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AARP’s weekly podcast The Perfect ScamSM tells the stories of people who find themselves the target of a scam. Host Bob Sullivan introduces listeners to those who have experienced scams firsthand, as well as professional con artists and leading experts who pull back the curtain on how scammers operate.
252 Episodes
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In this 2022 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.
1 We use our smartphones for just about everything these days, and that makes them a prime target for scammers. Online banking often relies on a code sent in a text message to verify the account holder's identity, but criminals have figured out a way to impersonate the phone and intercept these messages. This is exactly what happens when Jeff receives an SOS message on his phone, and before the day is over, thieves steal tens of thousands of dollars from him. The good news is, there's a simple thing we can all do to safeguard our phones and our accounts today.
Imagine you've just had everything stolen from you by a ruthless scammer. You are wondering how you will pay your bills, maybe even have enough money to buy food. And then a bill arrives from the IRS – you owe taxes on the stolen money. Unfortunately, scam victims across the country are getting hit with huge tax bills thanks to a change in the tax code a few years ago. In this episode, you'll meet Chester, a retiree from California who is living this very nightmare right now, as well as the lawmakers working on the bipartisan effort to change the tax code.
Thanksgiving is a time for sharing food with family and feeling grateful. It means a lot to Georgete, a struggling mom who just wants to make the holiday special for her kids. She relies on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits to get by, and when her Thanksgiving dinner is essentially stolen from her, she is devastated. The theft is part of a highly organized crime and Georgete is one of hundreds of thousands of victims, resulting in $150 million of taxpayer money stolen by criminals. And the scam is still happening all over the country, hurting an already vulnerable population.
Alice hires a local handyman, Joey, as a live-in caregiver after her shoulder surgery. She recovers, but soon COVID-19 hits, and Joey, who is down on his luck, stays on to help around the house. Alice has known Joey for years and trusts him completely. But one morning when she opens her monthly bank statement, everything about her relationship with Joey changes.
Debbie, a Colorado native and mother of three adult children, leads a fulfilling life of travel, salsa dancing and volunteer work. While her life is full, she would like to have someone to share it with. So, Debbie looks for love online and meets a seemingly great guy named Russell who claims to be a successful businessman. After weeks of daily texts and phone calls, they plan to meet. That’s when things get complicated – Russell, who is dealing with a work crisis overseas, needs her help to make some bank transfers. As a seasoned international traveler, Debbie is familiar with the nuances of accessing money when out of the country and she knows he’ll be good for it if she lends him the money. However, Russell doesn’t turn out to be who he says he is. After Russell steals almost $60,000 from her, Debbie bravely decides to tell her story.
It’s a typical busy day for Amanda as she sees her teenaged daughter off to work. But five minutes later, everything changes when she receives a call from a local number and hears her daughter’s voice crying. A man comes on the line with a chilling threat for Amanda if she doesn’t do exactly what he says. Technologies like AI are making virtual kidnappings and similar scams easier than ever for criminals. Bob talks with Vijay Balasubramaniyan about this ever-evolving technology and how listeners can protect themselves.
Dennis, an 82-year-old proud father and grandfather, makes a connection with a woman he meets on Facebook named Jessie. Jessie claims to have made a lot of money through crypto investments and offers to teach Dennis how she did it. Having developed a trusting relationship with Jessie and hoping to build an inheritance for his family, Dennis decides to invest his savings. When it is revealed that the investments are a scam and Jessie is a fraud, a devastated Dennis takes his own life. Now his son and daughter share his story in hopes of reaching just one person who might be going through a similar situation.
In this 2019 episode, Marlene is enjoying the Atlantic City boardwalk with a friend when a young woman approaches her. The woman introduces herself as Savannah and offers to give Marlene a psychic reading. Figuring it will cost her just a few dollars, Marlene takes her up on the offer. Savannah takes Marlene back to her shop. During the reading she picks up on many of the troubles Marlene is facing in her personal life. Having gained Marlene’s trust, Savannah offers her various items for sale in the shop, promising that they will solve her problems. Marlene chooses a few things within her budget to purchase and starts to leave. But Savannah’s not done with her yet. She gives Marlene her phone number with an offer to continue to help her. It all seems innocent to Marlene, but this chance encounter with a boardwalk psychic will morph into a long, complex relationship that will leave her nearly broke.
