‘Love Fraud’s’ Victims: How Many Wives Did Richard Scott Smith Have?

The latest Showtime documentary is Love Fraud, which tells the story of over a dozen women who were conned by a man named Richard Scott Smith. They allege that he married them under various aliases, got them to put property or cars in their names, and then took off with the money or property.

Here is what you need to know about the women Smith conned.

The Women Found Each Other On a Blog

Love Fraud (2020) Official Trailer | SHOWTIME Documentary SeriesThe four-part docu-series follows the search for one man, Richard Scott Smith, who over the past 20 years used the internet and his dubious charms to prey upon unsuspecting women in search of love — conning them out of their money and dignity. Ewing and Grady capture the story as it unravels in real time as his victims band together to seek sweet revenge by turning to a bounty hunter when they feel the justice system has failed them. Watch the Series Premiere on Sunday, August 30 at 9/8c only on SHOWTIME. #SHODocs #LoveFraud Subscribe to the SHOWTIME YouTube channel: http://goo.gl/esCMib Don’t have SHOWTIME? Order now: http://s.sho.com/1HbTNpQ Get SHOWTIME merchandise now: http://sho.com/store_yt_showtime Get more SHOWTIME: Follow: https://twitter.com/Showtime Like: https://www.facebook.com/showtime Instagram: https://instagram.com/showtime/ Website: http://www.sho.com/2020-02-13T19:27:11Z

The women who are trying to bring Richard Scott Smith to justice met because of Lisa Lenton’s blog. Lenton married Smith in 2012 and later started the blog to warn other women. Jean Hansen and Sabrina Dunlap are two other women who went on record with the Kansas City Star about their experiences with Smith, while several other women who prefer to be known by their first names only appear in the Showtime docuseries.

Over a dozen women are named as being victims of Smith’s con game — the aforementioned Hansen, Dunlap, and Lenton, plus Tracy, Ellen, Sandi, Candy, Caroline, Angela, Michelle, Jennifer, Christy, and Vanessa are all mentioned by name in the documentary. They allege that he was married to eight or nine of them, but conned money or assets out of all of them.

They Hope ‘Love Fraud’ Gets More Women to Come Forward

Behind the Scenes: Love Fraud | SHOWTIME Documentary SeriesRachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, the Co-Directors of the new four-part docu-series, Love Fraud, sit down and discuss the making of the series. Love Fraud follows the search for Richard Scott Smith, who used the internet and his dubious charms to prey upon unsuspecting women looking for love. The story unravels in real time as Smith’s victims band together to seek sweet revenge. Watch the Series Premiere on Sunday, August 30 at 9/8c only on SHOWTIME. #SHODocs #LoveFraud Subscribe to the SHOWTIME YouTube channel: http://goo.gl/esCMib Don’t have SHOWTIME? Order now: https://s.sho.com/1HbTNpQ Get SHOWTIME merchandise now: https://s.sho.com/33FGC1D Get more SHOWTIME: Follow: https://twitter.com/Showtime Like: https://www.facebook.com/showtime Instagram: https://instagram.com/showtime Website: https://www.sho.com This four-part docu-series follows the search for one man, Richard Scott Smith, who over the past 20 years used the internet and his dubious charms to prey upon unsuspecting women looking for love — conning them out of their money and dignity. The story unravels in real time as Smith’s victims band together to seek sweet revenge by turning to a bounty hunter when they feel the justice system has failed them.2020-07-06T00:00:03Z

The filmmakers, Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, think that the broadcast of the docuseries could lead to more women coming forward because they’re sure there are more out there — they even had someone new come forward after they had wrapped the entire series.

“What happened was we were wrapped and we were finished, and a wife came forward, someone else who had been married to him that we hadn’t heard of,” Ewing told the 2020 Television Critics Association winter press tour. “We filmed her just a few months ago. We think that maybe after this airs, there’s going to be other women coming forward that were married to him or have stories about him, because there isn’t any press on this right now. They don’t even know this is being made. We found as many people as we could find [via the blog].”

The Victims Think Working Together Has Helped the Healing Process

Love Fraud | Series Premiere | Full Episode (TV14)You Just Gotta Trust Me. Tracy and Mickey’s courtship is a dizzying ride that ends with a beautiful engagement ring. But Tracy’s daughters think it’s all moving too fast and break into Mickey’s truck to find out the truth. Series Premiere. TV14. Watch new episodes on Sundays at 9/8c on SHOWTIME. #SHODocs #LoveFraud Subscribe to the SHOWTIME YouTube channel: http://goo.gl/esCMib Don’t have SHOWTIME? Order now: https://s.sho.com/1HbTNpQ Get SHOWTIME merchandise now: https://s.sho.com/33FGC1D Get more SHOWTIME: Follow: https://twitter.com/Showtime Like: https://www.facebook.com/showtime Instagram: https://instagram.com/showtime Website: https://www.sho.com This four-part docu-series follows the search for one man, Richard Scott Smith, who over the past 20 years used the internet and his dubious charms to prey upon unsuspecting women looking for love — conning them out of their money and dignity. The story unravels in real time as Smith’s victims band together to seek sweet revenge by turning to a bounty hunter when they feel the justice system has failed them.2020-08-28T15:30:10Z

Tracy, who wished only to be identified by her first name, told the 2020 TCA press tour audience that the whole process helped her healing tremendously.

“I feel like it’s helped me. I’m definitely wiser, more cautious. I feel like I’ve come out better. I’ve not let him cripple me. I’ve not let him stop me. I continue to date and look for someone that is my future. And I’m not going to let him ‑‑ I feel like if I stopped dating or if I stopped looking for someone, then he would have won. And I refuse to let that happen,” said Tracy.

She also said she feels “very lucky” that he did not money out of her. She knows that other women were not so lucky. The filmmakers also stressed that women were not Smith’s only victims.

“We have a few characters in the series, a few men, that were very, very negatively affected by him, several men, actually. One man’s wife was conned by him and ran off with him taking his assets, and he’s still in love with his wife, and he’s burned, and he’s trying to get her back,” said Ewing.

“We have one of the women dumps her boyfriend, Daryl, in Knoxville when the con man comes back in town. You have an older gentleman that’s being basically conned out of his assets. We have an uncle. So really, he’s an equal opportunity con man in the end, and we really do try to show that it’s not just romance scams. He cons his family. He cons older men. He wanted to be a father figure to him. And we really tried to show that as well.”

Love Fraud airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on Showtime.

How to Watch Love Fraud Documentary Streaming Online