It’s a swindle
Swindled review
Rating – 
One thing that you can guarantee in life (apart from death and taxes), is that once someone is in a position to make lots of cold, hard, cash, then basic morality usually takes the back seat. In a very, very long train. Whether that be a person figuring out how to cheat a gambling system, or cheat a whole load of poor people, such things as compassion become alien concepts.
So what’s it about?
It’s A Swindle investigates some of the most heinous examples of corruption and arrogance you can imagine. There are tales ranging from rigging competition results and embezzlement, to mass poisonings and actual bodily harm due to negligence.
Each episode examines a different case, and they vary in severity. Some will barely elicit a single care from you, whereas others will make you question whether you have slipped into some alternate reality hellscape.
The stories are brought to life with actual recordings of each case, from radio interviews and adverts to harrowing emergency calls and police reports. This adds a new element to the stories and really grounds them in reality, whether you want them to or not. These are after all real stories about real people.
Is it any good?
I “discovered” this show from one of the podcast subreddits. I put that word in inverted commas, because as the episodes ticked by, I got a feeling of déjà vu. Starting with the Loveland Canal episode, but culminating with the Dalkon Shield, I realised I had listened to this series years ago and completely forgotten about it. Make of that what you will.
My main problem with this podcast is the voice of the “concerned citizen” who narrates the show. His voice is so devoid of any emotion I actually find it hard to concentrate on the stories. That really is the only criticism here though, and one that may be unfair. It gets a bit frustrating when you have to keep rewinding parts of the episode because of (what sounds like) the droning voice of some Gen Z Xanax enthusiast with empathy problems.
There are similar stories to be found in podcasts like The World’s Greatest Con. In fact, I wasn’t sure if I was thinking of that show when I started this one (for the second time). Whilst there is certainly some overlap, this podcast differs enough for you to be able to enjoy both.
Final thoughts
Never underestimate the human desire to make vast amounts of money at any cost. This podcast is so full of such cases, you may well face some kind of existential crisis knowing that these people exist. In fact the main takeaway from this podcast is rage. Rage at how there is seemingly no justice for the majority of these cases, and even when a custodial sentence is handed down it seems paltry for the actual harm done.
Would I recommend this podcast, even though the score is so low? Yes, I would. But please be aware of what you are getting into. There are some pretty harrowing descriptions and the fact that the antagonists can escape justice leaves quite a bitter taste in the mouth.
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