Who the Hell Is Hamish?

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Who the Hell Is Hamish?
Who the hell is hamish cover.jpg
Who the Hell Is Hamish? cover image
Presentation
Hosted by Greg Bearup
FormatTrue crime investigation
LanguageEnglish
Length20–45 minutes
Country of originAustralia
Production
Audio format
No. of episodes9
Publication
Original release8 February (2019-02-08) –
21 June 2019 (2019-06-21)
Provider The Australian
Related
Website Official Webpage

Who the Hell Is Hamish? was an Australian crime podcast by The Australian newspaper reporting on the exploits of serial conman Hamish McLaren. It was hosted by Greg Bearup.

Contents

Overview

Hamish McLaren, born Hamish Watson on 29 March 1970, [1] was a confidence trickster who used several aliases, including Hamish Earle McLaren, Hamish Phillip McLaren, Hamish Watson, Hamish Philip Watson, Hamish Maxwell, and Max Tavita. [2]

Between 2011-2017, while living in Bondi, he stole at least $7.66 million from 15 known victims in Australia, [3] including one he married, and fashion designer Lisa Ho. [4] Overall, his known crimes, in the US, Canada, UK, Hong Kong, and Australia, netted him more than $70 million, given that:

Over three decades and four continents, he stole millions of dollars from the vulnerable and the naïve, using romance, lies and multiple identities to tear lives apart. [5]

McLaren, though investigated and sued numerous times previously, was bankrupted in 2016, and was arrested in Australia in July 2017. [6] [2] He pleaded guilty in June 2019 “to 17 counts of dishonestly obtaining financial advantage by deception and one count of knowingly dealing with the proceeds of crime”. [7] He was sentenced to 16 years, back dated to commence in mid-2017. [8] He will be due for parole in 2029.

Episodes

  1. The Day Max Died - details his arrest in 2017
  2. Fashion Crimes - introduces his dealings with Lisa Ho
  3. The Gatsby of the Great Lakes - covers his time as a jet setter in Canada
  4. The Intern - explains his relationship with his stepson’s 16 year-old girlfriend
  5. Who the Hell is Phil? - covers his day trading and the killing of his fictional twin brother
  6. Kevin from Queensland goes to Canada - from a man who knew him as a ski instructor in both countries
  7. On the Couch with Hamish - interviews with ex-girlfriends, including a professional assessment of him as a sociopath
  8. The Definition of Evil - highlighting the institutional failures in different countries in preventing his crime spree
  9. The Reckoning - recorded post-sentencing

The title of the series comes from McLaren’s then girlfriend reacting to his arrest. At the time, she knew him as Max Tavita. After receiving a text message from “Hamish’s brother-in-law”, she stated “Who the fuck is Hamish?” [5]

Reception

The investigative podcast was a popular success both in Australia and abroad. It peaked at #1 on the iTunes charts in Australian and the UK and #3 in the US and Canada. [9] It spent a continuous 94 days in the top ten in Australia, with 34 day at #1. [10]

The podcast was a podcast pick of the week by The Guardian , writing "It's incredible to hear how much trust people put in him, but easy to see how they fell for the ruse." [11] The Sydney Morning Herald called it a "Blue Velvet journey into Australian suburbia." [12] It was featured as a favourite true crime podcast of the week by New York magazine. [13]

References

  1. ↑ "How designer Lisa Ho helped unpick conman Hamish McLaren's web of lies". www.theaustralian.com.au. Archived from the original on 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  2. 1 2 "The photo that undid Australian conman Hamish McLaren". Stuff. 16 September 2018. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  3. ↑ "NSW conman Hamish McLaren jailed for 12 years over swindling $7.6 million from 15 victims". SBS News. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  4. ↑ "The real life faces behind Who The Hell Is Hamish, The Australian's new addictive podcast". Mamamia. 5 March 2019. Archived from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  5. 1 2 "How conman Hamish McLaren swindled more than $70 million". 7NEWS.com.au. 26 May 2019. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  6. ↑ "Conman Hamish McLaren jailed for up to 16 years after swindling $7.6m from victims". the Guardian. 20 June 2019. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  7. ↑ "Serial fraudster who swindled more than $7 million awaiting sentence". www.9news.com.au. 13 June 2019. Archived from the original on 14 April 2021. Retrieved 14 April 2021.
  8. ↑ "Heartless conman Hamish McLaren stole $70m from victims". NewsComAu. 27 May 2019. Archived from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
  9. ↑ "The Australian - 'Who the Hell Is Hamish?' International iTunes Chart Performance". iTunesCharts.net. Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  10. ↑ "The Australian - 'Who the Hell Is Hamish?' Australian iTunes Chart Performance". iTunesCharts.net. Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  11. ↑ Mumford, Gwilym; Davies, Hannah J.; Verdier, Hannah; Godfrey, Katherine (22 February 2019). "The Incredible True Story of a Globe-Trotting Conman – Podcasts of the Week". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  12. ↑ Wells, Peter (21 February 2019). "Four New Podcasts to Start Your 2019 Bucket List". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  13. ↑ "This Week in True-Crime Podcasts: Is Ron Burgundy a Psychopath?". New York. 15 February 2019. Archived from the original on 22 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
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