- 4 weeks ago
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00:00Ashton Bingham
00:10My name is Ashton Bingham.
00:11About 10 years ago, I received a call from a scammer.
00:14And I got annoyed, so I decided to film it.
00:16You can't think of something more convincing
00:22than for me to pay off my IRS debt with a Target gift card.
00:25And the video blew up.
00:27That's when I turned to my Russian friend Art Kulik,
00:29and I said, hey, let's turn this into a business
00:32and start a YouTube channel tormenting scammers.
00:34And I said, tormenting scammers?
00:37That sounds fun. Sign me up.
00:39Here we go. Refreshing.
00:44So we amassed millions of subscribers
00:46and devoted our lives to turning the tables on scammers everywhere.
00:50What are you looking for here?
00:51Why are you running if you're not doing anything wrong?
00:53We're not.
00:54Why are you running?
00:55Scammer!
00:56And we've helped shut down some pretty big scam operations.
00:59Then people around the country started reaching out to us
01:04with their own stories of getting scammed.
01:06So how much did they get from you?
01:08Almost $53,000.
01:10Over two.
01:11Over two million.
01:12Yeah.
01:13And the voices of the victims made one thing clear.
01:16We needed help.
01:17Now, we've assembled an elite team of technological experts
01:21we call the Revengers
01:23to help us trick scammers into revealing their identities
01:27and catching them red-handed.
01:29Together, we are hunting down scammers,
01:32whatever they hide.
01:33Unlock it!
01:34And bringing justice to our victims.
01:36Let's go!
01:37Let's go!
01:38Let's go!
01:39Let's go!
01:40You will be tased if you don't get down.
01:41What's going on?
01:42Get on your face!
01:43This is Scammed Getting Even.
01:55All right.
01:56What do we got today, E?
01:57We've got a new submission from Deborah Chattanooga, Tennessee.
02:01If we want, we could Zoom with her today.
02:03All right.
02:04Let's take a look.
02:05Let's take a look.
02:06Chattanooga.
02:07No.
02:08Chattanooga.
02:09Not that Chattanooga is.
02:11I'll worry about the city name.
02:13My 88-year-old mother is the victim of a romance scam.
02:17My mom, Anne Greenhut, was contacted on Facebook
02:20by an unsolicited comment to a post.
02:23This scammer, calling himself Dr. David Mark,
02:26represents himself as an orthopedic surgeon in Iraq.
02:29This has been going on for two years.
02:32She has sent cash, Bitcoin,
02:34but now it's all Apple, Visa, and Amex gift cards.
02:37The financial impact is one thing.
02:40It's the fear and the destruction of our family dynamics.
02:44We see romance scams all the time, and they are just brutal.
02:47Romance scammers leech onto a victim's desire for love
02:50and use that emotional connection
02:52to brainwash them into sending money.
02:55But these scammers don't just steal money.
02:57They built a whole fantasy world around the victim.
03:00And so getting the victims to see the truth
03:02is like shattering an illusion.
03:04I actually want to know, how did she find out?
03:07So let's give her a call.
03:08Let's see what happened.
03:13Deborah!
03:14Hi!
03:15Lovely to meet you. How are you?
03:17I'm great.
03:18It's very nice to meet both of you.
03:20We're excited to learn more and figure out how we can help.
03:22So, start from the beginning.
03:23Okay.
03:24Well, I had heard that my mom was talking to someone online.
03:28She was staying up all night, constantly texting,
03:32and she would hide her phone.
03:33I don't know what's going on.
03:35So, I stole my mom's phone.
03:37So, she was emailing this person by the name of David Mark back and forth.
03:43They were beautiful words.
03:47They told her how special she was.
03:51You know, my mom's, at the time, within the past year, she had lost her husband,
03:56my stepfather, Gary, and she was very vulnerable.
04:00So, she was looking for love in all the wrong places, apparently.
04:05Did he send pictures of himself to your mom?
04:13Yes, yes.
04:14There were numerous pictures, and I saw pictures.
04:19Well, you do know these scammers can steal someone else's image from online easily, right?
04:23I didn't know that.
04:24Oh, yeah.
04:25This is, unfortunately, very, very common.
04:27Scammers often use real people's online profiles as their own to hide their true identity.
04:33They steal from Facebook, Instagram, and so on.
04:36I'm not saying that's what's going on here, but I'm not not saying that.
04:40Whenever you first talked to her directly about this, can you paint that picture?
04:47Well, one of the first things I found was a picture,
04:50and it was my mom with all this cash sitting on her lap,
04:55and I see a photograph of an air bill,
04:58and it was going to someplace in Hialeah, Florida to whomever.
05:03I tried to tell her that this isn't real.
05:06How did she respond?
05:07She said, her guy was real.
05:09Yep.
05:10Did she admit to sending the money?
05:12She couldn't deny it.
05:13How much money has she lost?
05:14I think it's about $30,000.
05:16He wrote to her that he had a box that was in storage,
05:23so this box contains all of his possessions.
