The Perfect Scam

Like many of us, Kathy struggles in the early days of the pandemic to adjust to isolation from family and friends. She enjoys the diversion of playing Words With Friends and soon strikes up a friendship with a fellow player. For months the friends continue playing online games and chatting on WhatsApp, until one day he asks Kathy for a loan. He says he is stuck in Mexico and having trouble accessing his accounts. Kathy sees no harm in helping out a friend, especially when he promises to quickly pay the money back. When the repayments never come, Kathy comes to the devasting realization that it was a scam and that most of her and her husband's retirement savings are gone. Distraught and ashamed, Kathy begins to have thoughts of suicide. This is the story of one woman's survival from the darkest of days. This episode contains discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know is in crisis, please call or text 988, a free nationwide service where professionals can listen and get you the help you need.

Jerry Hsu, a retired engineer living in Florida, receives a phone call from someone claiming to be his cellphone provider. They are threatening to cut off his service because the Shanghai Police Department says Jerry is speaking out against the Chinese government and engaging in money laundering. As a Taiwanese immigrant, Jerry is frightened; there must be a misunderstanding. The person on the other end of the line is very persistent and convinces Jerry to work as a secret agent for the police, and he eventually wires up to $1 million from his bank account in order to protect himself. After Jerry transfers the last of his life savings and realizes this was all a scam, he shares what's happened with his son, who is a filmmaker in New York City. The father-son duo then decide the best way to share Jerry's unfortunate experience and alert other families is to create a documentary film. And in this heartbreaking yet -warming film, Jerry plays himself.

Lisa is an avid concertgoer with extensive experience buying and selling tickets online. So when pop megastar Taylor Swift announces she's coming to town, Lisa is determined to find the highly sought-after tickets for her teenage daughter and her three friends. After messaging dozens of online ticket sellers and weeding out apparent scams, she finally finds a local man selling four tickets. She is reassured when he offers to transfer the tickets to her via Apple Wallet before receiving payment. The tickets look great, and the girls are overjoyed. When a friend raises suspicions, Lisa drives to the box office to verify the tickets only to discover that they are very convincing fakes.

Wayde McKelvy and Troy Wragg stir up enthusiasm for their company, Mantria, and a green energy revolution they promise in the form of a product called "biochar." Their "garbage to gold" scheme attracts scores of investors and even the attention of former President Bill Clinton. But soon the Securities and Exchange Commission discovers that Mantria is a Ponzi scheme, laced with bogus claims and false promises of enormous returns, ultimately defrauding investors out of millions of dollars.

In Part 2 of this 2019 episode, after losing her job and breaking up with her boyfriend in the same day, a distraught Debra pays a visit to a psychic. Little does Debra know that the shop is part of a larger criminal organization, and psychic Sylvia Mitchell is a scammer who has stolen hundreds of thousands of dollars from her clients. A series of readings leads to Sylvia stealing $28,000 of Debra's money and cutting off communication. Debra enlists the help of Bob Nygaard, a private investigator and retired police officer who specializes in psychic scams. Together, they bring Sylvia Mitchell to justice.

In this 2019 episode, Debra is a divorced mother and ballroom dancer who travels between her home in Florida and her boyfriend's home in New York City, where she trains with her dance partner. When Debra loses her part-time job in New York and breaks up with her boyfriend on the same day, she's distraught. Without the extra income from her job and a place to stay with her boyfriend, Debra knows she'll have to quit ballroom dancing — even though she and her partner have been climbing the ranks on the Pro-Am circuit. During a walk in Greenwich Village, Debra sees a psychic shop she's often passed by before and decides to stop in, hoping to find answers. Instead of finding answers, Debra finds herself in a five-year odyssey, desperately trying to find justice and trying to get back $28,000 that was stolen from her.

Hoping to build her hobby into a business, Penny takes an online training course in social media marketing. After this initial small investment, she is flooded with calls from companies selling different website services. They promise big returns, but her investment of more than $30,000 with multiple companies doesn't lead to a single sale. Penny reports the scam, but it's not until she gets a call from a news producer that she learns that the person behind the scheme is none other than The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City star Jen Shah.

