Scam Goddess: Lessons from a Life of Cons, Grifts, and Schemes

A delightfully subversive essay collection from Laci Mosley, host of the award-winning “Scam Goddess” podcast, about the frauds, cons, and schemes that make up our world—and how the scammer mindset has affected her own upbringing, career, friendships, love life, and more. ​

From an early age, comedian and actress Laci Mosley knew her path would be riddled with scams, cons, robberies, and frauds. Little ones. Ones that didn’t hurt people or get her in trouble. But ones that would get her where she needed to be. “You see,” she writes, “everyone’s a scammer and everything’s a scam. Some people are better at it than others, but we all do it. The system wasn’t built for people like me. Scamming saved me and has taught me how to navigate a messy and unfair world while looking out for myself, too.”

In Scam Goddess, Laci recounts how her scammer instincts have guided her throughout her life—from a religious childhood in rural Texas, to a stint as a city bartender at what might have been a drug front, to swindling her way past the gatekeepers of Hollywood—recounting the greatest true-crime scam stories that inspired her along the way. Whether it’s by the beauty industry, capitalism, or the people we date, we’re all getting scammed. In this book, Laci identifies the secrets to flipping the script and coming out ahead.

Laci Mosley is a Black American actor, comedian, contributor on ABC's The Con, and host of the podcast "Scam Goddess," which has been named Best Crime Podcast at the 2022 iHeart Radio Podcast Awards, Best Crime and Justice Podcast at the Webby Awards (2x), and a Top 10 Podcast of 2022 by Time magazine. She has starred in Paramount+’s hit reboot of iCarly and NBC’s comedy series Lopez vs. Lopez. She has also appeared in A Black Lady Sketch Show on HBO, Florida Girls on Pop, Kenan on NBC, Single Parents on ABC, Better Call Saul on AMC, and Insecure on HBO.