The Perfect Scam

When Manny, an Air Force veteran living in Las Vegas, loses his wife of 62 years, he turns to playing Publishers Clearing House online games to help ease his loneliness. He is thrilled when, one day, he receives a call from Publishers Clearing House informing him that he has won a $7.5 million prize. Manny dreams of finally replacing his old water heater, fixing up his house, and leaving a substantial legacy for his children, but first he must pay fees to release the prize money. The scam continues for months, draining Manny's savings, until Manny's daughter receives a call from an FBI agent. The story has a hopeful ending as local media and businesses come to Manny's aid.

David is a retiree who remains active in his Florida community, but he would like to have someone to share his life with. When an Indiana woman named Bonnie strikes up a friendship with David on Facebook, he is delighted but cautious. A video call is reassuring, and their relationship deepens over several months. They make plans to move in together after Bonnie completes a large interior design job in Australia. Bonnie will be paid millions for the job, so when she needs to borrow $25,000 to pay the upfront cost for workers, David is confident she will pay him back. But when the bank notifies him of another transfer from his home equity line of credit, David knows that Bonnie is a fraud and possibly an AI creation. Ricardo Amper, founder and CEO of Incode Technologies, explains the surprising ways AI may be used in scams and why the best tool to combat AI scams may just be … AI.

Employment scams are one of the fastest growing types of fraud. The recent surge can be traced to several post-pandemic factors that make these crimes even easier for criminals. In this episode, we will hear from a job seeker and an employer who've both been affected, as well as an expert who shares the red flags job seekers should be on the alert for.

Have you ever thought about who might be on the other end of those scam calls and messages we all receive? The answer could be far more sinister than you might imagine. The "scammer" may also be a victim of human trafficking. These people are lured by the promise of well-paid jobs to travel to countries in Southeast Asia and are then forced to work in prison-like scam compounds. A BBC journalist and brave volunteers work to expose this brutal practice.

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, she begins to suspect the work-from-home job is too good to be true.