Consumers write far fewer checks than they did in the past, so it may seem surprising that the once-common crime of check washing is making a dramatic comeback. Criminals steal a check out of the mail, wash off the payee's name and other information, and then cash the check and steal money from the owner's account. In this episode, we'll learn how the crime is evolving and becoming more violent, putting mail carriers in danger, as well as how you can safeguard your checks from falling into the hands of criminals.

Retiree Susan moves from California to a beautiful Victorian home in Montana to be closer to her son and his growing family. One day, Susan notices some unusual charges from her Amazon account. She takes all the necessary steps to dispute and resolve the charges, but a few weeks later, she receives a call from "Amazon" informing her of additional fraudulent activity on her account. This call and the subsequent investigation by a man posing as a DEA agent, will put everything that Susan has, including that Victorian home, in jeopardy.

Derek Alldred has spent decades using fake identities to date and steal money from hundreds of women around the country. He's been arrested numerous times on fraud charges, but Derek skips town as soon as he is released on bail, and resumes committing his crimes in a new location. This time is different: After Derek drains Linda's retirement account and leaves her in debt, she is determined to see him get his due. She bands together with other women also deceived by Derek, and they finally bring this serial romance scammer to justice.

After her divorce, Linda decides to take a chance on online dating. She's pleasantly surprised to make an instant connection with a man named Rich. He's handsome, charismatic and has an impressive résumé — a Navy reservist working on his PhD. The relationship progresses quickly, with Linda and her young son moving into Rich's new house. One day Linda receives a troubling message from a woman name Missi who claims to also be dating Rich. Linda discovers that he's been lying to them both. His real name is Derek Alldred and he has a criminal record a mile long, stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from numerous women. Linda and Missi decide they have to do something to keep this serial romance scammer from finding his next target.

In this bonus episode, Bob sits down with David Etue, CEO of Nisos, The Managed Intelligence Company®, to discuss a fascinating study his team recently conducted to learn more about criminal online activity to better protect online users. For the study, "Catphishing the Catphisher," researchers set up fake social media profiles and waited for criminals to connect in hopes of engaging in conversation. Although they expected the study to take several months, maybe even a year, Etue and his team were quite surprised with such quick results. Wait until you hear what happens.

In part 2, a call from Reuters journalist Brian Grow confirms Diana's worst fears about what really happened to her stepfather's remains. As Brian digs deeper into the story, the truth he uncovers about Sunset Mesa Funeral Home and the body brokering scheme is worse than anyone could have imagined. The conviction of Megan Hess brings some needed closure to families devastated by her shocking betrayal of trust.

Planning a loved one's burial or cremation is a difficult experience under the best of circumstances. When Diana's stepfather, Cactus, gets sick during the early stages of Alzheimer's and sees a billboard advertising simple cremations for $695 at Sunset Mesa Funeral Home, he requests that his family cremate him and not spend a lot of money. But when Cactus dies and his cremains go missing under mysterious circumstances, it sets off a series of events that not only exacerbates the family's grief, but also tips off a lengthy investigation by Reuters journalists that rocks a small community in western Colorado and exposes the dark, unregulated side of the body trade industry.

In part 2, Philadelphia homeowners fight to be released from their 40-year contracts with MV Realty. Complaints from all over the city and the state reach the Pennsylvania attorney general, who files a lawsuit against the company for allegedly misleading consumers. Attorneys general in several other states follow suit, and state lawmakers race to take action against what they call unfair real estate agreements.

Homeowners all over Philadelphia are being inundated with ads for MV Realty's Homeowner Benefit Program on social media, through robocalls, and some people even receive a knock on their door. The pitch is simple: Get a quick cash payment in exchange for a promise to use MV Realty as their real estate agent if they decide to sell their home in the future. Many homeowners say they were never informed that the contract is for 40 years and MV Realty can take out a mortgage on their home.

