The Documentary Podcast Folgen

From pills that resolve chronic pain issues overnight to diet supplements which promise to help shed pounds in days, the internet is awash with adverts making bold - and often outrageous - claims. Some come with a celebrity endorsement, where household names appear to give their personal stamp of approval to a product. But many of these ads are fake, with customers tricked into parting with more money than they ever intended. For Assignment, Athar Ahmad, investigates the global growth of online subscription scams, where customers are unwittingly signed up to schemes which hit them with hidden charges, unexpected monthly fees and products which are made deliberately difficult to cancel. He hears from victims with chronic illnesses desperately searching for a solution to their ailments, who are instead left out of pocket and he speaks to the celebrities furious their names are being used to endorse such products. The programme sheds light on the creation of this global multi-million pound industry, exposing the tools, tricks and technology designed to scam unwitting customers. And Athar travels to Spain in search of answers about one of these schemes, which has left many customers in the UK feeling they’ve been conned. Reporter: Athar Ahmad Producer: Anna Meisel Editor: Carl Johnston (Image: Using a digital tablet with a credit card. Credit: Natee Meepian)

It is 2020. Covid Britain is in lockdown and the world is working from home. In the depths of the deadly pandemic and when people were at their lowest, someone spots an opportunity. This is the story of how people from all over the world were hired to work for a seemingly glamorous and successful design agency - but the whole thing was fake. Who was behind the con? And what on earth were they trying to achieve? Investigative journalist Catrin Nye and her team expose a tangled web of lies, confronting the boss to get to the truth of what really happened.

Outside a war zone, Mexico is one of the most dangerous countries to be a journalist. In 2021, seven journalists were murdered. In the first few weeks of this year alone, the killing of five journalists has prompted an outcry and concern. We hear what it is like when your job is to try and tell stories in a country where four people are killed every hour and where violent crimes fill your news-feeds. For Adrián López Ortiz, the CEO and editor of Noroeste newspaper in the state of Sinaloa, north-western Mexico, it is a long standing problem since he still suffers from injuries during an attack in 2014.