Scamfluencers — Alan Todd May: Black Gold, Red Flags | Episode 190

Podcast: Scamfluencers by Wondery
Hosts: Sarah Hagi & Scaachi Koul
Date: December 1, 2025

Overview

In this episode, Sarah Hagi and Scaachi Koul unravel the audacious and nearly unbelievable life of Alan Todd May—a quintessential conman whose lifelong obsession with wealth, status, and the Texas oilman persona drove him to a relentless spree of scams across decades and states. Alan’s elaborate schemes—spanning fake conventions, Ponzi operations built on bogus oil wells, and even a daring prison escape—left a trail of duped investors, manipulated lovers, and frustrated authorities. But Alan’s greatest flaw, as the hosts reveal, is an irresistible need for attention, which eventually leads to his downfall.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Persona and Early Years

• Alan’s Origins: Grew up in Houston with modest means but big dreams, fueled by stories of a great-grandfather’s oil claim.
• Obsession with Status: From youth, Alan craved the status and visibility of oil wealth, idolizing the Texan oilman mythos (07:00).
• First Forays into Crime: Arrested at 19 for theft—fraud seemed almost familial, with his mother also arrested for similar crimes (08:31).

First Big Scams: Fake Conventions

• Post-Prison Scheming: Instead of going straight after his first release, Alan escalated his efforts. He ran ads for fake expos, most notably the “Cosmopolitan Women’s Show” (10:45).
• Meticulous yet Repetitive: Sometimes he’d go as far as booking real venues (only to later cancel) to add plausibility. Victims included even the IRS (11:37).
  • Quote:

    “Can you imagine being so deep and confident in your scam that you get inadvertently contacted by the IRS to participate in it?” — Scaachi (11:37)

• Even from Prison: He orchestrated these scams behind bars, hiring outsiders to patch calls and obscure that he was calling from jail (15:00).
  • Quote:

    “I'm very curious what, like, the benefits package is for that job.” — Scaachi (15:30)

Family, Identity, and the Lure of ‘Black Gold’

• Manipulating Relationships: Alan leveraged relationships both romantically and with family to further his aims. His boyfriends were much younger, drawn in with gifts and trips, later finding themselves used for scam logistics and finances (16:00–18:00).
• Oil Heir Obsession: Despite the family oil “royalty” being nearly worthless, Alan pursued it doggedly in court after his father’s death, craving legitimacy as an “oil man” (20:00–24:05).
  • Quote:

    “The only interest we have and have had all along is the oil and gas royalty. My father inherited the legacy from our great grandfather.” — Letter from Alan to the judge (22:00)

• Sibling Fallout: The will fight was ugly, and Alan’s fixation alienated his family.
  • Quote:

    “You have chosen money and vengeance over justice and mercy.” — Alan’s brother Joe (22:54)

Prosper Oil & Gas — The Ponzi Masterpiece

• Founding of Prosper Oil & Gas: Now equipped with a legitimate oil interest, Alan scaled up: advertising in financial papers, recruiting hundreds of investors, flaunting luxury (26:08–27:58).
• Ponzi in Action: Wells produced almost nothing, but Alan promised 40%+ returns, paying original investors with new victims’ money. Total fraud: $7 million from 174 investors (32:49).
  • Quote:

    “Prosper Oil and Gas is a classic Ponzi scheme dressed up in old money.” — Sarah (34:05)

• Lavish Lifestyle: He used investor money for a mansion, luxury cars, even a plane once owned by “Columbo” actor Peter Falk (29:47).
• Slippery Manipulation: Bribed his parole officer to ignore interstate travel and new bank accounts (29:45).
• Fake Tragedies: Invented stories of a daughter with cancer to stall angry investors (29:27).

The Downfall & Daring Escape

• Busted by a Google Search: The scam unraveled when a bank employee did a basic search and uncovered Alan’s extensive criminal history (32:26–32:44).
  • Quote:

    “Sometimes all it takes is one Google search.” — Sarah (32:36)

• SEC Crackdown & Flight: Allen charmed the agents during asset seizures, but soon vanished, skipping a scheduled meeting (34:20–35:00).
• Life on the Run: With his new boyfriend Cody, Alan evaded authorities, using pseudonyms and keeping up the Texas oilman ruse in San Francisco—before Cody turned informant (36:48–38:16).
• Sentencing: Alan was caught again (2012), sentenced to 20 years.

