The Perfect Scam

Michael and Kelli are empty nesters after their three adult children move out, and they aren’t prepared for how quiet and lonely the house becomes when their two dogs suddenly die. The couple turn to the internet, looking for a puppy to help fill the void left in their home and their hearts. Instead of finding a companion, the couple are targeted by criminals who steal almost every penny of their life savings.

Lindsay, an Army veteran and single mother of a young daughter with cystic fibrosis, is taking a much-needed day to reconnect with an old friend over a game of golf. A friendly older man named Rob asks to join them. As they spend the afternoon on the golf course, he tells them that he spends his time raising money for various charities. He even knows of some great opportunities for fundraising for two causes close to Lindsay’s heart: wounded veterans and cystic fibrosis. But as soon as she hands over the money, Rob stops returning her phone calls.

In part 2 of this 2021 episode, Rookie FBI agent Mike meets 80-year-old Alan, who has sent $600,000 to “friends” he met online. Typically, international scammers are notoriously hard to prosecute. After hearing that Alan visited the scammers in the Middle East and Africa, though, Mike senses a unique opportunity to lure the con artists to the United States. The pair devise a scheme so that the swindlers can be arrested and convicted of their crimes.

In this 2021 episode, after 80-year-old Alan returns from a trip to the Middle East and Africa, where he visited new “friends” he made online, his wife grows suspicious that he’s involved in a scam and contacts the FBI. That’s when rookie FBI agent Mike gets involved. Over the next nine months, Alan becomes Mike’s informant as they work to prosecute scammers who aren’t even on American soil.

In part 2, James is becoming suspicious of the people who are “helping” him sell his Lake Tahoe time-share. After several months of paying fees, he learns that he’s in the middle of a common, and dangerous, time-share resale scam. The people he thinks are real estate agents are actually members of a notorious Mexican cartel who have shifted their business from drug trafficking to the even more lucrative business of scams.

When James receives a call from a company offering to sell his Lake Tahoe time-share, he jumps at the chance to off-load it. They find a buyer in Mexico and draw up a contract through an escrow company in New York City. James is told he only has to pay a fee to transfer the property, which will be reimbursed by the buyer. Unexpected fees and expenses continue to pile up, but James does not get any closer to completing the sale. Little does he know that his time-share sale is connected to a dangerous Mexican drug cartel.

Jody and her husband love to travel, and they love to save up credit card reward points to make their family vacations more affordable. When they start getting notifications that some of their points have been redeemed without their permission, they are led on a monthslong ordeal to secure their accounts from criminals who are turning those hard-earned points into cash.

The pandemic is tough for Victor’s small business, but the loan he receives from the Paycheck Protection Program is a lifeline. Years later, he receives a call from someone claiming to be from the sheriff’s office. The caller says Victor's loan application has been flagged as fraudulent and he must pay the money back right away or face arrest. Victor doesn’t realize that his loan information is public and easily accessible to scammers, who use it to their advantage.

Lorraine is grieving her father when she receives a letter claiming to be from Florida Power & Light notifying her to contact them. A kind "operator" named Anna walks her through the process of switching the account from her father to setting up a new one in her name and paying a deposit. A few weeks later, a notice from the real Florida Power & Light arrives in Lorraine’s mailbox and she realizes Anna wasn’t who she said she was. The criminals have gotten away with the $300 deposit, and the information they have stolen is much more valuable.

Amid quickly changing technology and social trends, criminals are constantly developing new methods of defrauding consumers. In this bonus episode, Bob talks with Amy Nofziger of the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline to discuss six of the fastest-growing scams. These include new forms of check fraud, celebrity impersonation, sweepstakes and grandparent scams, along with the technology of voice printing and scams related to the upcoming summer Olympics.