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00:01Right now, he's got a scammer with remote access to his computer.
00:05Today on Scam Interceptors, we face off against a scammer
00:09determined to empty one man's bank account.
00:13Come on, guys. Turn off my data.
00:14Look at the pose!
00:15They're trying. They're really trying.
00:18They must be fainting with them for that.
00:20Before we take on the scammer posing as Jennifer Aniston.
00:25We work for a program where we take down various scammers
00:28based all over the world.
00:29You are one of those.
00:31Stop calling the scammer.
00:33Well, stop scamming then.
00:41Your job is to only you have to listen carefully.
00:46Now, do you see a black box in front of you?
00:49We've been monitoring these scammers over a period of several weeks.
00:55Now, I have run a security scan in front of you.
00:58This is remote access.
01:00I have a name.
01:02Nice.
01:02Let's try and work out where he is, guys.
01:0313 degrees where he is today.
01:05Let me explain you.
01:06These all are the foreign peoples which are connected to your network
01:10and they are doing all these malicious activities through your identities.
01:14We're looking now at an ongoing scam here from our Microsoft pop-up group.
01:18So these guys basically pretend to be Microsoft tech support.
01:22And when you're on your computer, say you are browsing the internet,
01:26suddenly a pop-up comes up, makes your whole screen lock,
01:28says that there's a virus on your computer and you have to call this number to sort it out,
01:32claims to be the number for usually Microsoft tech support.
01:36These guys have nothing to do with Microsoft.
01:37They're just a bunch of scammers.
01:38And they're going to use that premise as a way to get remote access to your computer,
01:43which is what we can see that the scammer's already established here with a man in the UK.
01:47The scammer has persuaded this person to hand over control of his computer,
01:52claiming that it is a necessary step to make it safe.
01:56And the scammer is currently showing him the supposed threats to his internet network.
02:03Establish means these are the peoples which are already connected to your network
02:07and they are doing all these malicious activities.
02:10This is the reason you are getting the security warning to please call on this number for the immediate help.
02:15But it's all lies.
02:17And then once they've got their remote access, they're going to tell you that your device isn't safe,
02:20there's all these incoming connections from other people,
02:23other people have hacked your computer and you need to move your money to a safe account
02:27or you need to buy some useless antivirus software.
02:29So one of those two ways to end up stealing your money.
02:32We know the person on the other end of the call's name.
02:36To protect his identity, we'll call him Harry.
02:40We briefly spotted a surname on screen,
02:43but the team need to verify it.
02:46What purpose you are using this computer?
02:49For what purposes?
02:50For online banking?
02:51Yes?
02:51No?
02:52Yes or no?
02:54Online...
02:55Online banking?
02:56Once a week?
02:57Yeah, once in a week.
02:58The team keep watching the scammer's screen for any details,
03:02which could help us identify where Harry lives.
03:07OK, that's down south.
03:09Yeah.
03:12Er, Essex.
03:14We now have a potential location from a weather notification on Harry's computer.
03:20We've got a number for him?
03:22We do.
03:23Shall we text?
03:24What's the number?
03:25I'm just doing scan warning, hang up immediately.
03:29But we get no response from our message.
03:32Try it again.
03:33He's not on WhatsApp.
03:35I'm struggling to find him on Facebook as well.
03:36I'm struggling to find him generally speaking, yeah.
03:39We have a first name and a possible location,
03:42but a surname we briefly spotted on screen earlier doesn't appear to be correct.
03:48Well, we're unsure on the surname spelling.
03:51Hampering our search.
03:53I'll just try and ring him and see if we can get through.
04:01Welcome to the EE voicemail.
04:03No joy there.
04:05But the team has a stroke of luck, courtesy of this scammer.
04:09How do you spell your last name, sir?
04:11Perfect.
04:13With the correct surname in hand, the team springs into action.
04:17Oh, I think I might have found him.
04:19I think I may have found the gentleman on 192.
04:23It's the only person with his name.
04:24Nice.
04:24And it's an up-to-date address as of 2025.
04:27There's also a wife registered there.
04:29OK, superb.
04:31The team has a potential address, but there is no landline number.
04:35Can we try for a neighbour?
04:36I've just looked for a neighbour.
04:37Unfortunately, there's not any that I can find quite just yet.
