Hard to regulate volume, background sound is too loud and it makes it hard to hear thr participants.

Interesting story but the constant background music is quite distracting.

Very well researched story. One of the best podcasts about white collar crime.

Nearly every speaker has a ticking clock or other distracting background noise behind them. Interesting topic but this makes it impossible to listen to.

Loved the content and learned a lot, however it was physically difficult to listen to - Al the music and background sound effects were so loud and the speaking g was almost like a whisper at times, which seems fixable? Other than that, a fascinating listen.

Hard to listen to all the background noise but good story. Why all the sound effects? But excellent story. Doesn’t need the sound effects just tell the story.

I mean, if you really just pay attention to what she is saying with her embarrassingly poor English, it’s obvious that she was selling fog to those greedy folks who believed in magic. She’s brilliant. So intelligent. A true manipulator.

As of May 2023, the FBI reward is now $250K.

i find the show interesting. something to keep my mind occupied on my daily jog. But I find it so ironic the podcasts advertising. Every episode, I am being pushed adverts for Moneygrams Crypto Wallets. What is that? Another crypto scam? So while the BBC is deep diving into shady crypto one coin, they receive advertising monies for pushing more shady crypto products

Never heard of OneCoin or Dr Ruja and it’s a binge-worthy listen. My only complaint is that the background music, which I really liked, is too loud. I’d prefer it to be softer than the speaking voices.

The same clips are recycled over and over with very little new content. Ironic given the subject of the podcast, this series is its own kind of scam. They take the same 15 clips and edit them into a different order each time with maybe a few clips of new content to keep you coming back for more.

Also binged. Obsessed.

Really enjoying this show. although it’s following an ongoing story that’s been slow to unfold, they've avoided the urge to put out content for the sake of filling air time which I appreciate. Looking forward to the next episodes. UTA: the update episode was a little off putting. If you only have 3 minutes of content, resist the urge to pack it with 2 minutes of ads. It’s one thing to have to wait a really long time for new episodes, but it’s another thing to be subjected to an excessive ad spot framed as an update.

Thanks for the 6 min update episode including 2.5 min of ads. Top notch stuff

It’s end of November already when is next episode? 😊

The story is interesting, but the over-the-top dramatization is…a lot. Especially when the voice actors speak on behalf of “very reliable” and trustworthy sources. I wonder if the people who’ve said this is good journalism have ever actually heard good journalism. Because this isn’t that. Heavy editorializing, drawing the story out…that’s the opposite of good journalism. Which is a shame bc I generally like the BBC. But good for entertainment on a long drive. Also, it’s really hard to sympathize with the constantly sniveling Scottish woman who frankly jumped headfirst into a scam out of greed. Get-rich-quick schemes are called schemes for a reason.

First, great job. This is a gripping story, well told. The hosts have done some real investigative journalism on this crazy story and it’s a pleasure to listen to. It’s always a pleasant surprise when a new installment appears in my feed. I do agree with other commenters on a couple of minor negative points, however. 1. The episodes are rather long and drawn out. I appreciate that some amount of this is necessary to appeal to a broader audience (explanations of technical material etc). However, I’m not a fan of the needless repetition of audio clips (which often just feels like filler). 2. I actually loved the music, but after so many repetitions, it’s becoming tiresome even to me. Perhaps you could commission the London Bulgarian Choir to sing some other material in the same style, for a bit of variation?

This is a beautiful podcast. It is very suspenseful. The music is sensational. The subject is intriguing. This glamorous woman decides to peddle her invented currency and she is so talented at doing it. It becomes a Ponzi scheme. The twists and turns…So enjoyable for the listener!

Tons of padding and stalling. Same music sting being used a billion times. There’s not very much here and it’s super drawn out to try to cover that up. Bleh, this is what I hate about true crime podcasts.

We were promised an actual finale. I love the podcast, but no update and no final episode is really frustrating.

It is a fascinating story. Exciting and gripping. Told in an excellent manner . Don’t know if they will come with a second season. Keep it up !

This podcast could have been one episode but they’ve drawn each episode out to squeeze as much revenue as possible. This results in a multitude of clips being re-used through each episode over and over again with very little new material. Each episode in itself could easily be edited down to 5 minutes but instead runs 30+. It’s too excruciatingly slow for me to listen beyond episode 5.

Especially loved the time taken to travel to Uganda to meet people this scam affected in a major way. I was enthralled the whole 9 episodes. Hope for more now that Dr. Ruja made the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list.

This could have been a much better podcast if they did not repeat sections so often. I am convinced that if the repetitive sections had been removed the series would have been half as long, and a much tighter and better story would have been told.