In Part 2 of this 2022 episode, 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.
In this 2022 episode, 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?
Kim is grieving the tragic death of her son, who was serving in the Army, when she learns that she is the sole beneficiary of his military death benefit. To help with financial decisions at such a vulnerable time, an adviser named Caz Craffy is offered by the military. Kim plans to use the money to buy a home, but Craffy insists that she make investments in stocks of specific interest to him. One day Kim is contacted by the FBI and learns that Craffy is under investigation for redirecting military benefits to investments that pay him high commissions.
Neill is a successful ER physician and business owner who has regrets after a recent missed investment opportunity that proved to be lucrative. So he jumps on board after meeting Clinton Herzog who is offering buy-ins for his dental clinic chain in Austin, Texas. Unfortunately, this new investment opportunity turns out to be a classic Ponzi scheme and Clinton disappears with hundreds of thousands of dollars from the doctor and his friends.
The Publishers Clearing House Sweepstakes is famous for showing up at winners’ homes with a giant check and transforming lives. So when Kathy receives a call from someone claiming to be from Publishers Clearing House, saying that she’s the next lucky winner, she begins dreaming of all the good she can do for her friends and family. However, after several months of empty promises and tens of thousands of dollars in “taxes” that she must pay upfront, a concerned neighbor convinces Kathy to go to the police.
When Penny signs up for a few magazine subscriptions, she thinks she is helping some kids with a school fundraiser. Little does she know that it will lead to years of harassment from telemarketers and the theft of much of her savings. But it will also lead Penny and her sister Nancy to help bring down a 20-year conspiracy that robbed more than 150,000 victims nationwide of millions of dollars.
In this 2021 episode, an IT professional in the UK who goes by the alias Jim Browning is battling cyber scams. Fed up with robocalls disrupting his day, Jim decides to fight back. As con artists try to scam him, Jim uses his professional training to reverse engineer his way into their computers. With the ability to see everything on these computers, Jim works to thwart their operations and save potential victims.
In this 2021 episode, credit card scammer Lisa Reid’s methods are sophisticated, creative and callous. After gaining credit card information from the wealthy seniors she targets, Lisa goes on lavish shopping sprees at high-end retailers, leaving her victims with bills of hundreds of thousands of dollars. But when one of her victims teams up with the FBI, this credit card con queen is finally brought to justice.
Summer is the prime time for road trips. And as more people are out there on the roads, scammers are eager to cash in. Drivers across the country are receiving fraudulent text messages claiming they have unpaid tolls. In this bonus episode, Bob invites Eva Velasquez from the Identity Theft Resource Center to discuss this trending scam.
Volunteer firefighters are vital to the communities they serve, selflessly giving up their time to provide lifesaving emergency fire, rescue and medical services. So, when the Volunteer Fire Department in Rockville, Maryland, are targeted by a scammer while they are in the process of purchasing two new ambulances, the community comes together to their rescue.
Daniel no longer lives in his hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut, but he still owns a plot of land that was essentially his childhood backyard. When he returns to visit a sick friend, he is shocked to find that a developer has cleared the trees and is halfway through building a luxury home on his property. But how could something like this happen, when the land was never up for sale? Daniel learns how a criminal with forged documents impersonated him and completed the sale without his knowledge.
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great episode! note for Verizon customers...be sure you have your "PUK code" before locking your sim, or you may be locked out of your phone as I was. Getting it unlocked was a huge hassle.
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One almost got me! Came in 3 days after I'd taken a road trip back to my hometown for a funeral. Thank God I was too busy to deal with it right that second and took some time to realize how scammy it felt
wow people are stupid. who falls for this bs?
these dirty old mem don't want to help people, they want to end up with the hot chick. get real
easily the dumbest people I have ever heard of! just next level stupidity
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I feel so bad for this lady but she's putting a lot of responsibility on that of the banks when she went through every step of this multi-day craziness, including lying to the banks when they tried to make sure she wasn't being scammed, over the course of multiple days.
And this airhead was in military intelligence? $1.1million ? Brilliant.