04:40Leave it with me.
04:41I'll try and close my bottle again.
04:42And while Nick is calling, Interceptor Mark has a new lead for Harry.
04:47Oh, guys, it's part of a residential village.
04:49It's a residential village.
04:50Harry lives on a residential park home site in Essex.
04:55Welcome to the EE.
04:57I can't take calls.
04:59While Nick and the team try to reach Harry, the scammer is trying to download more legitimate remote access software
05:06to Harry's computer.
05:07If you have any questions, you can ask to me. Do you have any questions?
05:11No, I haven't got any now.
05:13OK, now let me transfer into my entire anti-hacking department people.
05:17Once installed, this software can run undetected in the background, allowing the scammer to connect to Harry's computer any time
05:25he wants without him ever knowing.
05:28I'm struggling to find any neighbour numbers, I think, because of the type of residence it is.
05:32Is there a general number that we could call?
05:34Let's have a look.
05:35OK, let's give it a go.
05:363-2-0.
05:38Yeah.
05:38Nick calls the reception of the residential park home site where Harry lives.
05:43Thank you for calling.
05:45Please note, this call may be recorded for training and quality purposes.
05:58Come on.
05:59No one picks up our call.
06:01We've got a number, but there's no way to get any neighbour numbers because they don't seem to have landline
06:06phones.
06:08We've tried the general number for the place, but no answer.
06:10But the scammer is running into difficulties with his download.
06:16How much time is taking like?
06:19Come on.
06:20The delay is helping us in our efforts to contact Harry and interceptor Mark has identified several local businesses who
06:30may be able to raise the alarm.
06:32OK, I'm going to try this number.
06:35That's ringing now, guys.
06:39I'm not getting any luck here, guys.
06:40No one answering any phones.
06:43I'm not getting any luck here.
06:50This is hard.
06:51With no one picking up the phone and our ground interceptors tied up on other business, we need to find
06:58a different way to stop this scammer.
07:01We've burned all of our possible routes into stopping this, and that leaves us in a situation where we might
07:06have to use our nuclear option,
07:07which is to disturb the scammer's computer in some way that's going to break his call for this man, and
07:12it'll give us a chance to get him on the phone.
07:14We don't like doing it because it kind of blows our cover.
07:17It's going to make the scammers a bit suspicious of what's going on.
07:19But in a situation like this where we don't really have any other choice and these guys are in his
07:22computer and they will be on their way to his money,
07:25I think it might be our only choice.
07:27I think you're right.
07:29Let's do it, shall we?
07:30So we'll do a crash of his computer and I'll get the call ready.
07:35When Nick crashes the scammer's computer, he'll cut the remote access session and also end the scammer's call with Harry,
07:43giving us the chance to reach Harry on his mobile phone.
07:47Okay, you use the new ones.
07:49But apart from that, do you visit any malicious website, like anything, like any something, like any...
07:55..because Harpies click on yes once again?
07:59Bye-bye, scammer.
08:03Hello?
08:06Harry is no longer on the phone to the scammer, but we need him to pick up Nick's call.
08:31Harry doesn't answer our call, and the scammer is quickly back on the line with him.
08:37Hello?
08:39Am I audible to you?
08:41Sorry, sir, I was just talking.
08:44I'm very sorry for that.
08:46Right.
08:46Now, what you can see, sir, on the computer screen?
08:49That's annoying.
08:50He's went and moved away onto a different computer.
08:53Very frustrating.
08:54We believe that the scammer has called Harry back on a different device,
08:59not the computer we just crashed.
09:02That's really painful.
09:03He's back on again.
09:04I don't get it.
09:05He's right back on with him.
09:06The scammer is quickly re-establishing the remote access connection
09:10to Harry's computer.
09:12Now, please enter the code.
09:14The first alphabet is C, like C as in Charlie.
09:17Then hit on submit.
09:19Click on submit once again.
09:20I wonder if we tied the country park again.
09:23Yeah.
09:23It might have just been that somebody was out of the office.
09:25Nick makes the call.
09:29Thank you for calling.
09:31Please note, this call may be recorded for training and quality purposes.
09:47Oh, hi there.
09:48My name is Nick Stapleton.
09:50I work for the BBC on a programme called Scam Interceptors.