Interesting topic and I want to love it but there are SO MANY repetitive sections, recaps, attempted “gotcha” moments, and questioning of people only barely related (and then *shock* that they don’t know anything). I don’t find the music as awful as some but it is overdone This could have been done, more effectively, in half as many episodes

This podcast was highly recommended and the topic is interesting (the only reason I gave it two stars instead of one). BUT it's ridiculously repetitive. The number of episodes could have been cut in half. The recurring role of one woman who lost 10,000 pounds doesn't add anything. The worst part is we never find out what happened. It just ends with the reporter continuing the search. That's it. I'm embarrassed that I wasted my time. DO NOT LISTEN.

A fascinating eye opener into the world of crypto currency. Normally BBC Podcasts are liberal propaganda notorious for suppressing objectivity, but after briefly looking into Jamies sources it seems the pod cast is actually onto something. Negative reviews are most likely One Coin investors protecting their interests, don’t listen to them, make up your own mind!

This story is so wild and so worth the listen. I recommend it to everyone I know it’s so good. The twists and turns and how deep this fraud is is almost unbelievable but it’s true

The re-enactments were unfortunately so so terrible and embarrassing that I couldn’t make it through half of an episode. YIKES.

Interesting story, but the telling is so over-dramaticized, over-explained, and over-produced that I was left wondering if it was intended for an audience of five year-olds. The music and sound design really distracted from the narrative, both in tone and actual volume. I don't know if I can force myself to keep listening.

Scams and pyramid schemes are a cancer on the world. Ruining millions of lives everyday. Spread the word about this fake currency and the dangers of predatory charlatans who lie and deceive and feed off of desperate people, leaving them with nothing.

The story behind this is really cool. They waste A LOT of time getting to the point though. This could all be done well and compellingly in one or two episodes. Episode 7 is just them walking around showing people a picture of her and 99% of them have no idea who she is. Sub par story telling in my opinion.

I LOVED this podcast, great information and explaining crypto to person who doesn’t know much about it

I love the music. The people who don’t are lame. The story is so interesting and well done. I think he is very professional but is trying to make it entertaining, and not dull, and he does an excellent job of that. Making it entertaining does not make it bad journalism. Podcasts are a unique medium and more creativity is a great thing. The story is crazy. So many scams out there. And now since the world is so global, a scam can reach everyone… great.

Very relevant in today’s world. MLMs scare the S*** out of me because they can destroy people’s lives. Do your due diligence before investing!

I binged the whole show…great podcast and reporting.

The story is interesting and seems to be well researched but…. the music is so horrible. I could not stand the wailing. Had to stop listening.

I hate how all these podcast report but just add a bunch of fluff. When the story is complete, the reporters still are no where closer than where they started. Waste of time

There is an interesting story to be told here, and probably more than enough information to fill the run time, but the podcast has a massive amount of unnecessary (and awful) music, repeated sound bites, and redundant summaries. It’s mostly filler and the content that is there seems to only scratch the surface. For example, they repeatedly say one coin is not a cryptocurrency, and give a few reasons why, but I’d like to hear much more about the distinction and how an individual could detect the scam from the outside.

I don’t usually binge anything, but this was just so fascinating! Such a shame that so many people were conned out of billions of dollars. Really well reported and a great reminder to remain vigilant- if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

I stumbled on this after a great BBC podcast experience. This podcast, however, is unprofessional both as a podcast and as a piece of journalism. The host is self indulgent in his questioning and weak in his execution of actually reporting relevant information. Lots of leading questions and looking for what he wants, but giving credible evidence for his opinions only after the fact. In one episode, someone tells him what is wrong with the podcast over the phone. Even though I don’t agree with what that person stands for, he said all of my criticisms in that conversation. I kept listening because the story is interesting, which is what I believe has kept this podcast afloat. I only wish a better journalist and producer were doing the work.

I don’t usually review podcasts but this one was worth it. I listen to this podcast series in two days! Well worth the time.

Please, the content is good but you're putting waaaay too many sound effects and music beds. Hearing disabled really suffer with this junk! Seriously!? We dont need your ringing bells and video game music. The reporting just disappears into a mess of audible junk.

Wonderful storyline. From start to finish it was exceptionally done. The problem? The music is literally like nails on a chalkboard. It plays too loud and in ways you almost can’t avoid it. Awful doesn’t begin to describe it.

Its a great investigative report and a lot of work. A lot of repetition and some episodes go nowhere because everything was well hidden. I agree that he specifically is not very professional for the BBC which I respect and as an American find that is very credible and reputable source. Also he is very proud of the music which is too loud since its volume is raised over the voices. It also doesn’t match the podcast. Overall it is fantastic and lots of work put in. Its more about the journey because there is no end or solution.

I don’t want to hear the music interludes without talking. I’m here to hear the story.

Where did the episodes go after August?

Too corny

This is a great story told well. The moral of the story, if it’s God to be true, it probably isn’t. Listen and learn.

Great story telling, great investigative journalism