The many masks of serial fraudster Samantha Cookes

Carrie Jade Williams. Sadie Harris. Lucy Fitzwilliams. Jade Cookes. Samantha Black. Rebecca Fitzgerald.  These are just some of the fabricated identities used by serial con artist Samantha Cookes.  In 2024, her Walter Mitty-style life finally collapsed as online communities, journalists and a WhatsApp group of victims cross-referenced the inconsistencies in her story, joining the dots that authorities had missed.  In March 2025, Samantha Cookes was jailed for three years for deception and theft.  Yet her story keeps getting fresh chapters.  On this episode of The Indo Daily, host Katie Byrne is joined by Alan Bradley, documentary filmmaker and author of Unmasking Samantha Cookes: The Many Lives of a Serial Fraudster, to discuss the breadth and the impact of an incredible deception. This episode of The Indo Daily was first released in May 2026 The Indo Daily is part of the Trust Project. You can see our ethics policies at independent.ie/ourjournalismSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.