The Perfect Scam

In this 2021 episode, after 72-year-old Steve Steele's life partner passes away, his housekeeper, Elizabeth, offers to work as his caregiver. Over time, Elizabeth takes over Steve's finances, even persuading him to deed her his homes. It all comes to a head one Christmas Eve, when Elizabeth accuses Steve, who can hardly stand or walk, of assault, and the police cart him off to jail for months. Whe...

Longtime homeowners on Chicago's West Side trust Mark Diamond to help them access funds and carry out necessary home repairs. However, they are often unaware that they are entering into reverse mortgage agreements. The repairs are never completed, and Diamond disappears with the money, leaving families desperately struggling to save their homes from foreclosure.

Douglas is enjoying a second career as an artist, selling his paintings online and in gallery shows. People occasionally ask about non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of his work. Still, he never gives it too much thought until a woman on LinkedIn approaches him with what seems like the opportunity of a lifetime. Her company can convert his artwork to an NFT for free and sell it for him. He signs a contrac...

When Chloe's mom experiences a medical emergency, Chloe rushes to be by her side. Amid the stress and chaos of the following days, her mother's cat, Percy, slips out one evening. Chloe and her family do everything they can to find him, but after several days, Percy still hasn't returned. Then, they receive a call from the   "Tampa Bay Humane Society"   stating that Percy has been hit by a car and...

In part two, law enforcement narrows in on Kota Youngblood and his scheme to steal millions of dollars from neighbors and fellow hockey league parents. His cruel lies have many believing that his life and, in some cases, their own lives are in danger from a Mexican drug cartel. The stories are so convincing that some victims are hesitant to talk to the FBI.

Kota Youngblood is known as a larger-than-life character in his small Texas town, spinning wild tales of military service and work as an undercover federal agent to his neighbors and acquaintances from his son's hockey league. His deceptions – from investments in rare coins and sports memorabilia to stories about drug cartels and kidnappings – steal millions and send one family into hiding. 

In this bonus episode, Bob sits down with Josh Margolin, writer and director of the action and comedy film,  Thelma,  to discuss Josh's real-life inspiration – his 104-year-old grandmother, Thelma, and her frightening experience as a scam victim. Josh took the experience to heart, especially because the criminal pretended to be him.  Thelma is winner of the 2025 AARP Movies for Grownups Award for...

Jordan is a star athlete and homecoming king who is packing for a beach vacation when he receives a message on Instagram. The account is of an attractive girl named Dani. Jordan exchanges flirty messages with her, and eventually, she convinces him to send an explicit photo of himself. That's when everything changes. Dani threatens to send the photo to his family and friends if he doesn't pay $1,00...

In part 2, US Postal Inspector Cory McManus is hot on the trail of criminals running an elaborate romance scam network. After identifying dozens of victims, he arrests two suspects who've been acting as money mules. They quickly give up information about how the scam works and the name of the ringleader, Wisdom Onyobeno, who lives in Atlanta. Onyobeno's many victims finally get justice when he ple...

When Debbie's mother passes away suddenly, she is not prepared for what she finds. While sorting through financial records and paperwork, she discovers correspondence with the US Postal Inspection Service and letters to a victim's advocate. Debbie learns that her mother was hiding the painful secret that she was the victim of a romance scam that had stolen over $400,000 from her. But a US Postal I...

In this 2021 episode, when Shirley Gibson learns that her property in Miami's historic West Grove neighborhood has been sold by someone using a forged deed, she is determined to fight. Working together with journalist Phil Prazen and lawyer David Winker, they uncover an elaborate real estate scam targeting dozens of elderly property owners in this historically Black neighborhood. Law enforcement i...

In this 2021 episode, Miami's historic West Grove neighborhood has recently become a hot real estate market. So hot, in fact, that it has attracted the attention of scammers. It wasn't always so. Shirley Gibson's family has owned property in West Grove since her great-grandmother immigrated from the Bahamas over 100 years ago. Now in her 80s, Shirley had hoped to pass on the property to her niece...

Suzi and Gary retire to Tucson and find the perfect house with a less-than-perfect kitchen. They love to cook and entertain, so they put their energy and money into renovating their dream kitchen. Construction starts and is going smoothly until the payment for cabinets is due. The designer requests immediate payment by wire transfer, but a week later they discover that the designer never received...

Retired priest, Father Robert Banzin, has devoted his life to the service of others. Now in his 80s, he continues to preach every Sunday at his Chicago-area parish. Father Bob, as he is known in his community, gets an alarming email claiming that his PayPal account had been used for a purchase on eBay. Concerned, he calls a number he believes to be PayPal's customer service and is informed that hi...

In part 2, Chris and his family try without success to stop their father, Alfred, from sending money to a series of criminals he met online – some claiming to need medical care and one even impersonating WWE wrestler Alexa Bliss. One day when Alfred comes to him asking for a $5,000 loan, Chris thinks it could be a turning point. The optimism is short-lived, however, as Alfred's story will soon tak...

When Alfred's sons notice unusual transactions on their dad's bank statements, they start asking questions. But Alfred's reaction tells them that there is much more to the story than he is letting on. The family spends the next several years trying desperately to disentangle their father from various scams, one even involving an online romance with an impostor posing as WWE wrestler Alexa Bliss.

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 Cathy's disabled husband loses his Medicaid coverage, she must look for a job to help pay the rent. The retired Army   Reserve   veteran has impressive work experience, so when she puts her resume online, she almost immediately gets an offer. The job is for a shipping company, receiving, inspecting, and forwarding   packages,   and it allows her to work from home while caring for her husband....

80-year-old David lives in a tight-knit community, frequently helping his neighbors with yard care and other tasks. So when he gets a knock on the door from two brothers claiming they are working on his neighbor's home, and noticed a hole in his roof, David agrees to let them fix it. But one repair turns into many as the brothers find more and more work that needs to be done on his house. David's...

Rodney Baldus, a retired truck driver from Minnesota, believes he is the recipient of a large inheritance belonging to his late wife. The inheritance is in Italy, but he is told he must first fly to Africa to sign papers before going on to Italy. Since his travel expenses are all paid for, Rodney is not suspicious of criminal activity. Unfortunately, Rodney is now sitting in a crowded jail cell in...

Ray is retired but always looking for interesting opportunities. So, when he gets a cold call from a whiskey brokerage firm asking if he wants to invest in some of the world's rarest whiskeys, he's intrigued. He meets with a wealth manager, Casey Alexander, who is well-mannered and professional. Ray feels confident investing over $300,000 in whiskey, although around this time, the investment schem...

In this 2023 episode, YouTube star Kitboga has turned scam baiting into performance art, delighting his 3.6 million followers with his many characters and laughs at the expense of online criminals. It started out as pure curiosity, and a way to avenge his grandparents who'd been victims of scams, but along the way, he's helped return money and hijacked accounts to victims, and he's taught a lot of...

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...

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...

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 me...