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Mary's story begins with a love that lasted a lifetime. She met her husband when she was just six years old, and after decades together, they built a life filled with love, family, and memories. Then COVID changed everything. Mary survived. Her husband didn't.
Grieving, lonely, and trying to find her footing in a world without the person she'd loved for most of her life, Mary became the perfect target for an online scammer.
At first she was a victim. Now... she's a survivor.
Click HERE to connect with Mary on LinkedIn.
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Heather Rovet thought she had finally found love when a charming handyman named "Jace" entered her life. Instead, she found herself trapped in a nightmare involving one of Canada's most notorious romance scammers.
In this shocking episode of the Scammer Stories Podcast, Heather shares how a relationship that seemed normal slowly unraveled into a web of lies, manipulation, theft, and fear.
Click HERE for a link to the documentary on her story.
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The number one question I get in my email inbox is from adult children desperately trying to save a parent who is trapped in a romance scam. They’ve tried everything… begging, interventions, cutting off money, even taking control through power of attorney. And still, nothing seems to work.
Over the years, I’ve heard countless theories. Do you hit them with tough love? Do you back off? Is there actually a right way to help someone who is emotionally attached to a scammer?
The woman in this episode has a very different perspective… because she tried one approach and when it failed she tried the exact opposite.
Jennifer Wallis is a financial advisor who now speaks publicly about romance scams after watching her own mother become a victim. In this episode, she shares the mistakes she made, the lessons she learned, and why changing the way she communicated may have helped save her relationship with her mother.
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The woman in this story was scammed twice. Once by love and the other by hanging on to hope that she could get her money back. Then, one day federal investigators came calling. Anola Johnson says her life was just normal before the scam.
Click HERE to check out Anola's podcast called Romance Scam Rebellion.Support the show
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Scammers aren’t always sitting behind a screen in some far away land. Sometimes they're bold enough to meet in person and integrate into your life to steal your money. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they land behind bars. The law, and those investigating the crimes, haven’t caught up with the times. That gives the perpetrators time to go on to scam again and again.
Click HERE to read a media article on the suspect.
Click HERE to read the details from for U.S Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Micheal Breinig is a married father of three who had a great life before scammers stole $2 million dollars. The thing is… he wasn’t even looking for anything. He wasn’t even on social media before his co-workers told him he needed to be online to follow what was happening with the election, politics and whatever else was happening in the world.
Click HERE to order Michael's book.
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We usually hear from a survivor of a romance, or pig butchering scam, sprinkled with a sextortion case here and there because the human side of these stories connect with people’s emotions. However, talking to the experts is just as important. We’ve heard from FBI agents, financial investigators, advocates and a therapist. Now we’re going to hear from a man who is tackling this nightmare from another angle. Al Pascual is the CEO and co-founder of Scamnetic, a company using technology and behavioral analysis to detect and prevent scams in real time.
Click HERE to learn more about Scamnetic.
You can reach the Scammer Stories Podcast by emailing [email protected].
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"Don" was married for 42 years, with a successful career, when his life was turned upside down by a single message on his Instagram. He hid his dark secret from his wife until one day he was forced to come clean AND found a way to fight back.
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A romance scam victim ended up on the other end of an FBI investigation after losing about $500,000 in a pig butchering scam. Jennifer’s story spun out of control when the scammers threatened violence against her family members while she had hundreds of thousands of dollars from another survivor, unknowingly, sitting in her account. Jennifer ended up with police parked outside of her house.
If you would like to be on the podcast, email April at [email protected].
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You like dogs? Do you have a passion for the elderly? This will break your heart. Kate has agreed to let AARS use her face as the image in the education campaign.
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Scammers will find you everywhere. This romance scam survivor was able to pull himself out of poverty as a child and rise above it. Little did he know one of his biggest threats would come years later while he was building his real estate empire. Marquise thought he had found a fantastic new client and then... BOOM! He ended up on the other end of a pig butchering scam.
Click HERE for his book Crypto Deception: A Survivors Guide to Avoiding Scams
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You may have seen the hit Netflix documentary. Now, hear the inside story from Attorney Scott Adrian who appears in the show. Adrian shares how he got creative in court to fight for justice for women who were losing hope. He also shares behind-the-scenes insights on building a case against romance scammers and what it was like to film for the show.
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Mair Smyth didn’t know who she was dealing with when she stole $100,000 from her “best friend.” Johnathan was a former TV journalist in Houston, Texas.
His journalistic nose turned up a world of witchcraft and prostitution that would lead him all all over the world.
Click on this https://johnathanwalton.com/
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Jerry had just lost the love of his life when he received an urgent message from Apple Cash. The "customer service representative" instructed Jerry to get $750,000 of his gold bars to deliver to an SUV that pulled up outside of his house. Once the scammers had that in their dirty little hands, they convinced him to retire so they could get his retirement.
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The host of the Scammer Stories Podcast made it to Capitol Hill to share information and solutions to lawmakers, who are now leaning into the issue. This episode takes you through the process of how she was chosen and what it was like to sit in that spot.
The other speakers on the panel were:
Jilenne Gunther. National Director, AARP BankSafe Initiative. AARP. New York, NY.Joshua M. Bercu. Executive Director, Industry Traceback Group.Brady Finta. Founder and CEO. National Elder Fraud Coordination Center.Support the show
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Renee thought her worst nightmare was the day she found out her mother had lung cancer. She had no idea that things were about to get so bad that she would have to worry about her own future. Renee is in trouble. She was diagnosed with a debilitating disease as a child, and then multiple serious health setbacks as an adult. She depended on her mother a lot for her day-to -day care. Her future was left in question when her mother died and left her nothing.
Click HERE to support Renee's GoFundMe.
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Tracey spends most of her time trying to help romance scam victims and their families end the nightmare. She talks to victim daily and she's seeing an alarming rise in sextortion cases related to romance scams.
Click HERE to reach Tracey.
Click HERE to join her Onlinesafe group.
Click HERE to reach Anna with Love Said.
Click HERE to reach Kathy with Advocating Against Romance Scammers.
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Pig butchering scams grew by 40% in 2024 and it only started a few years ago. The scam is named in reference to the practice of fattening a pig before slaughter. The numbers have now far surpassed the typical romance scam.... and by some accounts the theft rivals money made by drug lords worldwide. Thankfully, people like Jackie Crenshaw are willing to come out of the shadow to show their face and fight this disgusting crime.
Click HERE to donate to Jackie's gofundme to help her recover and continue her fight.
Click HERE to read Jackie's story.
Click HERE to see the TV story.
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Money mules aren't just used in romance scams and police departments all over the country are starting to notice. Lt. Andrew Weeden says his department has started to track them down after showing up at homes in his area.
Click HERE to see the pictures of the suspected money mules discussed in this episode.
Click HERE to see news story on the suspected elderly money mule who was attacked at a mall.
Email questions to [email protected].
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