Episodios

  • Dream Kitchen Renovation Ruined by a Scam
    Mar 14 2025

    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 the payment. Suzi and Gary discover that they are the victims of a BEC (business email compromise) scam.

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    45 m
  • PayPal Impostor Scam Steals Priest's Life Savings
    Mar 7 2025

    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 his bank account has been compromised. Within weeks, every penny of his life savings had been stolen. But all is not lost, as former students and parishioners rally to support him.

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    40 m
  • Family Fights to Disentangle Father from Romance Scam, Part 2
    Feb 28 2025

    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 take an even more tragic turn.

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    44 m
  • Family Fights to Disentangle Father from Romance Scam, Part 1
    Feb 21 2025

    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.

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    37 m
  • Archive Episode: Woman’s Inheritance Wiped Out in Crypto-Dating Scam
    Feb 14 2025

    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.

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    58 m
  • Job Seekers Targeted by a Work-From-Home Reshipping Scam
    Feb 7 2025

    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. It seems like the perfect job for a while, but when they offer her a promotion to purchasing agent, it could end up putting their home in jeopardy.

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    41 m
  • Phony Home Contractors Steal Over $450,000
    Jan 31 2025

    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 daughter is suspicious, and when she finds out that the work has cost her father over $450,000, she jumps into action to help catch the criminals.

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    50 m
  • Minnesota Man Caught in Blind Mule Drug Trafficking Scam
    Jan 24 2025

    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 Mozambique with little hope of ever getting out, and his daughter, Nicole, fears for her diabetic father's life. Rodney is what is sometimes called a blind mule, a victim who was persuaded to transport money or contraband for a criminal gang, an unwitting participant in a serious crime. Journalist Mariana van Zeller, host of National Geographic Television's Trafficked, tells his story.

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    49 m