After the loss of the family dog, Tana is determined to find a new canine companion for her husband who suffers from dementia. Hoping to surprise him for Christmas, Tana finds a breeder online and sends payment, but the puppy doesn't arrive, and the breeders keep asking for more money for expenses. Hear how investigators from Google's CyberCrime Investigation Group follow leads on these types of crimes every day, leading to international arrests and litigation.

Huntington, West Virginia, is an idyllic college town on the Ohio River, but it's also the epicenter of a massive international internet crime ring. Federal prosecutor Katie Robeson hasn't been on the job long when she learns that a woman in Huntington is acting as money mule, transferring millions of dollars overseas. Following the money, Katie and her team uncover an elaborate network of criminals, based in Huntington, targeting people all over the country.

In this special episode of The Perfect Scam, Bob hosts a roundtable discussion on changing the conversation around victim blaming. Far too often, the blame for financial fraud is directed at the victims rather than the criminals. This keeps victims from speaking up and enables the crimes to continue. Bob welcomes special guests: Kate Kleinert, a romance scam survivor-turned-advocate; Paul Greenwood, a former prosecutor and head of San Diego's Elder Abuse Prosecution Unit; and Mark Solomon, former police detective and president of the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators.

This April marks five years of "The Perfect Scam" podcast! Since launching in 2018, we've brought you stories of fraud told by the people who lived them, stories of trauma but also of bravery and triumph. With the FTC reporting a staggering $8.8 billion in losses to scammers in 2022, we remain committed to continue bringing you the very latest information and resources to give you power over scams.

In Part 2, criminals are running the grandparent scam all over the San Diego area. Often crimes like this go unsolved, but FBI agent Brady Finta and his law enforcement partners believe this situation is unique. There is a video and an eyewitness. Arresting the messenger who took Susan's $9,000 might just bring down an entire criminal operation. But investigators must proceed carefully.

When Susan gets a frantic call from her "grandson" saying he's been in a terrible accident, she doesn't waste any time. She rushes to get him the $9,000 he requested for legal fees, but as soon as she hands the money to the courier, the phone line goes dead. She knows instantly that it was a scam. Similar crimes are popping up all over her area, and the stack of case files is pretty big by the time it lands on FBI agent Brady Finta's desk.

As FBI Special Agent Cook and partners at the Department of Health and Human Services dig deeper into the records of Novus Healthcare, they are shocked to find fraud every step of the way. From falsifying required doctor visits to providing kickbacks to referring doctors, Novus CEO Bradley Harris and doctors, nurses and administrators are driven by greed. Together, the hospice group defrauded Medicare of more than $27 million and may have contributed to the premature deaths of countless patients.

Hospice is an essential service that many families depend on during a difficult time, but the combination of loved ones under emotional stress plus hospice benefits provided by Medicare can attract unscrupulous operators. When Judy's mother enters care with Novus Healthcare, a Dallas-based hospice provider, Judy soon realizes that something isn't right. Rather than providing comfort, Novus staff push back on even the most basic care requests. Meanwhile, Novus and its CEO, Bradley Harris, are attracting the attention of FBI Special Agent Thomas Cook. What he and his colleagues uncover is even worse than they imagined.

In this bonus episode, Bob Sullivan invites anti-fraud activists Frank McKenna and Ayelet Biger-Levin to take stock of where we are in the fight against fraud and look ahead to the trends listeners should watch for in 2023. Learn how criminals exploit advances in technology (such as bots, deep fakes and ChatGPT) and how an old scam is making a big comeback.

In part 2, Jill Alper has already made a $10,000 investment in Dr. Dan's medical spa business when her friend Holly Saunders learns that he is a con man with a lengthy criminal record. Determined to stop him from targeting his next victim, the friends team up with the FBI to lay a trap for Dr. Dan, culminating with a dramatic sting operation at a restaurant.

Longtime friends Jill Alper and Holly Saunders are dazzled when they meet Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Dr. Dan, a man of many talents and interests. When Dr. Dan invites them to invest in his medical spa business, Jill dives in with a $10,000 offering. Holly, though, is beginning to think Dr. Dan may not be the man he claims. Will this scammer be any match for these friends when they team up with the FBI?

