The first part of our special report delves into one cryptocurrency scam. Mei Mei, who is looking for her dream job, starts building her professional network on LinkedIn. When one of her connections invites her to invest in cryptocurrency, she is cautious, doing her research on the company and making only a small initial investment. When it pays off, her confidence grows and she decides to invest a significant amount of money, with devastating results.

When a scammer posing as a Bank of America employee steals the money for Lura’s new baking business, she is left feeling hopeless. But with a little encouragement from her sister, Lura seeks help from her local TV station and gets results, at the same time bringing needed attention to a growing problem of fraud in person-to-person payment apps.

After many years in the corporate world, Lura decides to turn her passion for baking into a small business. She secures a loan, perfects her recipes and then, the day after her big launch, her bank calls. They tell her she’s been hacked and helpfully walk her through the steps to recover the funds. When she calls back the bank, though, she’s stunned to learn that it wasn’t her bank who called at all, but an impersonator. Her money is gone. Will her dreams of owning her own business also disappear? 

With over 2 million subscribers, Scammer Payback captivates YouTube viewers with his ability to spot scams and flip the script on the scammers. In this special interview, host Bob Sullivan sits down with Scammer Payback (also known as Pierogi) and learns more about the man and the methods behind his successful channel. They’ll talk about how Pierogi got started, his most interesting confrontations, his experiences inside the call centers where these scammers work, and his tips for listeners on how to stay safe and keep their information secure.

In this bonus episode, host Bob Sullivan welcomes special guest Alexis Conran. Conran’s insight into the mind of a con man comes from acting as one on the popular BBC show The Real Hustle. On the series, Conran, an actual trained magician, and his team perpetrate scams on unsuspecting consumers and then reveal the crimes to the victims (now in the hundreds), all in the name of educating the public. Conran discusses what he’s learned about the criminal mindset and what he has identified as the elements of deception.

Matthew, a one-time wealthy investment star, has a rare and deadly form of brain cancer. In Part 2, on a trip to the bank, Matthew’s mother, Jan, is shocked to discover that her son’s bank accounts are nearly empty. Even worse, Matthew is convinced the police are coming to arrest him at any moment. Jan, who lives in California, and Matthew’s brother, Justin, who lives in North Carolina, have to work across the country to unravel what has happened and find a way to put a stop to the scam.

Matthew, a successful Chicago investment analyst, is diagnosed with a rare and fatal form of brain cancer, which he fends off at first. Four years later, though, the disease takes a turn for the worse and his life is turned upside down. Partially paralyzed, suffering from brain fog and in a great deal of pain, he goes looking for relief online. What he finds are the worst kind of internet criminals lurking on the dark web, looking for people just like him, suffering in their darkest hours.

When investigators from the FBI and the Securities and Exchange Commission begin showing up at the homes of Dominion Investment Group clients, it becomes clear that Daryl Bank is not the trustworthy adviser and radio host he presents himself to be. Bank, Roger Hudspeth and their associates have been skimming 20 percent to 70 percent off the top. At this point, there are hundreds of victims, who’ve lost around $25 million — much of it spent on Bank’s lavish lifestyle. 

On his Saturday-morning radio show, Daryl Bank advises listeners on retirement investments and avoiding scams. He and his firm, Dominion Investment Group, target retirees like Charlotte Annas and her husband, Pat, who decide to invest their hard-earned retirement savings, and Richard Fairchild, who is working and wants to save more for his daughter’s college tuition. But when federal and state investigators start looking into the company, it’s clear that that trust has been broken.

When Therin Miller walks into the FBI office to throw himself on the mercy of the government, he’s not sure if he will leave a free man. To clear his name, he becomes an FBI informant, recording conversations with his roommate and business partner, Brant Holloway, and his associate Lyle Livesay. Therin’s work results in indictments on multiple counts of bank fraud related to the luxury car scheme, plus the arrest of a Russian mobster in Ukraine. But even with the criminals behind bars, will Therin’s life ever go back to normal?