"The lengths young people will go to for fame, fortune, and power."
That is the tag line of this documentary series on HBOMax and that is exactly what each segment delivers. You could easily rename this series "The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions", because in reviewing this series, we are not talking about dumb young people. We are looking at the brightest young minds, the brightest potential/talent, etc. Succumb to ... greed.
I am sure young people are watching this and getting angrier by the minute at how these people are portrayed thinking "how dare they make us look like this!!" They're not making YOU look like this. They are telling you real stories of what these young people did to con - some inadvertently, some straight out. This documentary series shows is how they went over the top, this is how they thought they were smarter than the average young OR older person, and many are re-telling their own stories in this as to what they did. Of course, some did not when asked to participate in their segments.
For example, one segment goes over the "WeWork" dive, and I had already seen a better full-length documentary on it. This smaller documentary talks to more of the employees who were there and their side of the experiences while working. That was a more intimate perspective of the situation.
Most segments are about the collection of investments that turned into Ponzi-schemes. A few were on pretending to be someone they were not. There is one on a very young person re-inventing himself into a billionaire to an exclusive travel group, and being smart enough to fool them all into investing into his fake background(s).
The ones I liked -- was about the young man who threw parties/raves. At first I watched wondering what the heck is he doing wrong? He was an enterprising young man doing what I thought was getting into a niche that was fantastic. What went wrong?! Greed. Inexperience. Working with others who were taking advantage of his youth and the two things aforementioned.
The other was a scheme as old as time - using Hollywood to lure young people in, using a famous name to do so, doing it in a foreign Country, and bilking them out of their money and talents. This happens to older people too - make no mistake, but when younger people are targeted it's a cautionary tale. And while this happened to young people recently, it has happened to young people for DECADES.
Make no mistake, these schemes are as old as time. Older people get caught, scammed and disgraced as well, but this documentary series isn't focusing on them, it's the young ones. It isn't out there to say "all young people are stupid" or "scammers", it's out there just like all other stories: cautionary tales.
This is a good documentary series on cons. HBOMax did a good job in bringing these cases to light in this series. It can be an educational one for those who want to know. Usually ones who scuff at this, are the ones that will wish they had paid attention now given a chance to retell these tales. Fraudsters come in all ages, shapes, sizes, ethnicities, etc.
This is NOT an investigative journalism series, these folks have already been caught, some have gone to jail, some are just now in 2020 starting to serve their sentences. You do see that the justice system works, sometimes slow, but it works albeit someone old pulling a con or young.
That is the tag line of this documentary series on HBOMax and that is exactly what each segment delivers. You could easily rename this series "The Road to Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions", because in reviewing this series, we are not talking about dumb young people. We are looking at the brightest young minds, the brightest potential/talent, etc. Succumb to ... greed.
I am sure young people are watching this and getting angrier by the minute at how these people are portrayed thinking "how dare they make us look like this!!" They're not making YOU look like this. They are telling you real stories of what these young people did to con - some inadvertently, some straight out. This documentary series shows is how they went over the top, this is how they thought they were smarter than the average young OR older person, and many are re-telling their own stories in this as to what they did. Of course, some did not when asked to participate in their segments.
For example, one segment goes over the "WeWork" dive, and I had already seen a better full-length documentary on it. This smaller documentary talks to more of the employees who were there and their side of the experiences while working. That was a more intimate perspective of the situation.
Most segments are about the collection of investments that turned into Ponzi-schemes. A few were on pretending to be someone they were not. There is one on a very young person re-inventing himself into a billionaire to an exclusive travel group, and being smart enough to fool them all into investing into his fake background(s).
The ones I liked -- was about the young man who threw parties/raves. At first I watched wondering what the heck is he doing wrong? He was an enterprising young man doing what I thought was getting into a niche that was fantastic. What went wrong?! Greed. Inexperience. Working with others who were taking advantage of his youth and the two things aforementioned.
The other was a scheme as old as time - using Hollywood to lure young people in, using a famous name to do so, doing it in a foreign Country, and bilking them out of their money and talents. This happens to older people too - make no mistake, but when younger people are targeted it's a cautionary tale. And while this happened to young people recently, it has happened to young people for DECADES.
Make no mistake, these schemes are as old as time. Older people get caught, scammed and disgraced as well, but this documentary series isn't focusing on them, it's the young ones. It isn't out there to say "all young people are stupid" or "scammers", it's out there just like all other stories: cautionary tales.
This is a good documentary series on cons. HBOMax did a good job in bringing these cases to light in this series. It can be an educational one for those who want to know. Usually ones who scuff at this, are the ones that will wish they had paid attention now given a chance to retell these tales. Fraudsters come in all ages, shapes, sizes, ethnicities, etc.
This is NOT an investigative journalism series, these folks have already been caught, some have gone to jail, some are just now in 2020 starting to serve their sentences. You do see that the justice system works, sometimes slow, but it works albeit someone old pulling a con or young.
