Dear Cousin - Podcast Rankings and reviews

Really fascinating tale of betrayal! While there have been multiple instances of cyberstalking escalating into infamy over the years, this is one of the earliest I recall. Without the knowledge of internet scams and catfishing in the decades since, I can see how terrifying this must have been.

Some reviews mention the lack of discussion of motivation, ie the other side of the story, however this isn’t investigative journalism. It’s the victim’s perspective of a traumatic time of her life. The lack of “motive” doesn’t diminish the obscenity of what she suffered.

Here in 2025 we’ve heard the story before, especially on betrayal podcasts. Still this one is well written, narrated with honesty and authenticity, and the production values are high. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even knowing it’s likely outcome. Details were terrific in bringing it to life.

This could have been a much more interesting piece of journalism if the narrator/victim were interviewed and allowed experts to speak for longer clips. It’s a fascinating and scary story, but there are many holes that merit questioning and exploration—e.g. the logic behind the whole course of engagement with these fake characters via email. The narrator also rambles providing her same reactions to their behaviors over and over.

I found this true crime story gripping, and listened to the entire thing straight through. Since I’m old enough to have been an adult at the beginning of the consumer internet, I remember how exciting, promising, and simultaneously terrifying the internet was. The modern, AOL and message sounds were an excellent touch. Having the author/victim narrate as if telling the story to a new friend was especially effective.

This entire show could have been consolidated into 1 episode and even then it would not have been very interesting. I guessed the ending from halfway through episode 1. I started listening at 2x speed to see if it would get compelling, but it never did. Skipped to last episode to confirm my suspicions and stopped. I feel for the author and understand that this was probably pretty traumatic back in 2003 when you didn’t hear about catfishing. But still. She has to be one of the most gullible individuals of all time to believe the asinine stories that were being fed to her. The plot “jumped the shark” when they alleged to crimes he wasn’t convicted of, and then wilder from there. Not worth listening.