05:28They were trying to get a little over $200,000 from her
05:33so he could have the box shipped to her so that when he comes home,
05:39the box will be there.
05:41But she believed all that, and she was trying to get that money.
05:46If she needs to go to assisted living down the road,
05:50that's the money we need to pay for it with.
05:54I put together this package from going through emails and stuff
05:59of what I call the truths about him, and I took it over there,
06:03and I said, okay, Mom, we're going to sit down,
06:05and we're going to go through this.
06:07She totally refused.
06:09So we got in a big fight one day.
06:11I left the house.
06:12She told me that she just owed me.
06:14I'm not her daughter.
06:15He totally turned her completely against me.
06:18The horrible things that she has said to you,
06:21and I know this is hard, but that's the scammer talking.
06:23It's not her.
06:24It's awful.
06:26It's very cult-like, the way that they operate.
06:28They will turn them against every single person in their life.
06:32I have to take care of my mom.
06:34She's all mine now.
06:36There's no one else to take care of her.
06:38I'm so sorry to hear that, Deborah.
06:41I'm a complete mess.
06:42I don't really know the grasp of what's going on.
06:46I want to find this guy really bad.
06:49Oh, not as bad as I do.
06:51That might be...
06:52I think we have like one person ahead of us.
06:55That might be true.
06:56Above us.
06:57But I want to find him real bad.
06:59Deborah, do you think your mom will be okay to meet with us and be open-minded to listen at least like our perspective and give us a chance?
07:09Yes, because she wants to find him.
07:12She wants to get married and live happily ever after.
07:16So we have to come at it very non-judgmental.
07:19She's very fragile.
07:20So to expect an open mind from her, she needs to have an open mind from us in such a way.
07:25Yeah.
07:26So let's come see you.
07:27All right.
07:28Let's get this show on the road.
07:29Tennessee.
07:30Brother, Tennessee.
07:31Let's go.
07:32Let's go.
07:37You better be ready.
07:38Swear to God.
07:39Hurry, yo ass!
07:52Can we go?
07:53Yeah, we can go.
07:54Are you ready?
07:55Yeah, I'm ready.
07:56You need to stop at the freaking cologne store?
07:58Oh, that's actually not a bad idea.
08:01All right.
08:02We gotta get E.
08:03Eli, or as we like to call him E, is the third leg of our tripod.
08:07He's our producer extraordinaire.
08:08He makes things happen.
08:09And we try never to go anywhere without him.
08:11E.
08:12E.
08:13What's happening?
08:14We good?
08:15Oh, yeah.
08:16Chattanooga.
08:17You ready for Chattanooga?
08:18Tennessee.
08:19Here we come.
08:21We still have time for coffee.
08:23Just in case.
08:24At the airport.
08:25Boys, I just got a really strange email from Debra.
08:30Looks like Ann sent it to an email to Debra, but meant to send it to David.
08:37This is crazy.
08:38You guys have to read this.
08:40All right.
08:41So Debra sent this to you?
08:44Yep.
08:45But it's from Ann to David.
08:48So she says, so David, I can't sleep.
08:51How come you have so many pictures of yourself on dating sites?
08:54Do you think I should be concerned about all these photos?
08:56What does it mean?
08:57Where were they all taken?
08:59She's not thinking scammer, she's thinking infidelity.
09:03Yeah.
09:04Debra must have done a search to see where else David Mark's picture exists online and then
09:08probably found it linked to a bunch of dating profiles and then sent it to her mom.
09:12Nothing about this shocks me.
09:14This camera is trying to lure in other victims.
09:17We need to call Debra.
09:18Call her right now.
09:25Hello.
09:26How are you?
09:27Debra.
09:28You can hear us.
09:29Eli showed us email that you just received from Ann.
09:32What is going on?
09:33Well, last night I got on the internet and I was doing some reverse image searches and
09:40all of a sudden, boom, there's pictures from all these dating sites.
09:43So I sent them all to my mom.
09:45So the next morning she sent this email to me and she's breaking up with him and she's
09:51crying her eyes out.
09:52She's totally depressed.
09:53I'm worried now that she's blowing this whole thing.
09:57We have to catch this scammer to get justice for Deb and convince her mom, Ann, that Dr.
10:02Mark is a scammer.
10:03But if the scammer has even the slightest reason to suspect his cover is blown, we might
10:08never get the truth.
10:09Has he responded?
10:10He's texting her right now.
10:11So he's still talking to your mom?
10:13Well, as long as he's still responding.
10:15He's still talking to her.
10:16Okay.
10:17He's still talking to her.
10:18If he's still talking to her, we still have a shot.
10:21Right.
10:22Understand.
10:23We'll keep him on the hook.
10:24We'll see you soon, okay?
10:25Once we're all together, we can solve this.
10:26All right.
10:27Bye-bye.
10:28Okay.
10:29Well, boys, mission is still a go.
10:31Chattanooga, here we come.
10:37All right.
10:38First stop in Tennessee, Deb's house.
10:40She's collected a significant amount of evidence on the scammer.