09:55I don't know if you've ever seen our show before,
09:57but we try and monitor scam call centres,
10:00and we can see some of the people who they're contacting.
10:03The reason that I'm calling you is because they are currently talking to us
10:06to someone who I think lives on your site.
10:09The thing is, because of data protection,
10:11if you're talking on behalf of any one of our residents,
10:14I can't actually disclose any information.
10:16Sure, I don't want you to disclose any information.
10:18I don't want you to disclose any information to me at all.
10:20All I was going to say to you is,
10:22this man, I can tell you his name,
10:24and I can tell you what number we think he lives at.
10:26Is there any chance you can go and knock on his door
10:28and tell him he's being scammed?
10:29Because right now, he's got a scammer with remote access to his computer,
10:33and they are going to try and clear him out.
10:35Like, he will lose money if we don't do something about this.
10:39I can get one of my maintenance teams to run around there.
10:43Please do.
10:44And tell him it's a scam, all right?
10:46And to hang up.
10:46And ideally, he's on a phone call with a scammer right now.
10:51They've got remote access to his computer
10:52so they can see his computer screen,
10:54and they're going to try and steal his money.
10:57Yeah.
10:57OK, thank you for giving me this information.
10:59That's OK.
11:00I'm going to try and get on to him straight away.
11:03The woman who answered our calls
11:05relays our message to a colleague.
11:07I've got a guy who's on the phone.
11:11Can you run around and tell him to turn his computer off
11:13and end the phone call?
11:14He's currently being scammed.
11:17I've tried to call him, but I won't get through
11:19because he's already on the phone.
11:22OK, fantastic.
11:22See you then.
11:24Bye-bye-bye.
11:26See you.
11:28Bye-bye-bye.
11:29While Nick was speaking,
11:31the scammer was able to regain access to Harry's computer.
11:35It's connecting.
11:36Perfect, sir.
11:37Thanks a lot.
11:39So finally we have connected to the Microsoft security server once again.
11:43And is again trying to install the software
11:46which will give him even greater control of Harry's device.
11:50He connects again.
11:52Do you see this option of next?
11:54Click on install.
11:56We need the maintenance team to reach Harry
11:58before the scammer completes the job.
12:01Come on, maintenance person.
12:03Would you want to maybe listen in, Mark?
12:05Is that OK?
12:08Just listen in to hear if somebody arrives.
12:12Because apart from that, do you check your bank as well, sir?
12:16Because that's very important, right?
12:19And is there any suspicious transaction?
12:22The scammer is turning the conversation towards Harry's bank account.
12:27The team can only sit and listen.
12:30Luckily, these hackers did not steal this money from your bank account, right?
12:35But make sure that they will not do it.
12:36So that's why we are transferring to my anti-hacking department people.
12:40We are going to take care of each and everything.
12:42Right?
12:44OK?
12:45Yeah.
12:45Come on, maintenance man.
12:50Oh, no problem.
12:51Take your time, sir.
12:52Take your time.
12:53Someone at the door.
12:54He just said there's someone at the door.
12:54The team listen anxiously, while Interceptor Mark relays the faint voices.
13:01Come on.
13:03Come on.
13:04Come on.
13:06Come on.
13:12There's another voice in there.
13:19We're dealing with it now.
13:21I've got somebody on the computer.
13:24That's the witness guy.
13:25That's him, isn't it?
13:25That's him.
13:30Come on.
13:31I've got a guy on the phone.
13:33Yeah.
13:39That's her.
13:39Did you hear her?
13:40That's her one we spoke to.
13:43OK.
13:44All right.
13:50Oh, I hit the call.
13:52Who is this person, sir?
13:53Who is this person?
13:54Who is this person?
13:57Hello?
13:58Come on.
13:59Pull the computer out.
14:01Turn it off.
14:01Hello?
14:02Got a call.
14:04Harry ends the call.
14:05Yeah!
14:07Come on.
14:08It's not getting through at all.
14:09We need to get the right access off, though.
14:10We do need to get the right access off.
14:11He's got to turn off his computer.
14:12Half out of the woods.
14:13Yes.
14:17He's trying to get him through.
14:20Harry needs to shut down his computer.
14:23Come on, guys.
14:24Turn off the computer.
