraged her mother and father to move. They reportedly gave their daughter $1
million to purchase a penthouse for them, but she instead used the money to buy an
expensive diamond ring and help further fund her luxurious lifestyle. The Federal Court
of Australia eventually discovered that Caddick’s financial advisory practice served as an elaborate
front for a Ponzi scheme. She’d actually used the proceeds from her fraudulent investments
to buy multiple houses, high-end vehicles, and designer clothing. Following her disappearance,
there was widespread speculation as to Caddick’s possible whereabouts. Finally, in February of
2021, human remains that had been found off the coast of New South Wales were confirmed
as Caddick's through DNA testing. A two-week inquest into the specific circumstances of
Caddick’s sudden disappearance and presumed death was scheduled to take place in September of 2022.
#5 - Mark Acklom
In 2012, Englishwoman Carolyn Woods, aged 61, believed she was in a committed relationship
with a man she knew as Mark Conway. He’d claimed to be a wealthy Swiss banker and MI6 agent. He
reportedly promised to marry her, in spite of the fact that he was still living with his wife and
two children in South West England. 45-year-old Conway convinced Woods to lend him roughly $1.1
million, which resulted in the woman draining all of her pension and life savings. Her prospective
paramour subsequently fled the country, leaving Woods in “total financial ruin”. It later
emerged that Conway was actually a prolific con artist named Mark Acklom, who’d previously been
imprisoned in Spain on 3 separate occasions for fraud-related offenses. Acklom used the money he’d
swindled from Woods to fund renovation projects at his various properties, purchase a Porsche,
and rent out a Georgian manor in Somerset. The National Crime Agency placed him on their list
of 10 most-wanted fugitives, and a European arrest warrant was issued for him in 2016.
The following year, Acklom was tracked down by the authorities in Geneva, Switzerland, where he was
believed to have been residing with his family. He was ultimately arrested at his luxury apartment in
Zurich before being extradited back to the UK, where he faced fraud charges. In August of 2019,
Acklom was sentenced to 5 years and 8 months in prison following a trial at Bristol Crown Court.
#4 - Kiley White
A mutual friend introduced New Jersey couple Linda and Steve Evans to a woman who claimed
to be suffering from terminal brain cancer, in early June of 2018. Kiley White also reportedly
told the Evans’ that, due to a traumatic family history, she’d been left homeless.
As a gesture of compassion, the couple allowed 26-year-old White to stay with them
at their Egg Harbor Township residence for over a month. During that time, the Evans’ took care
of the young woman, providing her with a bed of her own and regular meals. It was
later described to investigators how White would groan in pain on a nightly basis, and Linda Evans
often massaged her legs to help relieve some of the discomfort brought on by her purported
illness. The couple’s relatives, however, grew increasingly suspicious of White. They reportedly
told them about a woman from Pennsylvania who’d faked a terminal illness and took advantage
of a family who’d agreed to let her spend her final days with them. Local police subsequently
launched an investigation into White’s background, whereupon it was determined that she was, in fact,
the fraudster from Pennsylvania, and had been victimizing the Evans’ with a similar scheme.
To uphold her deception, White had falsified medical records and notes from her doctors,
which she showed to the couple as proof of her looming death. The young woman would leave her
newfound home almost every day, supposedly to visit a hospital in Philadelphia. However, it
emerged that she’d actually been spending her time babysitting and working at a local restaurant.
Linda and Steve had reportedly spent nearly $1,000 on White during her extended stay,
and she was consequently charged with theft by deception and harassment.
#3 - Davion Sandifer
In 2021, Houston police identified an individual believed to be the mastermind behind a series of
scams that had victimized local residents. On July the 20th, Davion Sandifer was arrested and charged
with five fraud-related counts. Court documents detailed how the 21-year-old had uploaded a fake
job posting on LinkedIn for a director of security position at the Genesis Charitable Foundation. An
unsuspecting man ended up applying for the job, but, as it turned out, the foundation was actually
Sandifer’s illegitimate charity, which he regularly used to collect donations under
false pretenses. Believing himself to have landed a real job, the victim provided sensitive personal
information to Sandifer. The con artist then used the information to apply for a loan, lease an
apartment, and open multiple bank accounts. In a separate case from earlier in the year, Sandifer
had allegedly hacked into a woman’s social media accounts to ask her friends for money. He was
also accused of creating online dating profiles with her name and photograph. Upon his arrest,
it emerged that Sandifer had also been convicted in another fraud case while he was a student
at Briar Cliff University in Iowa. The young man was released on bond in September of 2021 but,
within a week, he’d already swindled two more victims out of $80,000 in order to bail his lover
out of jail. As of the latest updates on the case, Sandifer was still wanted by the authorities.
Today’s topic was requested by Mya Daniels. If you have any other topics you’d like to learn about,
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#2 - Anthony Gignac
In 2017, a man who presented himself as Prince Khalid Bin Al-Saud of the Saudi royal family
began negotiating with real estate developers about a potential $400 million investment in an
upscale Miami Beach hotel. Khalid, who reportedly referred to himself as “prince” and “sultan”,
led a lavish lifestyle that convinced his prospective business partners that
his supposed royal status was legitimate. He wore expensive jewelry, owned multiple luxury vehicles,
and resided in a penthouse apartment on Miami’s affluent Fisher Island. One of Khalid’s partners,
a wealthy real estate mogul named Jeffrey Soffer, began to grow suspicious of the self-proclaimed
Prince. Khalid’s hubris consisted of Soffer witnessing him eat bacon and other pork products,
which is in clear violation of fundamental Muslim doctrine. This struck Soffer as more than
a little odd given that Khalid had claimed to be a royal from the country where Islam originated.
The real estate developer subsequently hired a private investigator to look into Khalid’s past,
which then led to an official FBI probe into the purported Prince’s activities. It ultimately
emerged that Khalid had fabricated his royal identity, and that he was actually Anthony Gignac,
a Colombian-born scam artist. In total, Gignac had reportedly swindled his investors out of
$8 million, which he used to fund his indulgent lifestyle. The fraudster had
previously been arrested 11 other times for similar “prince-related schemes”. Gignac pleaded
guilty to fraud charges and, in June of 2019, was sentenced to more than 18 years in prison.
#1 - Glenn Rycroft
In the mid-2000s, Gareth MacDonald, a married father-of-three from Prestatyn, North Wales,
became romantically involved with a former British Airways steward named Glenn Rycroft.
30-year-old MacDonald’s wife eventually found out about his affair, but the couple continued to
live together for the sake of their children. As was detailed in later reports, Rycroft, aged 33,
would regularly treat his lover to expensive gifts and make grand romantic gestures over
the course of their relationship. However, in 2007, MacDonald noticed that Rycroft had
largely stopped paying for things when they went out on dates. Then, MacDonald’s own credit cards
started getting declined, and he began to grow suspicious that Rycroft might be somehow involved.
Upon digging into the particularities of his partner’s background, MacDonald uncovered that
Rycroft had previously been found guilty of swindling more than $250,000 in a fraudulent
investment scheme. While on the verge of learning more about Rycroft’s past misdeeds, MacDonald was
found dead in a Travelodge hotel room, in September of 2007. Investigators ultimately
determined that the man had been beaten to death with a fire extinguisher by Rycroft himself,
who’d sought to keep the unsavory details of his past a secret. In 2009, the conman-turned-killer
was sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 25 years.
Thanks for watching! Would you rather have your identity stolen by a serial killer
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