10:43And the more we understand the case, the better shot we have at managing this entire situation.
10:48How is Anne doing?
10:51She's heartbroken right now.
10:53Yeah.
10:54Because she's been in love with this guy for two years.
10:56Seems like her focus is on the fact that he's maybe seeing other women, not the fact that he's fraudulent.
11:01Absolutely.
11:02Absolutely.
11:03Yeah.
11:04That he's not true to her.
11:05Right.
11:06Tell us about this.
11:07It seems as though you've done some homework before we even got involved.
11:10Wow.
11:11Well, this was early on.
11:13When I stole her phone, I would find tidbits of information.
11:18I would go after it.
11:20Looks like emails I can already see.
11:21Emails, receipts.
11:23Okay, here's all the players.
11:25Here's all the email addresses that she's getting on her phone.
11:29Look how organized and amazing she is.
11:31Key player, second player.
11:32Deb is really on top of this case.
11:34Yeah.
11:35You see, romance scammers will build these fantasy worlds around their victims.
11:39And they often create multiple personas or players to push a single narrative.
11:44This constant confirmation isolates the victim, making the brainwashing far more effective.
11:50Can you give me a brief explanation of who all these people are?
11:54Yeah.
11:55David Mark is the love of her life in Iraq.
11:59Taylor Ceron, I found this name on a Bitcoin receipt.
12:03Then there's Dr. Antonio Anderson Phillips.
12:06Him and Dr. David Mark are apparently colleagues.
12:10And then there's Annette.
12:11Now I know who she is because I traced the trail of the $4,000 that Mama sent to Florida.
12:19Okay.
12:20We got to figure out who she's talking to.
12:22Is a person behind this or persons?
12:24Assuming this identity, we need to find out who that is.
12:28One of the ways that we do that is by kind of injecting ourself into the story somehow.
12:33It's basically called scam baiting.
12:35We can have direct communication with the scammer, social engineer them into making mistakes
12:40and revealing things about themselves.
12:42Scam baiting is our go-to strategy for catching scammers, a craft that we've spent a number of years honing.
12:48Essentially, we get into direct communication with a scammer.
12:52And then using both technological and psychological tactics, we manipulate the scammer into giving up crucial information that will help us identify who they actually are.
13:01And from there, our chances of actually catching them go through the roof.
13:05Is there anyone that you can think of that is in this story that I could maybe pretend to be to communicate with the scammer?
13:14Her grandson, Justin.
13:17What about the scammer?
13:18Does he know that Justin is part of the family?
13:21Oh, yes.
13:22Justin and his grandma are very tight.
13:24The scammer could buy the fact that Justin would go around you.
13:28Yes.
13:29This is great.
13:30If we can pretend to be Justin, and if the scammer knows that Justin and his grandmother are close, we can start manipulating this situation in our favor.
13:38It's the perfect scam baiting opportunity for us.
13:41The biggest, most important thing with all of this, especially when approaching this from a scam baiting perspective, we need Anne on our side.
13:50I want to go meet her.
13:51I want to talk to her.
13:52Also, if it's okay, we can take this.
13:54Absolutely.
13:55We have to do a very deep dive into every page there, and we're going to come and meet your mom.
13:59All right, great.
14:00The meeting with Deb was a strong start, but when we're hunting scammers, we try not to rely on just a single approach.
14:06We have to attack from every possible angle.
14:09So now, it's time to plan more attacks.
14:12Okay, before we're going to go and see Anne, let's go and see who is this guy, David Mark.
14:18First things first, who is David Mark?
14:21Deborah already found some dating profiles, but what else is out there?
14:24Image searches, phone records, social media browsing, anything and everything we can get our hands on.
14:30We need to also have Anne send David Mark a tracking link so that we can have the best possible shot of identifying exactly where he is.
14:39One of our favorite tools in the Scambusting Toolkit is baiting scammers into clicking on an IP logger link.
14:46It's a web address that we create that pinpoints the exact location of any device that clicks on it.
14:53He's always asking for money, and he's always asking for gift cards.
14:57Right. All we have to do is like, hey, this is your money, this is your gift card.
15:01Yeah.
15:02We just hide the link in a fake digital gift card.
15:05Have Anne send the link, and if he clicks on it, boom, scammer location known.
15:10If there's a way we can make that work and it doesn't spook him or make him suspicious, we can find out exactly where he is.
15:20At this point in our investigation, we really need to gauge Anne's emotional state.
15:25And the question I have is, does Anne realize that David Mark is a scammer yet?
15:29Because ultimately we need her on our side if we're going to catch him.
15:32Well, there is only one way to find out.
15:41We're happy to be here.
15:43Can we have a seat and chat a little bit?
15:46Yeah.
15:49So what's going on about the pictures and seeing that he's, you know, on other dating sites?
15:55I'm angry.
15:57It seems like you're angry because he was maybe being unfaithful to you.
16:01Seeing other women, you know?
16:02Yeah.
16:03Mm-hmm.