14:25Turn off the computer.
14:27Look at the mouse!
14:28They're trying.
14:29They're really trying.
14:30Oh!
14:31They must be fighting with him for that.
14:34Oh, he's trying to stop them.
14:35You can see.
14:36Yeah.
14:37Oh, he keeps moving the mouse away.
14:39Go on.
14:39Shut it down.
14:40Shut it down.
14:45Yes!
14:46Yes!
14:48Bye-bye.
14:49Bye-bye.
14:50Well done, maintenance man.
14:52Excellent.
14:53Maintenance man.
14:54Brilliant.
14:55Well done.
14:56That was brilliant work.
15:00He thinks it's the police.
15:16A random guy came along and told him something about this call centre.
15:21Oh, beautiful scammer time wasted.
15:23Absolutely no idea what's going on.
15:25Well done, team.
15:26Well done, all.
15:27That was a great result.
15:29Well done.
15:29Nick calls the staff at the residential park to thank them for their help.
15:38Hello, this is Nick from Scam Interceptors again.
15:40I just wanted to say thank you.
15:42No, I was just calling you back up to say thank you.
15:45Oh.
15:45Probably the strangest phone call I've had today, but...
15:48No problem.
15:48I'm used to it.
15:49Don't worry.
15:50He can comfortably tell you that we've turned his computer off, his hammer up.
15:56Brilliant.
15:56OK.
15:57I'm so glad to hear it.
15:58No, I think he was a bit confused, but I just gave him, told our maintenance team,
16:03given you guys his details, everything can be verified.
16:07Great.
16:07Thank you so much.
16:08It's really, really good of you.
16:10We're more used to having more scam calls.
16:12I thought you were a scam call.
16:14Very fair.
16:14Very fair.
16:15And I want people to be suspicious.
16:16So, you know, that's absolutely fine by me.
16:19But look, that is such a great thing you did for him there.
16:21And you guys clearly look after your people.
16:23So, thank you so much for doing it.
16:25That's all right.
16:26Bye-bye-bye.
16:28That was a great result, guys.
16:29Well done.
16:29Well done.
16:30That's fantastic.
16:31Team effort here.
16:32But I do still think we need to speak to him because he still does have remote access
16:35on his computer, which, if we don't remove, still leaves him at risk.
16:39It's a relief to know Harry is safe, but we still need to speak to him.
16:45Hello.
16:46Hello.
16:47This is Nick Stapleton from BBC Scam Interceptors.
16:50All right.
16:51Unfortunately, that person who you ended up on the phone with today, they are a criminal and
16:56they are pretending to be Microsoft.
16:57They have nothing to do with them.
16:58Sorry.
17:00I went to go into the internet and then this, you know, sort of pop-up came saying that your
17:09computer has been...
17:12got a virus or something infected.
17:15Yes.
17:15Yes.
17:16And it said, phone Microsoft to sort it out.
17:24And I obviously thought I was talking to Microsoft and I gave him sort of remote control and then
17:34I got like a knock at the door saying that it was a scam.
17:38Indeed.
17:40So the reason I just wanted to have a quick chat with you on the phone is because that
17:45stuff that's on your computer that the scammer got you to download and to install.
17:50Yeah.
17:50You need to get somebody to come and delete that for you.
17:53Okay.
17:55Because they can still gain access to your computer if you don't remove it.
18:00All right.
18:01And I would say just in future as well, these pop-ups, when you get something like that on
18:07your computer and it's telling you, you have to take action now and you've got to call
18:10this phone number, you can just turn the computer off.
18:14And when you turn it back on again, it'll be gone.
18:17Okay.
18:18It's a known scam, these pop-up things.
18:20Really?
18:21Yeah.
18:22Very, very, you know, well, convincing.
18:25When you phone up, you actually think that you're talking to a Microsoft, you know, engineer.
18:31I hear you.
18:32I hear you.
18:33Whenever you're talking to someone over the phone and they ask you to download something
18:37so that they can see your computer screen or they can control your computer, it is 100%
18:43going to be a scam.
18:44There is just, there's no good reason they should be taking control of your computer.
18:47Okay?
18:48Yeah, fine.
18:50Okay.
18:51Thank you very much for your help.
18:52That's our pleasure, mate.
