A couple was once sent to prison for running a $31.8M extreme couponing fraud scheme

From 2011 to 2012, a show about 'Extreme Couponing' aired on TLC

The television show gave viewers an inside look at the lives of Americans who treated couponing like an extreme sport. These people would often stockpile hundreds of products they acquired via deals found on coupons in their homes.

Bed Bath and Beyond’s 20% off coupon had a cult following

The home goods store’s most fervent fans loved these coupons so much that some bought them in batches on eBay. The FBI even reportedly found one of these big blue coupons in famous mobster Whitey Bulger’s junk drawer. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

The typical US household could lower its household costs by 6.4% by using coupons

The study looked at coupons for food, household items, entertainment, and clothing, as well as other expected expenses. The grocery store category offered the largest amount of savings at around $316 annually.

Today, in the US, people can face years in prison for counterfeiting money

There are both federal and state laws that punish people who use or create counterfeit money. The crime can not only trigger hefty fines, but could also lead to decades behind bars.

The word ‘coupon’ comes from a French word meaning ‘to cut’

The history of coupons starts in the US with the Coca-Cola coupon that was mailed to consumers, offering them a chance to come try the soda for free in a nearby pharmacy. A coupon created by cereal company Post is one of the earliest widely cited follow-ups—it offered a penny off a box of Grape Nuts in 1909.

Georgia inmate pulls off $11M heist—from inside his cell

Prisoner Arthur Lee Cofield Jr., 31, allegedly impersonated Sidney Kimmel, the uber-wealthy chairman and CEO of a Los Angeles entertainment company, with the help of contraband cell phones from inside his prison cell.

A Missouri farmer sold $140M worth of fake organic feed

Randy Constant sold nonorganic feed to other farmers, who fed it to their animals, which were then sold as organic meat. The scheme began sometime in the mid-2000s and ended after a tip, likely from one of Constant’s competitors, to the US Department of Agriculture. Constant pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but died by suicide before serving time.

The story of a bitcoin loophole that gave one man millions

James Parker discovered a glitch in an Australian cryptocurrency exchange that would allow him to cash in credits worth over $20M and make big gifts to his friends. Like most loopholes, the authorities found out, but not before his life was transformed. The first in a six-part series.

Paper coupon suppliers and major newspaper insert distributors are in decline

Given the uptick in digital coupon adoption, sellers who offered coupon inserts or individual coupons for sale online have been closing up shop in recent years.

One contestant allegedly used well-timed coughs to con 'Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?'

Charles Ingram won the show’s top prize in 2002, though producers found his performance, which featured several strange responses, suspicious. After reviewing the footage, the producers discovered several coughs that aligned with the correct answers and theorized that Ingram’s wife and another contestant were using the coughs to convey the correct answers to him. Ingram maintained his innocence, yet he was tried and convicted of fraud.

Temu was ordered to pay a $2M fine for alleged FTC violations

Specifically, Temu allegedly violated the INFORM Consumers Act of 2023 by failing to provide its customers with information and tools to help them avoid and report stolen, counterfeit, or unsafe goods.

A deep dive into the Murdaugh murder saga

Former South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh was sentenced to life in prison for the double murder of his wife and son. In 2024, 40 more years were added to the sentence for theft-related charges. The case gained nationwide coverage and revealed a twisting saga of drugs, deceit, violence, and more. Dive into this 93-episode podcast series with journalist Mandy Matney, who reported on the family for years.

A librarian stole $8M worth of rare books from Pittsburgh's Carnegie Library over 25 years

Greg Priore, who managed the library's rare book collection, systematically removed maps and prints and sold them through a local bookseller. He was eventually caught during a routine audit and sentenced to three years of house arrest.

'The Chinatown Sting': Unraveling an international drug smuggling ring

In the late 1980s, a group of women connected through the mahjong parlors in Manhattan’s Chinatown were caught in a massive undercover drug bust. But this bust was just the beginning of an even bigger case.

Ruby Franke is an influencer serving time in jail for child abuse

The story of this parenting influencer is perhaps one of the darkest stories to come out of the creator economy. Ruby Franke previously ran a YouTube channel with millions of followers where she made money by monetizing her controversial parenting advice. Now she’s serving jail time for child abuse.

The FBI once raided Polymarket CEO Shayne Coplan's home

In 2024, after Polymarket markets favored what turned out to be the winning outcome of the US presidential election, agents raided Coplan's New York City apartment. Coplan, who was only 26 years old at the time, was home during the raid and turned over his devices to authorities.