16:04It was just, it was someone, you know, it was always a gentleman.
16:08We had a conversation with Debra, and we really just want to know how you met your boyfriend.
16:14I, I don't know. I just, I had posted something on Facebook because I used to help feed the homeless here.
16:25And I got this message.
16:28And he just said that was so nice that I did that and I was so thoughtful.
16:33And that's how we started our conversation.
16:35And then one day he signed his name, Dr. David Mark.
16:40And I thought, damn, he must be a doctor.
16:43How did he talk to you?
16:44What kinds of things would you guys talk about?
16:46We talked about everything. He knew about my children. He knew about Debra.
16:49Have you ever video chatted? Talked on video call?
16:52Yeah, because I kid him about his hairy chest because he usually, you know, he's just, we'd be talking with no shirt on.
17:00All right, brother. You ready to blow your mind? Let's do it.
17:04Does this look familiar?
17:07Oh, there he is.
17:09Yes, that's him.
17:12Wow.
17:13This man's name is Carlos.
17:14Carlos.
17:15And he lives in Brazil.
17:18Wow.
17:20Here's the deal. After reverse image searching Dr. Mark's profile picture, it linked us to a jolly shirtless dancing fella by the name of Carlos in Brazil, not a doctor in Iraq.
17:32But I don't know what a Brazilian accent sounds like.
17:36No, this is, the person you're talking to, David Mark, is not that guy.
17:43This is a real person with the pictures that you've been talking for two years.
17:47That person living his own life with his own wife, with his own kids, cats and dogs.
17:52Then who is talking is...
17:54We're gonna find out. We're gonna find out.
17:57Wow.
17:59Carlos is in Brazil. He's a real person. He has his own life. He likes to dance on Instagram.
18:07But a scammer has stolen his image and is using that image to mask their own.
18:12So right now, what we have to do is figure out who's under the mask.
18:17You're being scammed by this man.
18:21It blows you away. So much evil in the world.
18:26Do you have your phone?
18:28Let me go get it.
18:29Can you actually get both of your phones?
18:31What people like Ann don't realize is how advanced these scammers are and how easy it is to fall victim to their tricks.
18:39One of the ways they fool people is by using a technique called spoofing.
18:43It's basically a disguise for their phone number.
18:45They can make their caller ID show up as any number that they want.
18:49And to prove my point, I'm about to show Ann exactly how it's done.
18:54That's your phone and that's your phone, right? Neither of you are touching your phone.
18:57But let's say you're gonna get a call one day, right?
18:59And it will look something like this.
19:03Oh.
19:04Who's calling you right now? Who's calling you?
19:06Debra.
19:07Debra. Can't be. She's right there. She's right in.
19:08Answer it.
19:09See you next to you.
19:10Answer it.
19:14Hello.
19:15Hello.
19:16Oh, my God.
19:17Oh, my God.
19:19Hi, Deb.
19:20Hi, Deb.
19:21It's as simple as that.
19:23That's called spoofing.
19:24Scammers can spoof police officers, FBI, whatever they want.
19:30Scary, right?
19:31Wow.
19:32So, please, as we're sitting at this table, all of us together, we play together.
19:36We're communicating with each other, and you have to be with us 100%.
19:40You know, I cooperate with you 100% because I really want to get him.
19:45He screwed up my life, but I'm sure he screwed up some other people's life.
19:50Mm-hmm.
19:51You're not the only one.
19:52I think she's seeing the truth for what it is.
19:54Well, let's use this momentum to our advantage because we need her help to get us scam baiting.
19:59So, now that we know, totally believe that this person doesn't exist, we have a plan.
20:04I want you to send him a link.
20:06I'm going to give you this link.
20:07When he clicks it, it'll tell me exactly where he is.
20:10To start, we'll send Anne the fake gift card link we made last night to send to David Mark.
20:17Oh, there it is.
20:19All right, now send it to him.
20:20Okay.
20:21Now, with the trap set, Anne needs to turn the scammer's conversation towards Deb's nephew, Justin, so I can assume his identity and start communicating with the scammer as Justin directly.
20:33By you sending him a message saying, Justin has the money you need, that gives me a little bit of leverage as a scam baiter.
20:40Now, all we got to do is wait and see if the scammer takes the bait.
20:45I just want to add one thing and I'll, I'm going to try to say it without like tearing up.
20:51She's gone through hell because of this.
20:54And the fact that you two are still sitting here next to each other is like the best thing ever.
20:58She deserved a hug and she deserved to hear from mom that she loves you.
21:02You guys like...
21:03I love you too, honey.
21:05I got mad at her one day and I threw a pork roast down.
21:09Oh my God!
21:10Came right out of that freezer over there.
21:12Just remind me never to piss you off.
21:14What an experience that was.
21:19I absolutely adore these women.
21:22I love them.
21:23I think it was absolutely horrible.
21:25But you know how fragile that kind of thing can be when we also feel like a victim is fully out of it and then they're not.
21:32So I'm hesitant to take that to the bank.
