Hype Audiobook By Gabrielle Bluestone cover art

Hype

How Scammers, Grifters, and Con Artists Are Taking Over the Internet—and Why We're Following

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Hype

By: Gabrielle Bluestone
Narrated by: Eileen Stevens
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From former Vice journalist and executive producer of hit Netflix documentary Fyre comes an eye-opening look at the con artists, grifters, and snake-oil salesmen of the digital age - and why we can’t stop falling for them.

We live in an age where scams are the new normal. A charismatic entrepreneur sells thousands of tickets to a festival that never happened. Respected investors pour millions into a start-up centered around fake blood tests. Reviewers and celebrities flock to London’s top-rated restaurant that’s little more than a backyard shed. These unsettling stories of today’s viral grifters have risen to fame and hit the front-page headlines, yet the curious conundrum remains: Why do these scams happen?

Drawing from scientific research, marketing campaigns, and exclusive documents and interviews, former Vice reporter Gabrielle Bluestone delves into the irresistible hype that fuels our social-media ecosystem, whether it’s from the trusted influencers who peddled Fyre or the consumer reviews that sold Juicero. A cultural examination that is as revelatory as it is relevant, Hype pulls back the curtain on the manipulation game behind the never-ending scam season - and how we as consumers can stop getting played.

©2021 Gabrielle Bluestone (P)2021 Harlequin Enterprises, Limited Con Artists, Hoaxes & Deceptions Entertainment & Celebrities Popular Culture Social Sciences True Crime

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Great read/listen! Enough that I thought of getting the actual book :) I can’t wait to listen again and learn about human psychology!! Humans will humans, that’s for sure!

Will Listen to again!

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This book should be required reading for anyone with a wifi connection. It’s wild How much the line has blurred between fraudster and business mogul.

So important

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In a culture of followers, likes and vanity metrics - it can be confusing to determine what is real versus postured. This book unwraps the attractive foil off of those looking to foil us.

Wildly Entertaining and Informative

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The narrator does a good job, but the book is boring and pointless and a lot of the “cons” the author discusses are petty and uninteresting.

Boring and pointless

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This text repeatedly (not to mention the redundancy of this book) talks about the disappearance of facts in the current social climate. Unfortunately, the author also makes claims (denoting them as facts) and never provides verifiable support for her own “facts”. This could be a very interesting topic if the “story” showed extensive research into these cons. Good topic idea poorly executed.

Facts…?

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