The Opportunist podcast is a true crime program about charismatic people who used their talents for bad, not for good. All sorts of charlatans and swindlers get their lives examined on this show. And the title explains the theme. Each episode is about someone who was an opportunist. They all preyed on others for their own benefit.

Hannah Smith hosts The Opportunist podcast. She is a longtime producer of comedy shows like One Bad Mother and Judge John Hodgman. She also created and hosted You at Home, a podcast about people's relationships to their household items. With this program, she talks about admired people who weren't what they seemed to be.

Smith started The Opportunist podcast in 2021 with an eight-part season about Sherry Shriner. Shriner ran an internet religious ministry. But it got more extreme and turned into what others called an "alien reptile cult." When one member killed another, it brought national focus to Shriner and her cult. The show explores how and why someone like Shriner could get such a devoted following.

Some of The Opportunist episodes are multipart explorations of one person's schemes. Peggy Fulford was a powerful financial advisor and manager. She worked with athletes like Dennis Rodman and Ricky Williams. Fulford meant so much to Rodman that he thanked her in his NBA Hall of Fame acceptance speech. But Fulford was scamming Rodman and her other clients. The podcast talks about how Fulford fooled them for years. That is until they started suffering financial consequences. In the last episode about Fulford, the scammer talks to Smith to give her side of the story.

Other show subjects get single episodes. They include a fake psychic, an online dating scammer, and a phony deep-sea diver. Those who want to know more about real-life grifters may enjoy The Opportunist. Each episode averages around 45 minutes in length.