Summer 2018 may have been deemed grifter season , as new stories of con artists and schemes seemed to make headlines daily, but its clear the fascination with scammers and all fraud-related media remains alive and well.

In January 2019, people couldnt stop talking about the two documentaries about Fyre Festival and its fraudster founder, Billy McFarland. In March, the release of HBOs The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley reignited the public obsession with all things Theranos and Elizabeth Holmes . The same month, reports of an elite college admissions scam dominated the news cycle. And just last week, Anna Delvey made waves again as the fake heiress (and subject of an upcoming Shonda Rhimes project ) appeared in court to face charges of grand larceny, attempted grand larceny and theft of services.

Scammers have always been a topic of interest in popular culture, from Catch Me If You Can to The Sting and beyond. Today these stories are the stuff of viral memes, tweetstorms and water cooler chat. So why are we all so obsessed with these tales of fraud and the con artists who orchestrate such scams? HuffPost spoke to some experts to find out.