The Perfect Scam

Single mother Sara is growing suspicious of the man she met online. He claims to be an Army major stationed in South Africa, but Sara's family worries she's being scammed. Meanwhile, another woman approaches law enforcement to report that she's been swindled out of thousands of dollars by the same man in a romance scam.

Sara thought she knew everything about the Army major and single father she met online. After months talking she found herself falling for him. But what Sara didn't know was that the man she'd fallen in love with was actually the ringleader of a romance scam that bilked nearly $2 million from its victims.

On this special episode of The Perfect Scam, Frank breaks down all the ways fraudsters try to scam you through voicemail and email by claiming to be everything from IRS agents to bank officials. Frank gives the skinny on each scam, who's behind them, and what you should and shouldn't do if you get a scam message. Plus, the show producers share their own voicemails from scammers.

Bryon, a retired pastor, thought he'd met his dream girl online. For five years he conversed over the internet with Joy, who claimed to live in London. So when Joy asked Bryon to transport real estate papers, he had no idea he was being used in an elaborate plot to smuggle drugs. Bryon is one of hundreds of Americans over the age of 60 who were conned into unwittingly serving as drug mules in what the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging calls one of the worst scams it has uncovered.

Every year thousands of Americans get fraudulent calls from con artists claiming to be from the IRS. Working from call centers around the world, these fraudsters pressure targets with threats of jail, liens and garnished wages to scam them out of money. We uncover how these call centers work and speak to a 19-year-old who helped the FTC shut down one of the largest.

Jeff has lived for decades as a couch-surfing con man preying on the kindness of the outdoors community. He spins tales of hikes he's never completed and exploits the sympathy of his marks with sad stories of his past to rip them off. Now Jeff's lies are finally catching up with him. After stealing a car and credit cards, the con man has turned fugitive with the police hot on his trail.

When Melissa met Jeff Cantwell online, the two connected immediately. He was friendly, well spoken and shared her love of the outdoors. Jeff told Melissa stories of the daunting hikes he'd completed and shared the tragic loss of his family in a car accident. But these were just stories: In reality, Jeff "Cantwell" was Jeff Caldwell, a con man who'd spent decades ripping off members of the close-knit outdoor community.

Deep within the internet is the dark web, a space where criminals can anonymously buy and sell illegal goods and private information. Known as the "original internet godfather," Brett Johnson created one of the dark web's first online stores where criminals bought stolen credit cards, Social Security numbers, drugs and guns. After serving seven years in prison, Brett turned his back on criminal enterprise and became a consultant for the Secret Service. Brett walks us through how he became a con man, why he changed his ways and how you can protect yourself from cybercriminals.

A prominent philanthropist and the epicenter of the New York society scene, Brooke Astor lived a tumultuous but glamourous life. Left a fortune by her third husband, Vincent Astor, Brooke planned to live out her later years at her country estate. But when Brooke's son refuses to let her do so, then sells his mother's favorite painting (worth over $30 million), grandson Philip decides to step in. Philip's efforts to return his grandmother to the country home she loved would uncover one of the most prominent cases of financial elder abuse in U.S. history, with millions lost and a family torn apart.

MSNBC anchor Richard Lui commutes from New York to San Francisco to help care for his father. Stephen Lui, who spent his career as a pastor and social worker, is now retired and suffers from dementia. After Stephen responds to mail from scammers, they begin bombarding him with hundreds of calls asking for money for fake charities and lotteries. But the Luis' story is about more than being scammed, it's about Richard and his family's dedication to caring for Stephen.