Mastermind from Prison: The Unclaimed Royalties Scam

• Continued Scheming (2019–2022): While incarcerated, Alan discovered a new hustle—using public databases of unclaimed property to pose as oil companies and collect hundreds of thousands in lost royalties (3 years, $700,000 via an iPhone) (41:00–42:51).
  • Quote:

    “He finds businesses, mostly energy and oil companies, that are owed huge amounts of unclaimed royalties… and claims their royalties for himself. He makes $700,000 doing this, all from an iPhone.” — Sarah (42:38)

Final Act: Palm Beach Pretense and Capture

• South Florida Life: Alan, now “Jacob Turner,” reemerged as a Palm Beach socialite—donating to galas, buying perfume and caviar for friends, still living off scams (44:21–46:51).
  • Quote:

    “He would go to the opening of an envelope.” — Palm Beach socialite (46:24)

• Fatal Fashion Flub: An anonymous tipster forwarded a photo of Alan (in a garish pink plaid suit) at a fundraiser to U.S. Marshals, ending his four-year run from the law (48:29–49:47).
  • Quote:

    “His mistake was getting his photo taken, and he could not resist. It is a really stupid move… to give in to the impulse of wanting your photo taken for a magazine is unfortunate. It’s an unfortunate way to go down.” — Sarah (51:44)

• Sentenced Again: In February 2025, Alan was given an additional 10-year prison sentence.

Memorable Quotes

On the nature of scams:

• (13:32) “Those are the best lies. The ones that start in the truth.” — Scaachi

On Alan's compulsive scamming:

• (54:03) “He couldn't get. He couldn't stop himself.” — Sarah

On romance and manipulation:

• (53:25) “He clearly love bombed them by like, you know, first date, getting on a plane, going to Bergdorf Goodman, like all this crazy stuff that he did with these men who are quite young.” — Sarah

On why these crimes persist:

• (52:39) “One Google search from these banks, and it was over. But you know what? He was really smart with doing the thing that a lot of workplaces do, which is giving you a lot of perks to shut you up. He basically did free lunch on steroids, and no one questioned it.” — Sarah

On Alan’s central motivation:

• (52:07) “It's a need for attention and the need to feel like you're doing. You're being a normal rich person.” — Sarah

Notable & Impactful Segments

• 02:55–05:03: Inside Prosper Oil & Gas—Dawn Dandridge’s perspective as federal agents raid the company.
• 08:31–13:35: Alan’s early scams, conventional schemes, and first run-ins with the law.
• 15:12–18:06: Alan’s scams continue from prison, relationship exploitation, and his manipulative “business” with Jason.
• 20:59–24:05: The bitter family inheritance fight; Alan's fixation with the “oilman” identity.
• 26:08–34:05: Prosper Oil & Gas’s Ponzi scheme comes into focus; investor John Pope’s experience of being conned.
• 36:48–38:16: Alan’s flight across the country with Cody; authorities finally catch up.
• 41:00–42:51: Alan's prison-based scam, exploiting public records from his smartphone.
• 44:21–51:00: Palm Beach chapter—posing as “Jacob Turner,” the critical pink suit photo, and his final arrest.

Hosts’ Analysis, Reactions, and Takeaways

• Alan is described as a “scam addict”—for whom the drive to deceive was as constant as his urge for luxury and visibility.
  “He was like, no, I’m a scammer. I’m gonna start it as a scam, it’s gonna end as a scam. No one’s getting anything from me.” — Sarah (51:11)
• Scaachi and Sarah note that Alan’s scams were never particularly inventive—just persistent, well-performed, and always dressed up with a believable narrative (Ponzi scheme “dressed up in old money”).
• The importance of due diligence is hammered—so much damage might have been prevented with a simple background check (32:36).
• They reflect on how Alan’s need for validation trumped self-preservation, with Sarah remarking:
  “The need for attention is what gets them every time.” (52:05)
• Alan’s manipulation of younger men is interpreted as romantic fraud—an extension of his need to control and his compulsion to con.
• The ultimate lesson: Even brilliant tricksters can’t outrun accountability forever, and sometimes their undoing is simply their vanity.

Conclusion

This episode chronicles not just a prolific scammer, but someone who seemed almost pathologically incapable of living honestly—forever chasing not just wealth, but the admiration and legitimacy that came with it. Alan Todd May’s tale is a whirlwind of fake conventions, oil Ponzi schemes, dazzling parties, romance scams, prison escapes, and finally, a pink-suited miscalculation that landed him back where he began: behind bars. The story is both a cautionary tale and a fascinating portrait of compulsive deception, performed with characteristic wit and empathy by the Scamfluencers hosts.

Source Recommendations (as cited by the hosts at 55:45)

• “The Fake Oilman” by Charles Bethea, The New Yorker
• Reporting by Ross and the Solvers Team at KDVR Denver
• Reporting by Eric Nicholson, Dallas Observer
• “The Photo That Caught the Con Man” by Joanna Bell & Nirin Grade Desai, Daily Mail

For listeners new to Alan Todd May’s story, this episode is a masterclass in modern confidence schemes—and a reminder to always, always Google your boss.