The Sunday Session with Francesca RudkinThe Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

David Fisher: NZ Herald journalist tackles decades-long catfishing scheme in new podcast

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The NZ Herald’s original true crime podcast, Chasing Ghosts, is back to explore the notorious decades-long catfishing scheme conducted by one New Zealand woman.

In April 2011, a woman was found to have tricked dozens of teenage boys and young men across Christchurch with fake profiles - into starting romantic relationships online.

The perpetrator, Natalia Burgess, was eventually caught and jailed for two years and two months in 2013 - but  journalist David Fisher learned that wasn't the end of the story.

He says an email from out of the blue alerted him to a new victim - who discovered Burgess had taken her likeness to resume her catfishing after she was released from prison. 

"As journalists, we have to check, we have to verify everything that we do. While I considered it was a possibility, I kept an open mind until I gathered the evidence. The evidence was unequivocal - it was most definitely Natalia Burgess at it again."

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