Three Oklahoma athletes were penalized for eating too much pasta at a team banquet

In 2013, Oklahoma athletes lost NCAA eligibility after exceeding a pasta limit at a team banquet—regaining it only after repaying $3.83 each—highlighting how difficult it was to navigate the NCAA’s old amateurism rules.

The scam factories behind prolific scamming

Scammers are on the rise, and many of those behind them are trapped in so-called scam factories—shadowy organizations tricking honest workers into fraudulent employment.

The Washington Post's Janet Cooke returned her Pulitzer

When Washington Post reporter Janet Cooke published her profile of a 8-year-old heroin addict named Jimmy in 1980, it created an instant uproar. Social workers, police officers, and even the mayor of Washington, DC all jumped into action to try to get the child help, but no one could find him. Within hours of Cooke receiving a Pulitzer for the piece, everything began to unravel as it was revealed that she had fabricated not just Jimmy's story, but her own as well. She eventually returned the award.

A Y2K glitch billed one VHS renter $91,000 for a movie

At a video store in upstate New York, a date rollover error marked a customer’s 1999 rental as 100 years overdue, resulting in a $91,250 bill. The store quickly fixed the bug and gave him a free rental as consolation.

Smart pricing algorithms can unintentionally work together to raise prices

Researchers have found that, through trial and error, algorithms designed to adjust prices based on market data can learn to mimic price-fixing tactics, even without explicit programming to do so. Over time, they "learn" that it is more profitable to avoid price wars and keep prices high when competitors lower prices.

Woman sues Kraft over mac and cheese instructions

A woman in Florida has sued Kraft Heinz over its Velveeta Macaroni and Cheese microwaveable products, saying the marketed cooking time is incorrect.

US consumers collectively owe more than $1T to credit card companies—almost as much as they owe in auto loans.

Read about what happened when one woman started filing income taxes again

Even though she was 35 and had a 14-year-old son, Gabriela Gallegos's mother had claimed her as a dependent on her tax forms for roughly a decade. After that particularly tumultuous ten-year span of Gallegos's life came to a close, she decided to file income taxes again.

In 2008, one writer demonstrated the fickle nature of wine reviews

Robin Goldstein submitted a fake restaurant to the well-respected Wine Spectator for a competition. He created a website for the fake Milan-based business, complete with a menu of wines the magazine itself had disparaged. That didn't stop Wine Spectator from naming Goldstein's ruse among that year's winners.

The vast majority of federal criminal cases never reach a jury

In fiscal year 2022, nearly 90% of federal defendants pleaded guilty, and another 8% had their cases dismissed. This means just 2% went to trial at all, making a trial by jury a rare outcome in the modern federal court system.

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

The story of Dollree Mapp, whose legal challenge over her 1957 conviction for possessing "obscene material" led to a major strengthening of the Fourth Amendment

After her fellow cult members tried to kill her with an LSD-infused hamburger, one member of the Manson Family, the murderous cult led by Charles Manson, decided to testify against the group's leader.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

See 33 images that became central to huge scandals, including a young Charles and Camilla, Michael Jackson's baby on a hotel balcony, and Hugh Grant's mugshot.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

Massive 3D printers have been used to build homes by stacking layers of 'concrete toothpaste,' a fire-resistant material that effectively insulates against outside noise.

The most expensive ad of all time was for Chanel No. 5 perfume and cost roughly $33M to produce in 2004—about $57M in today's dollars.

Search a massive database of over 4 decades of clues from the TV quiz show 'Jeopardy!'

Netflix profits when you're not watching, and its movies are designed that way—read a detail-rich critical essay exposing lesser-known Netflix takes

To reduce wrinkles in clothing, research recommends gentle wash cycles with more water and tumble drying with smaller loads and longer times.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

Gerrymandering works through two techniques: cracking opposing voters across districts to dilute their power, and packing them into a few to waste their votes in lopsided majorities.

A 2019 Facebook event called on attendees to "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us," resulting in countless memes, the creation of a music festival, and eventually the arrests of those who did try to approach the area.

View the ten deadliest tornadoes in US history.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, and became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

Astronauts have repaired genetic damage in space using CRISPR—a molecular tool that can make precise changes to DNA and is used in single-celled organisms to attack invasive viruses.

In 2026, Finland was named the world's happiest country for the ninth consecutive year based on its wealth, social safety network, and high life expectancy, among other factors.

A small portion of The Winstons' 'Amen, Brother,' an obscure '60s gospel record, is the basis for thousands of hip-hop tracks, making it one of the most sampled records ever that's informally known as 'the Amen break.'

The hormonal disorder PCOS was renamed PMOS in 2026, a move designed to improve care and research by shifting the focus to the hormonal causes of this condition that affects 1 in 8 women.