18:53All right.
18:53Okay.
18:54See you.
18:54Thanks.
18:55Bye-bye.
18:55Bye-bye.
18:57Oh, nice guy.
18:59He was a sweet man.
19:00Very sweet man.
19:01Great result all round.
19:02Fantastic result.
19:03And even better, the scammer has no clue how we done that.
19:12On Scam Interceptors, we aren't just stopping scam phone calls.
19:17We're fighting back against scammers of all kinds.
19:21And interceptor Mark has been investigating how scammers use and abuse the rich and famous.
19:27So Mark, what have you been looking into this time?
19:29We've been taking a deep dive into celebrity impersonation scams.
19:33This is a really cruel twist on a romance scam, where someone thinks they're speaking to a famous person,
19:38a celebrity, someone that they really look up to.
19:40And a scammer will use this connection to try and essentially extort money out of someone.
19:45Last year on Scam Interceptors, you might remember we looked at a Reese Witherspoon celebrity impersonation scam.
19:51But I want to let you know and the real Reese Witherspoon.
19:55Off the back of that, we noticed that the Facebook account that we used to chat to that Reese in
20:01the first instance
20:01was then inundated with other celebrity impersonators.
20:06Our fake accounts home feed was full of fan pages for other celebrities.
20:12But Mark wasn't convinced they could be trusted.
20:15There was loads in particular for the actor of Jennifer Anderson.
20:18So that's the one that I started to dig into.
20:21So I went on to some of the fan posts and I just put a simple comment under each of
20:27those posts.
20:28I just put the word Jennifer.
20:30Mark's comment received two likes.
20:33One from a page called My Private Chat, featuring a photograph of the actress.
20:39So I messaged them on Facebook Messenger.
20:41I said, hi Jennifer, how are you doing?
20:43And lo and behold, she messaged me back.
20:46I asked the account holder, where are you now, Jennifer?
20:49I thought, where in the world would they say that they are?
20:51They said they're in Los Angeles, California.
20:53That is where Jennifer Anderson is based.
20:55So that checks out.
20:57The scammer then asked us to move the chat away from Facebook Messenger.
21:02Classic scam behaviour, that one, isn't it?
21:04And the reason that they do that is that a lot of these big social network sites are getting pretty
21:09good at clamping down on these accounts.
21:12So the scammer wants to obviously continue the conversation so that they can scam you out of money.
21:16But in order to do that, they want to move it to a different platform where they can remain undetected.
21:21Mark continued his conversation with the person who was claiming to be Jennifer Aniston on a messaging app.
21:29The messages very, very quickly started to get more flirtatious and more romantic.
21:34She was calling us sweetheart, love, babe.
21:38And that is a classic hallmark of these scammers, is love bombing.
21:41Yeah.
21:41It's something we see them do time and time again.
21:43Very intense in a very short space of time.
21:46Exactly.
21:47They're trying to build a world in which you could potentially be chatting to Jennifer Aniston and she might be
21:53interested back.
21:54And that's what they're counting on.
21:56They're trying to play on people's heartstrings and hopefully get you to trip up.
22:00And we can see that there's talk of a birthday.
22:03Yeah.
22:03The scammer said, my birthday is tomorrow, honey.
22:06And herein lies the hook for the scam.
22:09They told us, I'm expecting a birthday gift from you.
22:12Here we go.
22:13Yeah.
22:13Okay.
22:15The person claiming to be Jennifer Aniston asked for a £100 gift card as a birthday treat.
22:22But Mark has a trick up his sleeve to help reveal their true identity.
22:28So you've managed to stall the conversation by saying you're getting paid in a few days' time,
22:34just to give you a bit of extra time, but there's good reason for that, Mark, isn't there?
22:37We went to do some investigations and there's a tool that our ethical hackers have introduced us to,
22:41which allows us to work out where in the world someone that we're chatting to might be.
22:47So we've got there the latitude and longitude.
22:50So let's have a look at the actual location and see how close it is or is not to Los
22:55Angeles, California.
23:07The scammer was actually based in Nigeria.
23:12You can actually see the Nigerian flag flying there.
23:16It's clear these people aren't who they claim to be.
23:19So it's time to give scam Jennifer Aniston a call.
23:23I'm going to try and call this number and see if they pick up.