21:35Now, I just got to assume the identity of Justin and do a little fishing.
21:44In addition to the fake gift card link we've already sent, my goal here now is to get the scammer to move away from using real gift cards.
21:46In addition to the fake gift card link we've already sent, my goal here now is to get the
22:10scammer to move away from using real gift cards, which is how Anne has been sending
22:14him money in the past. Gift cards have no money trail, but if we can convince him to use a
22:19bank-to-bank transfer service like Zelle, it gives us a digital trail we can follow.
22:25Can you knock like a normal human? Are you still sleeping? No, I've been up all night, so this guy's been responding to me.
22:49Oh, he did? All night, like 50 emails back and forth. Oh, I want to hear everything. All right, then go dress and let's go get coffee.
22:56Five minutes. Five minutes. All right, so good.
23:04Okay, here's the last one. Cool. Thank you. Okay, that's y'all said. You too. Bye-bye.
23:08All right, ready? How's your coffee? It's good. He clicked it. Oh, no way. He clicked the link. Just within the last few minutes. We need to, um...
23:20This is perfect. I need to get back to my computer. Yeah. I can't do much from my phone. Okay, we need to get back to the computer.
23:25All right, let's go. He clicked it. Nicely done.
23:33All right, let's see what we have. Clicking on this link means he's giving up his physical location.
23:39You ready to find out where he is? Oh, yeah. Let's do this.
23:44Dude. From Africa. He's in Nigeria.
23:51Lagos, Nigeria.
23:54I'm not surprised. Nigeria is infamous for being a scammer hotbed.
23:59I mean, after all, there's a reason for the joke you make about getting an email from a Nigerian prince.
24:03That's right.
24:04He clicked it five times, and we have his exact latitude and longitude.
24:11Immediately. Right there. This is where he is.
24:14It's likely that his place of residence is right on this street.
24:21This is the exact kind of intel we were hoping for. Not only have we pinpointed the scammer's location, but we know he lives in a poor area and tried to click on that gift card link five times.
24:31Yeah. And both of those things tell us that he's desperate for cash and we can use that information to bait him even more.
24:38Okay. Let me look back now and show you kind of what I did all night.
24:42Okay. Okay.
24:43There's so many. I won't read every single one. I'm just going to show you kind of how it started and then where it ended.
24:47Hi. I said hi as Justin.
24:49He responded.
24:50David needs help to be back in the States.
24:53Most important thing he needs now is to get his meds because he's really sick and dying slowly.
24:59He sent a follow up email with these pictures.
25:01This is Dr. David laying in bed sick all because he gave up his contract thinking he will be with your grandmother before now.
25:09I discussed with David and he asked me to help him look for anyone who have a Zelle account.
25:14He gave me a phone number for a Zelle and the name Jeffrey Turner.
25:20All right, Jeffrey. Wow.
25:22I'm going to look up this phone number.
25:26Okay.
25:27We have an address in Fort Washington, Maryland.
25:32He has criminal charges, a forcible entry.
25:36I don't know.
25:37And a disorderly conduct.
25:41There's a lot here.
25:43Let's go to Anne.
25:44Let's show her everything.
25:46Let's go.
25:50Getting to Jeffrey is huge.
25:52But the thing is, the scammer is probably using fake names and phone numbers to stay anonymous.
25:56So Jeffrey might not even have any idea who he's working for.
25:59But that's not going to stop us from taking Jeffrey down.
26:02Because if he goes down, that's one less cashmere on the street and a huge dent in the scammer's operations.
26:09Okay, let's start with the tracking link.
26:13He clicked it.
26:14He clicked it.
26:15It is.
26:16Five times.
26:17Wow.
26:18In Lagos, Nigeria.
26:19No, Iraq.
26:20Not Iraq.
26:21This is where your doctor boyfriend lives.
26:23This is where a doctor is.
26:24Mm-hmm.
26:25Yeah.
26:26All right.
26:27So the next piece of info we wanted to share is I've been talking to Dr. Antonio Phillips a lot.
26:33Oh, my God.
26:34He sent me the name and the phone number of a Jeffrey Turner.
26:39He's based out of Maryland.
26:40And for some reason, he's expecting man's money.
26:43So he's got some explaining to do.
26:45So we're going to work on that as well.
26:46How are you feeling right now?
26:48I'm really pissed off about that.
26:51I just want to get even.
26:53I just love this woman.
26:55She reminds me of my grandmother.
26:57All I want to do is find this scammer and get her some revenge.
27:01Couldn't agree more.
27:03So you now kind of understand how technically capable the person is that you've been talking to.
27:10Right?
27:11It's scary.
27:12And he knows personal information about you and what you like and the things that you like to do.
27:16He knows my home address.
27:18He knows my phone number.
27:19He knows your birthday.
27:21He knows my birthday.
27:22He knows your birthday.
27:23Yes.
27:24All these are things that he can use against you in the future by either selling it to a hacker or using it to log into your accounts.
27:32So we want to help you protect yourself.
