The Perfect Scam

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...

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 enforcemen...

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 2 nd 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 div...

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 thei...

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 com...

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 spec...

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...

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...

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...

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 cla...

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...

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 schola...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Matthew, a one-time wealthy investment star, has a rare and deadly form of brain cancer. In Part 2, on a trip to the bank, Matthew's mother, Jan, is shocked to discover that her son's bank accounts are nearly empty. Even worse, Matthew is convinced the police are coming to arrest him at any moment. Jan, who lives in California, and Matthew's brother, Justin, who lives in North Carolina, have to wo...