If further proof was needed that humans can’t be trusted with nice things like the internet, it’s all there in ‘catfishing’. The practice of deceiving someone by using the internet’s capacity for identity theft to con them into a romantic relationship (or more often out of money) is so common that it’s spawned a whole genre of documentaries, from the original Catfish in 2010 to last year’s Netflix hit The Tinder Swindler. 

You wouldn’t think there’s much more gold to mine here, but journalist Hannah Ajala, who helms this eight-part podcast from CBC and the BBC, demonstrates there certainly is. The first episode of Love, Janessa sees a double deception enacted on experienced journalist Simon de Bruxelles, disproving in one swoop two common myths about catfishing: that it only happens to stupid people and that you can’t be duped twice. 

This sets the tone for a hall of mirrors-style investigation with Ajala searching for a woman known as Janessa Brazil, whose image has allegedly been stolen for catfish scams more times than anyone else’s. How much does the real Janessa know about the scams? Is she in on any of them? Ajala, who works between Nigeria and London, is especially keen to investigate and unpick the links between scams and West Africa, looking at why Ghana, in particular, is so often the source of catfishing rings. 

In episode three, she goes on a deep dive into the culture of Ghana’s Sakawa boys, exploring a complex relationship between crime, spiritualism and the dumping of electronic rubbish, and giving a voice to the scammers to help understand how and why the culture exists. As journalistically rigorous as it is completely addictive, if the early episodes are anything to go by, we’re in for a wild and informative ride. 

New episodes of Love, Janessa available every Wednesday at BBC Sounds.