27:34We're going to set you up with something called Surfshark Alert.
27:37It's a service that monitors the internet and alerts you if your email, identifying information, or credit card numbers show up in a place where they shouldn't be.
27:45This service is going to give you suggestions for what you can do to protect yourself when you get an alert.
27:50What do you think after seeing all this?
27:52I feel a great deal of relief.
27:55Good.
27:56I have my mama back.
27:57Family's back.
27:58Amen.
28:03All right.
28:04With Anne up to date on the investigation, it's time to look into our two leads.
28:08First up, we need more info on our friend in Nigeria.
28:11And for that, we'll need to get one of our revengers involved.
28:15Hey.
28:16David McCrawan.
28:17What's up, brother?
28:18Enter David McClellan.
28:20He's the founder of Social Catfish, an online identity verification platform and an absolute wizard when it comes to building custom scam baiting technology to ID scammers.
28:30Where do we start?
28:31What do we do next?
28:32And what do you need from us?
28:33Okay.
28:34So we can definitely help with the fake banking website that I have.
28:37So you'll say, hey, look, I'm going to go and do Zelle.
28:40And the bank says, hey, there's so many Zelle scams.
28:42We use this website now.
28:44You don't give the scammer a choice, right?
28:46Here's the plan.
28:47First, send Jeffrey Turner in Maryland a Zelle payment like Dr. Anderson Phillips requested.
28:54Then tell Dr. Mark that Anne's accounts have been flagged for suspicious activity.
29:00Meanwhile, our scam baiting partner codes a phony banking website with a $15,000 balance that we'll then send to Dr. Mark.
29:09Once the scammer logs into the site, we'll try to get them to upload an ID or driver's license.
29:15Amazing.
29:16That's perfect.
29:17An ID card will be required to retrieve the funds.
29:20And if all goes to plan by the end of this, we should have a full profile of this guy.
29:24Virtual fist bump.
29:25Yeah.
29:26Love you, brother.
29:27Boom.
29:28Love you, fellas.
29:29All right.
29:30Well, we've got the name and address of someone who's expecting to receive money on the scammer's behalf, and that's Jeffrey Turner in Maryland.
29:37This is the part that I like the most, my friend.
29:40Time to go knock on Jeffrey's door.
29:44We know this guy is connected.
29:45We have transaction.
29:46We have evidence that he received money.
29:47Yeah.
29:48Here we go, Jeffrey.
29:49So after sending Jeffrey Turner his Zelle payment, we received a confirmation from Dr. Mark, a.k.a. Mystery Scammer in Nigeria, that Jeffrey accepted that payment.
30:11So now we know Jeffrey Turner and Dr. Mark are officially connected.
30:16Yep.
30:24The one after this.
30:26That's the one.
30:27I'm gonna park behind the red car.
30:29Yeah.
30:30That's perfect.
30:32All right.
30:33Let's do this.
30:34Yeah.
30:35Brother.
30:36Let's go.
30:37All right.
30:38Let's go get this Jeffrey and get some answers.
30:39We confront scammers and money mules a lot, and it's dangerous.
30:42But since we know that Jeffrey Turner has passed criminal charges, this one is extra dangerous.
30:48So we're bringing along our own security on the scene.
30:52See no movements.
30:53All right.
30:54So what do we want to do?
30:55We have neighbors.
30:56Hi, guys.
30:57Do you know like in this house if there is any Jeffrey that lives there?
31:01Yeah, he goes to the back home.
31:02Okay.
31:03Thank you so much.
31:17Dead quiet in there.
31:18Mm-hmm.
31:19Cars in the driveway.
31:20So I don't know.
31:21It's weird.
31:22If he's in the driveway, it's weird.
31:23Thank you so much.
31:27Thank you so much.
31:29Dead quiet in there.
31:32Mm-hmm.
31:33Cars in the driveway.
31:34So I don't know.
31:47It's weird.
31:48If he's at home, he's shooting his brakes.
31:54He's either not home or he is home and he is not coming to the door.
31:59Either way, I think we should just wait it out a bit and see what happens.
32:02Now it's just like mouse and game.
32:04Mouse and game.
32:05Gotta play that mouse and game.
32:16Car approaching.
32:17Yes, it's game.
32:27Let's go.
32:28Hey guys, how are you doing boys?
32:35How's it going?
32:36We're looking for Jeffrey.
32:37Are you Jeffrey?
32:38Are you Jeffrey Turner?
32:39Yeah.
32:40Oh, perfect.
32:41Hey, what's up man?
32:42So my name is Ashton.
32:43This is Art.
32:44We're coming.
32:45Good.
32:46We're looking for a scammer, the guy that we're going after.
32:49He instructed our victim to send money to you.
32:51We'd like to figure out kind of what's going on because we actually sent a payment through
32:55the scammer's instructions to your Zelle at your number, which is 202-407.
32:59Did you receive recently?
33:02It was received.
33:03$150.
33:04Uh, someone sent me that I walked up to a store and they asked me if someone zelled me some money or could I give them the cash and I did it.