Five months after a hung jury, Chemirmir is again brought to trial. This time a conviction brings a much-needed feeling of justice. But family members brought together by this tragedy won't stop until they've made a difference by helping protect all seniors. In Part 4, the last in our series, AARP's Tina Tran shares how ageism and missed opportunities on the part of institutions and law enforcement allowed Chemirmir to go undetected, and she offers tips on how we can best protect our loved ones.

The arrest of Billy Chemirmir and the identification of more victims confirm the suspicions of many family members. Chemirmir has even been working as a home health care worker under an assumed name in the home of one of his victims. Law enforcement builds its case and takes it to trial, but will the families get the justice they deserve?

Reports of a suspicious person, posing as a maintenance worker, entering Dallas-area independent living communities are followed by an attack on a resident. The survivor's description leads police to a man who has a history of trespassing. Could a victim's jewelry box be the evidence they need to catch him?

Four women move to independent living communities in the Dallas area, hoping to continue enjoying their active lives in the security of their new homes. They are each found dead in their apartments in 2016, and their deaths are ruled as due to natural causes, but missing jewelry and strange circumstances raise suspicions among family members.

The Perfect Scam returns on December 2nd with a special 4-part series in connection with AARP – The Magazine. Host Bob Sullivan takes a deep dive into this tragic tale of deceit, stolen identity, murder, and ultimately, the fatal ageism that permitted a killer to continue his spree for years.

After 25-year-old Niki Hutchinson loses her mother, she uses some of her inheritance to start fresh in California. Not knowing anyone, she does what many people do today and joins a dating app to make connections. She develops a friendship with a man named Hao and, in time, he offers to teach her how to invest in cryptocurrency. With some small successes and lots of encouragement from Hao, she dives in and invests her inheritance, plus some of her dad's money as well. That's when her friend becomes less helpful.

When Sheratan Johnson receives a call from an unknown number, she's startled to hear the man on the other end of the line claim he's kidnapped her daughter from gymnastics class. Hearing her daughter's screams, Sheraton follows all the kidnapper's demands, and also texts her ex-husband, Brian, who goes into battle mode. Armed and ready to take on the kidnapper, he races across the city to get their daughter back, leading to a dramatic confrontation at a foreclosed house.

In Part 2 of this special report, we look further into the dark side of the gift card market, where criminals turn gift cards into a tool to steal money from unsuspecting consumers in a way that's completely untraceable and irreversible. We'll hear from University of Minnesota researcher Marti DiLiema, who conducted a study with undercover shoppers, and delve into whether retailers' efforts to combat gift card fraud are successful.

Many people see the colorful racks of plastic gift cards in checkout lines as convenient last-minute gifts. But criminals see a tool to steal money from unsuspecting consumers in a way that's completely untraceable and irreversible. The crime is so common that Americans report the theft of $50 million via gift cards every three months, and many other cases are never reported. In this two-part special report, we meet three people who share their experiences with scams involving gift card payments and find out what researchers have discovered about measures to combat this pervasive form of fraud.

Remote work, which was a necessity for many during the pandemic, is now commonplace. While it's hard to beat the commute, criminals are paying close attention to this trend too. In this episode, a recent MBA graduate lands what feels like her dream job at a start-up that advocates for women's empowerment. The company culture is great and the job is interesting. But when her paychecks never show up, she begins to suspect the work-from-home job is too good to be true.

Phone scams are about as old as the telephone itself, and while the world keeps changing, phone scams stick around … and the criminals get savvier. These days, the typical American consumer gets around 200 robocalls a year. In this bonus episode, our host Bob Sullivan sits down with Alex Quilici, the CEO of YouMail, a robocall data center, to discuss why these phone scams are still so common, how they've evolved and what you can do to protect yourself.

Devastated to learn that her fiancé, celebrity surgeon Paolo Macchiarini, has been lying to her, journalist Benita Alexander calls off the wedding and begins investigating the man she was planning to give up her career and move halfway around the world for. When she goes public with her story, she learns that a Swedish journalist, Bo Lindquist, is about to expose the deadly truth behind the doctor's miracle surgeries.

