Swindled

Swindled is an American true crime podcast written and hosted by an anonymous man that uses the pseudonym "A Concerned Citizen". The scripted series explores the world of white-collar crime, con artists, and corporate greed.

Production
In a Q&A with BBC News, the anonymous host, a former government worker with a background in graphic design and audio production, claimed the inception of the podcast was motivated by the immorality of a "capitalistic culture". According to the Tampa Bay Times, "A Concerned Citizen" created Swindled after failing to find an existing podcast on similar topics. The host explained to MEL Magazine that the underlying theme in all of the episodes is greed and a "social culture that values getting rich as quick as possible."

Each episode begins with a prelude story to the main subject, followed by the theme music consisting of stringed and brass instruments, and then a structured narrative interspersed with archival audio, suspenseful scoring, and dry humor.

In addition to the writing, research, and audio production, "A Concerned Citizen" creates all of the visual artwork for the podcast. The show's music is written and performed by multi-instrumentalist Trevor Harte Howard using the moniker "Deformr".

Since its inception, Swindled has remained independent of podcasting networks. The podcast's advertising sales are supported by AdLarge Media based in New York, New York.

Reception
The show has received positive reviews from critics. Vulture named the series one of the "52 Great True-Crime Podcasts [of] the post-Serial boom". The Star Tribune named the series one of its "10 must-listen true crime podcasts" in June 2018. In August that year, Digital Trends included the series on its list of best true crime podcasts. The Guardian also selected the series as its podcast "pick of the week" for the week of September 9, 2018 and WVXU featured the episode "The Saint" on its Start Hear program in November 2020. In January 2021, Canadian culture writer Scaachi Koul featured Swindled in her podcast picks for CBC Radio.

Swindled has charted in the Top 100 podcasts in 5 countries, with peak ranking positions of the podcast including: Australia (18), Canada (52), Germany (46), United Kingdom (73), and United States (52).

In July 2018, true crime podcast Crime Junkie adopted Swindled's episode "The Contraceptive," covering the Dalkon Shield. In a profile of Crime Junkie host Ashley Flowers, Laura Barcella of Rolling Stone magazine wrote about the episode: "Flowers is at her best when dissecting complicated cases that stink of larger cover-ups and corruption."

A German translation of the series titled Schmutzige Geschäfte launched on November 19, 2018. A Danish translation titled Svindlerne subsequently followed in 2020.

Accolades

 * Listed as #10 in "Top Subscriptions" on Apple Podcasts' Best of 2021
 * Winner in the 2019 Discover Pods Awards for "Best True Crime Podcast"
 * Runner-up in the 2019 Discover Pods Awards for "Best Overall Podcast"
 * Runner-up in the 2018 Discover Pods Awards for "Best True Crime Podcast"
 * Finalist in the 2018 Discover Pods Awards for "Best New Podcast"