33:13So you were in the grocery store?
33:14Yeah, yeah.
33:15And somebody came to you and they zelled you?
33:17Yeah.
33:18Well, if someone zelled me, they said they can give somebody to Zelle.
33:22That doesn't make a lot of sense.
33:23That doesn't make sense.
33:24I'm saying I zelled them.
33:25I gave them the cash.
33:26Someone zelled me.
33:27They said if someone zelled me some money, they don't.
33:28Because we're the ones that zelled you.
33:31Oh, really?
33:32Yeah.
33:33At the top, that's instructing all this money to move around, told a victim, a victim that we're working with that's already lost like over $30,000.
33:41They told our victim to send money to Jeffrey Turner at that Zelle.
33:46Someone just sent me some money and asked me and I sent them the money.
33:49Doesn't that sound a little weird though?
33:52Yeah, it definitely does.
33:52You ever done that before?
33:53No, no.
33:54Well, I'm trying to help y'all.
33:55No, no, no, I know.
33:56We want to help you and see like if you involved.
33:59Because what we do, we take this and we give it to Homeland Security and they go and arrest people.
34:03So we're trying to get your side of the story before we finish that report.
34:06And it just doesn't sound right that a stranger walked up to you one day and sent you a Zelle.
34:11That doesn't make any sense.
34:11But I don't know, I never heard that name.
34:13I don't know that first one.
34:14But the only problem is I know for a fact that you received my Zelle.
34:17I have proof.
34:19So you got it, how do you explain that?
34:20Did I respond or anything?
34:22You kept the money.
34:23Yeah, you got the money.
34:24No one sent it back to me.
34:25You get it, you get it.
34:26You see how that looks really bad, right?
34:28Yeah.
34:28It doesn't make sense, but uh...
34:31Well, even your meeting, it doesn't make sense.
34:33It doesn't come from someone else or whatever, but uh...
34:35We just not...
34:36It doesn't add up.
34:37It just doesn't add up, you know?
34:38It doesn't, though, but that's what happened, though.
34:40Okay, there's no sense in talking then.
34:42There's no sense in talking.
34:44All right.
34:52Oh, my freaking God.
34:54Lying?
34:55Yep.
34:55Piece of shit.
34:56Makes no sense.
34:57Yeah.
34:57The body language.
34:58Everything.
35:03After all the baiting, all the tracking, all the hours spent, we believe we now have enough
35:14to get the police involved.
35:15See, we know Jeffrey Turner accepted a Zelle payment from the receipt.
35:21And we know he's communicating with the scammer, because so-called David Mark is the one who
35:25sent us the receipt.
35:27And when we confronted him about it, Jeffrey admitted to accepting the Zelle, and then came
35:31up with a completely phony story.
35:33We'll let the cops handle Jeffrey now.
35:46But shortly after we left the station, we get an even bigger break.
35:49The scammer fell for our $15,000 fake banking trap.
35:54And to retrieve the funds, he uploaded his ID.
35:58We got him, a name and a face, Gotswil Okito, a Nigerian national.
36:04We now have what we need to try and get him arrested.
36:07So that means we're heading to Nigeria.
36:12The next stop is Cockham T.
36:14Sir, stand here.
36:16Pull out your pass.
36:17Go fucker.
36:18Yeah.
36:24Now, Nigeria's home to thousands of kidnappings a year.
36:31So we're bringing our security from Maryland with us.
36:35He's coming with us because of your niceness.
36:37Oh, did you owe me?
36:39Ready to roll.
36:41We're also bringing along David McClellan, our revenger from Social Catfish.
36:44We're not Kansas now.
36:46No, we're not.
36:48See, David isn't just a fake banking wizard.
36:50He also has a network of friends around the world in high places.
36:54One of those places is in Nigeria.
36:59Let's go.
37:00The man, the myth, the legend.
37:02David has contacted local private investigators Chris Maxwell and JT Adeboye
37:07to befriend Gotswil on social media and gather intel about his scam operations.
37:12What I was thinking earlier today was that I would tell him I have a victim in the States.
37:18And he has been paying me a lot of money.
37:21Just this crypto stuff, I'm trying to talk to him and he's willing to pay.
37:25But then I don't know much about crypto and he's a crypto guru.
37:29You need my money.
37:30Yeah.
37:31You need his help.
37:32Dude.
37:33Okito Academy.
37:34See, Gotswil runs an online school called the Okito Academy, which is very likely a front
37:40for teaching other scammers how to scam their victims using cryptocurrency and moving that
37:45money out of the country.
37:46It's a great scam baiting opportunity for us.
37:48David's also working connections he has with local law enforcement.
38:08He got us a meeting at Nigeria's leading financial crime agency.
38:11They wouldn't let us film our meeting with them, and they cautioned us not to go out
38:22and seek Gotswil at his residence for safety concerns.
38:25However, they did agree to start tracking him down, if we could get a confession that
38:30he's scamming people.
38:31So Das, what are we gonna do?
