Three Years in Hell. How Svetlana Bogacheva Stole My Life

At the end of 2022, the Russian internet exploded with the story of stand-up comedian Tanya Shchukin: the girl confessed that she had become a victim of her friend Svetlana Bogacheva. Tanya borrowed her huge sums for cancer treatment and its complications, cared for her around the clock, communicated with her doctors, friends, and provided support after the death of loved ones. In reality, these people, diseases, and events did not exist: Svetlana invented 11 virtual identities and communicated with Tanya on their behalf, day by day immersing her friend in a terrifying fictional world, while Tanya's real life — relationships with loved ones and her career in stand-up — was collapsing like a house of cards. Over three years of friendship, Svetlana surrounded Tanya with a fictional reality, took control of her finances, ruined her health and psyche, isolated her from friends, and forced her to emigrate. Tanya Shchukin's book is an incredible and frightening story of how a methodical scammer can turn your life into hell. Even if until then you were sure: 'This will never happen to me.'