''Love Fraud'' is an American

true crime True crime is a nonfiction literary, podcast, and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people associated with and affected by criminal events. The crimes most commonly include murder; about 40 pe ...

documentary miniseries, directed by

Heidi Ewing Heidi Ewing is an American documentary filmmaker and the co-director of ''Jesus Camp'', '' The Boys of Baraka'', '' 12th & Delaware'', ''DETROPIA'', ''Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You'' (Sundance Film Festival), '' One of Us'' (Toronto ...

and

Rachel Grady Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

, about the hunt for a serial romance scammer. It premiered on August 30, 2020, on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

Production

The filmmakers wanted to make a series about a con artist, but not one that was a cold case, resolved, or well known. They decided on their subject after producer Alex Takats read the blog of a woman who had accused her former husband of fraud. There was an arrest warrant, but his whereabouts were unknown. The filmmakers decided not to be a "fly on the wall", but instead intervene to fund the investigation. The series began filming in December 2017.

Release

The series had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23, 2020. It was initially scheduled to premiere on Showtime on May 8, 2020, but this was delayed to August 30, 2020, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

Subject

The series is a "manhunt", following efforts of private detectives hired by the filmmakers, including bounty hunter Carla Campbell, to find a man from

Lenexa, Kansas Lenexa is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is one of four principal cities of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area and 9th most populated city of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 57,434. It is ...

named Richard Scott Smith. Smith was accused by multiple women, including some he married, of

romance scam A romance scam is a confidence trick involving feigning romantic intentions towards a victim, gaining the victim's affection, and then using that goodwill to get the victim to send money to the scammer under false pretenses or to commit fraud ag ...

s. He is accused of being married at least ten times and to more than one woman at a time, and being accused of using multiple identities. His former partners accused him of using their identities to make purchases and obtain credit, leaving them severely in debt. He was put on probation in 2015 in Polk County, Iowa after being charged with domestic abuse assault. After one former partner went to the police in 2017, he pleaded guilty to

identity theft Identity theft occurs when someone uses another person's personal identifying information, like their name, identifying number, or credit card number, without their permission, to commit fraud or other crimes. The term ''identity theft'' was c ...

and received a 10 month jail sentence, later violating probation. The women each tell their stories of how they met Smith and came to be duped, and the film explores what led Smith to act in these ways. Smith appears on camera in the final episode in "what can most charitably be described as a

dumpster fire "Dumpster fire" is an informal term in the United States used to describe a catastrophically bad situation. It has appeared in metaphorical form as early as 2003, and picked up traction in 2010 in the world of sports. The term was heavily used in ...

of an interview", according to the '' Kansas City Star''.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series holds an approval rating of 92% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Explosive, but never exploitive, Love Fraud tells a thrilling tale of online dating gone terribly wrong with expert precision and a welcome dose of empathy." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the series holds a rating of 77 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Episodes

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Showtime Network programming 2020 American television series debuts 2020 American television series endings 2020s American documentary television series Documentary television series about crime in the United States English-language television shows Showtime (TV network) original programming True crime television series