38:33After signing up for Okito Academy, Chris told Gotswil that he has a victim on the hook
38:48and wants to learn how to use cryptocurrency to steal the money.
38:51After a string of back and forth messages, he was able to convince Gotswil to get on a
38:56FaceTime to discuss his investor.
38:58So we need him to admit that he's done some bad shit.
39:02So just be like, I want to work with somebody who knows what they're doing, because this
39:05is a lot of money.
39:07It all comes down to this.
39:08If Gotswil says anything to indicate he's a scammer in any way, that should be enough
39:13evidence for the police to start targeting him.
39:16I just hope Chris doesn't blow his own cover.
39:20Chris and Gotswil are speaking Nigerian pigeon, a mix of West African tribal languages and English.
39:35The client is an old man.
39:37So he's not good with crypto, you understand now.
39:40He's not really good with all this crypto stuff.
39:42He's no fee, drama.
39:43He doesn't understand like that.
39:45Now the plan he's waiting for.
39:46He's waiting for the plan.
39:47That's all he needs.
39:48That means you can literally make a video, lecture A, guide him through and guide him with patients.
39:56So Gotswil just agreed to work with Chris, who's attempting to scam a fake victim.
40:21Makes him an accomplice.
40:22I think we may have just pinned him down.
40:25And after submitting this FaceTime to our law enforcement partners, they agreed and started
40:30tracking Gotswil directly.
40:35It feels great to leave Nigeria with a win.
40:37Yeah.
40:38Cannot wait to share the news with Anne and Deb back in the States.
40:41We're being recorded, but you better behave.
40:52Okay.
40:53I miss you.
40:56Well, we miss you more.
40:58Miss you more.
40:59I want to share with you guys a couple of things.
41:02Right.
41:03We tracked down Jeffrey Turner.
41:04We flew to Maryland.
41:05We went to his house.
41:06And that's him.
41:08Okay.
41:09But that is him standing outside of his house.
41:11In Maryland, where we confronted him about being a scammer.
41:14Everything's been reported to the police.
41:16We have an investigation going into it.
41:18He is involved.
41:19He is stateside.
41:20But the big ticket here, obviously, is the guy that you were talking to.
41:26When we saw you, we had tracked his location to Nigeria, which we showed you.
41:31Which we showed you.
41:32Yeah.
41:33But beyond that, identifying who the real person is, is not easy.
41:38Yeah.
41:39But we did it.
41:42Wow.
41:43We have found him.
41:44We found David Mark.
41:45That is something.
41:46Ann, are you ready to see exactly who you've been talking to?
41:50Yeah.
41:51Let's do it.
41:54This guy right here, his real name is Godswill Okito.
41:59This is who he is.
42:02That's him.
42:03He's very young.
42:04He's young.
42:05He's young.
42:06He's young.
42:07Give him that.
42:08We have one more surprise.
42:09Yes.
42:10We went to Nigeria last week.
42:12Yeah.
42:13Oh my God.
42:14I want to show you something.
42:15Okay.
42:16We got a warrant out for his arrest.
42:19Oh my God.
42:20Oh my God.
42:21Oh my God.
42:22They're trucking him now.
42:23Wow.
42:24That's unbelievable.
42:25I can't promise anything.
42:26They're not in our control.
42:28But we have the best possible setup right now to deliver this guy handcuffs.
42:32You have him, it's just, it's such a huge relief because for two years I lived in total hell.
42:41And it's just a wonderful feeling to be relieved of that burden.
42:48Amazing.
42:49Your love for your mother is gigantic.
42:53Yes, it is.
42:54And I prayed every night that this nightmare would end.
42:59And there were some times where I just didn't know if I was going to make it.
43:03I thought it was going to lose my mind.
43:06I just felt completely helpless.
43:12You know, I got in a situation and I thought it just took a while.
43:17It took them.
43:19That's what it took.
43:20I know.
43:21And I think from the bottom of my heart, I do.
43:24Being able to get some revenge for Anne and Deb here, that's everything.
43:28That's why we do what we do.
43:30Yeah.
43:31That felt good.
43:32Real good.
43:33I thank you both.
43:35Talk to you soon.
43:36Bye-bye.
43:37Bye.
43:38Bye-bye.
44:08Bye-bye.
44:09Bye-bye.
44:10Bye-bye.
44:11Bye-bye.
44:12Bye-bye.
44:13Bye-bye.
44:14Bye-bye.
44:15Bye-bye.
44:16Bye-bye.
44:17Bye-bye.
44:18Bye-bye.
44:19Bye-bye.
44:20Bye-bye.
44:21Bye-bye.
44:22Bye-bye.
44:23Bye-bye.
44:24Bye-bye.
44:25Bye-bye.
44:26Bye-bye.
44:27Bye-bye.
44:28Bye-bye.
44:29Bye-bye.
44:30Bye-bye.
44:31Bye-bye.
44:32Bye-bye.
44:33Bye-bye.
44:34Bye-bye.
44:35Bye-bye.
44:36Bye-bye.
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