My Friend the Scammer

In partnership with

Hi 👋 

Welcome back to The Lazy Reader, where we read some of the best longform journalism from across the Web ✨

Is anyone else here doing the daily Minute Cryptic puzzles? I recently discovered those and have been extremely hooked. I’ve always been a fan of word puzzles but it’s been so long since I seriously did any. These cryptic ones are forcing me to flex some brain muscles that I haven’t moved in years.

Anyway, if you missed last week’s email, here are some few standout picks:

• What happens when overseas mercenaries come home?

• Wealthy whiners.

• Behind the scenes of hedgehog Instagram.

As always, please let me know what you think of the list this week by voting in the poll below.

Happy reading and see you again next Monday!

PS - Thanks again to 1440 Media for sponsoring this week’s newsletter! And thanks to you, dear reader, for considering to click their ad link below. It really helps me keep this thing going.

PPS - Header photo is by Dominik Bindl, Getty Images

There’s something fascinating about these high-profile, high-society fraud stories.

It was painful to read how the writer slowly and naively fell for the lies, but I guess that’s just how being in your 20’s is. There’s a lot of morbid fascination here: Going on these obscenely decadent trips, eating these near-comically fancy meals. No expense spared for the whims of this woman, who says she’s this prodigal princess or whatever—and equally out-of-this world claim.

I’m tempted to say that I’d have been more skeptical than the writer, that I’d have spotted all of these red flags earlier. But that’s the thing about scammers. They’re master manipulators.

Which I guess brings me to the technicalities of the piece: Probably a slight knock on the prose here, but that manipulativeness didn’t really translate into the story. The writer did great at building tension—you never quite know when the other shoe will drop, so to speak—but I felt like it was too myopic. Too much focus on her POV. Which I guess is understandable, given that this is an essay, after all. What I’m trying to say is that the piece would have benefited a bit from some reportage, too.

PS - I don’t usually do this, but I looked up the woman at the center of the scams. She’s on Instagram and she seems not the least bit apologetic.

The Great French Fry Mystery | Toronto Life, Free

This is the type of story that I meant when I said reported essays. I loved this so much. It’s lighthearted and fun and very low-stakes, but the writer doesn’t use that as an excuse to be shallow with his research. And the piece also does an incredible job with the ending—not the most satisfying outcome, I’ll admit, but the execution of it more than makes up for that.

The prose is also top-notch. Casual, but not enough that it sounds like it’s making light of the subject matter. Perfectly matches the feel of the story.

It Happened Here: Remembering One of America’s First Modern School Shootings, 50 Years Later | LitHub, Free

Really smart approach to a modern American tragedy: Looking at the first-ever contemporary case of a school shooting to hopefully glean some lesson that could help address the current crisis. Ultimately, this piece doesn’t go down that path. Instead, it’s content with remembering the shooting, honoring its victims, and moving forward. Then the piece takes a turn for the terrifying.

The Killer With a Car and Job Who's Still in Jail: How Open Prisons Help Offenders | The i Paper, Free

Really interesting. Haven’t heard of open prisons before, but from what this story presents, the concept seems like a really solid and feasible way of challenging our carceral culture, really leaning into the idea of rehabilitation instead of punishment. Of course, there’s the very credible concern of maintaining peace and order. That’s become such a right-wing talking point in recent years that it’s hard to pry legitimate worries from conservative hand-wringing, but it’s definitely worth investing a lot of thought in, especially from the POV of victims. And that’s something I wish this story did more of—give some space to victims.

Content warning: If the title doesn’t give it away yet, this piece tackles some extremely sensitive topics. And as someone who’s read through it and suffered through the triggers, believe me when I say that this story doesn’t hold its punches.

Please, please, please be careful when reading through this.

Much of the emotional heft of this story is because of its structure. It’s written with very little intervention from the author. Instead, it’s much like a direct Q&A interview piece but with many different respondents. The survivors doing most of the talking.

The piece tackles many of the different facets of sexual assault in the U.S. military, and looks at the different, painful ways in which it leaves victims traumatized. It also holds those in power accountable—there is an active effort to suppress the voices of victims as a means to save face, or because servicemen are expected to just suck it up. There’s also outright denial of abuse.

The details here can get really graphic, and the testimonies bare just how heartless the army is. How unwilling it is to help the people holding it up. How there is an urgent and massive need for reform.

The Polar Expedition That Went Berserk | Outside, $

Absolutely crazy story. The expedition at the heart of this piece is over-the-top and actually criminal—and it’s unbelievable how little accountability there is. Especially with how three people died. Speaking of: I feel like not enough focus was paid to these deaths. Like the article just glosses over them. That was a glaring blind spot, in my opinion, and it’s not even immediately clear why this is. Was it lack of material? Likely. Just feels like a badly missed opportunity.

In all fairness, the stories of the men that survived this titular expedition are, indeed, very compelling. One devolves into an ideologue, while the other keeps his trauma and uses it to drive a profound transformation. Definitely a satisfying payoff.

The Knock That Tears Families Apart: ‘They Were at the Door, Telling me he had Accessed Indecent Images of Children’ | The Guardian, Free

Tragic and heart-breaking. But from a technical standpoint, this was excellent. It’s one of the few stories I’ve read that directed its focus beyond the crime and looked at the fallout. In this case, the article shines a light on the families left to pick up the pieces after they discover that their dad had been looking at indecent material of children. Plus points for actually laying heavy on the government for being so inept at victim assistance. I feel like that’s something sorely lacking from these types of stories.

Kind of a shame that this was a bit surface-level—relatively speaking, of course. Would have been great if this had been one of those sprawling, character-driven, well-produced pieces.

All Queens Must Die | The Verge, $

Really fun science story about the quest to remove all invasive species from an island conservation. The piece spends a lot of time dissecting the biology of these critters, the history of the island, and the ingenuity of the eradication methods, but it stays accessible throughout. Never once felt like the discussion was happening over my head.

I will say, though: All conservation stories, to me, feel like they skirt the “why” question. What’s the point? They also tend to gloss over the hubris underlying these types of extreme conservation efforts. Why do we think that, after decimating local ecosystems, we now have the solution to bring them back to a relatively more pristine state? How can we be so sure that we’re not causing more damage, instead? And how does this savior logic hold up when we consider that humans are, for all intents and purposes, the most invasive of all invasive species?

This story tackles these, but only a bit. Or at least, not enough, in my opinion. I wish it dug deeper into these questions.

Looking for unbiased, fact-based news? Join 1440 today.

Join over 4 million Americans who start their day with 1440 – your daily digest for unbiased, fact-centric news. From politics to sports, we cover it all by analyzing over 100 sources. Our concise, 5-minute read lands in your inbox each morning at no cost. Experience news without the noise; let 1440 help you make up your own mind. Sign up now and invite your friends and family to be part of the informed.

Subscribe to 1440 today.

Thanks for reading! Please, please reach out if you have feedback, suggestions, or questions. Alternatively, you can fill out this super quick survey form. I promise it won’t even take five minutes of your time, and it’ll be a HUGE help!

ALSO: I know some of the stories I recommend might be behind paywalls, and maybe I can help you with access to those. Send me a message and let’s see what we can do 😊

Until next Monday! 👋