23:39Come on.
23:40Hello, Jennifer?
23:43Jennifer, what do I do? I've got your gift card. What do I do?
23:52Jennifer, is that you?
23:58That was an adult male putting on a female voice.
24:03We are determined to speak to the person behind this scam.
24:07So I send another message.
24:10I've just said, I've tried to call you. Is your manager there? I need to talk to someone.
24:14We need to tell these guys that what they're doing isn't okay.
24:16That's what we need to do. That's what we want to do.
24:18Because it's wrong and it's ruining people.
24:21I think we're in.
24:22We're in.
24:23Yes, my manager is here.
24:25Okay.
24:36I am.
24:38Hello?
24:41Jennifer, are you there? Is your manager there?
24:44I've got the gift card. What do I do?
24:51She's busy.
24:53What do I do with this gift card?
24:55Yeah, you can send it. Send it. Send it to Jennifer.
24:59Jennifer is busy, but you can send it so that you can use it later.
25:04Who do I send it to?
25:07Send it through the message. What's up there, okay?
25:09Through WhatsApp. Okay.
25:12Yes, yes.
25:13Yes.
25:14Listen.
25:16My name's Rav Wildin.
25:17I work for a programme called Scam Interceptors made by the BBC in the UK.
25:22Okay.
25:23Why are you scamming people pretending to be Jennifer Aniston or Jennifer Aniston's manager?
25:28Because you're none of those things.
25:30What do you have to say to that?
25:32I'm Jennifer's manager.
25:34Yeah, you can send it here.
25:36Okay.
25:37You're not.
25:38You're not.
25:40You're a scammer.
25:41You're pretending to be part of her management.
25:43You're nothing to do with them.
25:44You're actually based in Nigeria, aren't you?
25:46I'm not a scammer.
25:48Why don't you trust me?
25:50Because you are a scammer.
25:52You are not anything to do with Jennifer Aniston.
25:56You're asking people to buy gift cards and send them to you.
25:59Why are you doing it?
26:01I'm not a scammer.
26:01Why don't you trust me?
26:02Why don't you trust me?
26:04We work for a programme where we take down various scammers based all over the world.
26:09You are one of those.
26:11Stop.
26:12Stop.
26:12Stop calling me a scammer.
26:14Well, stop scamming then.
26:15I'm Jennifer.
26:16You are a scammer.
26:17You are not part of her management.
26:19You are asking people to send money as part of a crime that we refer to as romance fraud here
26:25in the UK.
26:26People lose millions of pounds every year to this crime.
26:31Why don't you understand me?
26:33If you are representing Jennifer Aniston, the Hollywood movie star and producer, what is your name?
26:40I see.
26:41I see.
26:41You are not serious with me, OK?
26:43I see.
26:43You are not serious with Jennifer.
26:46OK.
26:47Have an idea.
26:48I'm not...
26:48You are a scammer.
26:50We will be reporting everything we have on you as part of our investigation.
26:54And I suggest you cease this activity immediately.
26:58And he's gone.
26:59And he's gone.
27:00We've made it clear to these scammers that we know they are attempting to defraud people in the UK.
27:06He was almost adamant that he was not a scammer.
27:09And that makes me think he genuinely doesn't feel what he is doing is that wrong.
27:13But it is wrong.
27:14And it is just...
27:15It's not just the millions of pounds that's lost to this type of criminality every year.
27:20Just here in the UK.
27:21Yeah.
27:21It's the lives that are ruined.
27:23People's broken hearts.
27:24People get themselves in massive amounts of debt.
27:27Yeah.
27:27And it's just an awful crime on so many levels.
27:34We reported the account My Private Chat to Facebook's parent company Meta.
27:39Who told us that it does not allow fraudulent activity on its platforms.
27:45And that it has removed the account My Private Chat for violating its policies.
27:50Adding that it encourages users to report suspected scam ads directly so it can investigate and take appropriate action.
28:01And next time they are.
28:01And next time they Are Zack to Facebook, Facebook!
28:25And what are they things that they are working for?
28:25We have a great way to do that!
28:25We are going to be nice and all this!
28:25Maybe they are going to stay to it!
28:25Because I know how it can be useful!
28:27I hope to be done!
28:28You
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