The Summer of Scam that never ended

EARLY IN THE NEW NETFLIX SERIES APPLE CIDER VINEgar, its star, Kaitlyn Dever, breaks the fourth wall.

- BY JUDY BERMAN

Staring into the camera, she speaks in third person about the real woman she's portraying. "This is a true story based on a lie," she announces. "Some names have been changed to protect the innocent. Belle Gibson has not been paid for the re-creation of her story." Then, suddenly, Dever is Belle again, with a blunt response to Gibson's exclusion from the project: "F-ckers." As any scam aficionado knows, Belle Gibson was an Australian wellness influencer who amassed a huge following-one that would earn her glowing media coverage at home and abroad, as well as a prestigious book deal-during the early-2010s Instagram gold rush. A young, photogenic, and unfeasibly vivacious single mom who claimed to be treating her terminal brain cancer with healthy eating and alternative medicine, she monetized her adoring audience through an app called the Whole Pantry. But before she could become the millennial Gwyneth, it came out that she'd never actually been diagnosed with cancer. Hence Netflix's eagerness to both mine her juicy story and ensure viewers know that, unlike some other scammers who've captured the public imagination, she wasn't compensated for this retelling.

Apple Cider Vinegar, which contrasts Gibson with two genuinely ill young women in her orbit who are searching for miracle cancer cures, comes at the crest of the latest wave of scam content. January saw the premieres of ABC News docuseries Scamanda, about another cancer fantasist, and Scam Goddess, a Freeform show that profiles a different scammer in each episode. Also back in the spotlight, with a memoir titled You'll Never Believe Me, is Kari Ferrell, a colorful small-time crook dubbed the Hipster Grifter by the late-aughts New York press.