Journalist Benita Alexander is swept off her feet by a dashing Italian doctor, Paolo Macchiarini, while filming a documentary about his miraculous surgeries. They become engaged and plan a lavish dream wedding, to be attended by celebrities and officiated by none other than Pope Francis himself. But before the wedding can happen, Benita makes a discovery that may prove the doctor is not all he claims to be.

In Part 2, after Tom and Dianne's computer and bank accounts are hacked, they rely on a bank fraud investigator named Marcus to guide them through the lengthy process of moving their money to safe accounts. But when Tom asks to see a paper trail, Marcus suddenly disappears — with their $600,000 in life savings. Tom and Dianne are left to pick up the pieces with the help of friends and family.

For many, computers have been the connection to the outside world during the pandemic. When Dianne and Tom are hacked, they find that connection suddenly cut off. Worse yet, the retired professors' bank accounts and entire life savings are now at risk. Frantic, they work with a bank employee to move their money to safe accounts, which includes meeting couriers to transfer boxes of cash.

In Part 2, Darlene Asher, as the head of her local dart league, has been leading the charge to help Jeremiah Jon Smith, who they believe is dying from cancer. But when Jeremiah's wife leaves him, she shares her doubts with Darlene about his illness. A police investigation reveals the devastating truth: Jeremiah has been faking his cancer and exploiting his friends' generosity in order to line his pockets.

Darlene Asher is the head of her local Minnesota dart league, a close-knit group of dart enthusiasts who rally around champion dart player Jeremiah Jon Smith when they learn he is dying from cancer. They raise thousands through fundraisers and a GoFundMe page, going as far as paying for Jeremiah's wedding. It seems like they're doing the right thing, so why does Darlene have doubts?

In the second part of our special report, Bob sits down with experts to learn why cryptocurrency-based scams, like the one Mei Mei experienced, are exploding in popularity. Amy Nofziger, director of victim support, shares stories from the AARP Fraud Watch Network™ Helpline, and Kathy Stokes, director of fraud prevention, discusses changes that are needed to protect consumers. Cryptocurrency scholar Lee Reiners provides a big-picture view of why crypto enables scams.

The first part of our special report delves into one cryptocurrency scam. Mei Mei, who is looking for her dream job, starts building her professional network on LinkedIn. When one of her connections invites her to invest in cryptocurrency, she is cautious, doing her research on the company and making only a small initial investment. When it pays off, her confidence grows and she decides to invest a significant amount of money, with devastating results.

When a scammer posing as a Bank of America employee steals the money for Lura's new baking business, she is left feeling hopeless. But with a little encouragement from her sister, Lura seeks help from her local TV station and gets results, at the same time bringing needed attention to a growing problem of fraud in person-to-person payment apps.

After many years in the corporate world, Lura decides to turn her passion for baking into a small business. She secures a loan, perfects her recipes and then, the day after her big launch, her bank calls. They tell her she's been hacked and helpfully walk her through the steps to recover the funds. When she calls back the bank, though, she's stunned to learn that it wasn't her bank who called at all, but an impersonator. Her money is gone. Will her dreams of owning her own business also disappear?

With over 2 million subscribers, Scammer Payback captivates YouTube viewers with his ability to spot scams and flip the script on the scammers. In this special interview, host Bob Sullivan sits down with Scammer Payback (also known as Pierogi) and learns more about the man and the methods behind his successful channel. They'll talk about how Pierogi got started, his most interesting confrontations, his experiences inside the call centers where these scammers work, and his tips for listeners on how to stay safe and keep their information secure.

In this bonus episode, host Bob Sullivan welcomes special guest Alexis Conran. Conran's insight into the mind of a con man comes from acting as one on the popular BBC show The Real Hustle. On the series, Conran, an actual trained magician, and his team perpetrate scams on unsuspecting consumers and then reveal the crimes to the victims (now in the hundreds), all in the name of educating the public. Conran discusses what he's learned about the criminal mindset and what he has identified as the elements of deception.