Vocabulary

 

 
 
 
 
 

Video

 

 
 
 
 

Transcript

 
Matt, Scam Victim’s Son: “As soon as I had heard it was a suicide, I was a hundred percent sure it was a scam.

It crushed him; they took the life out of him.”

It was only been a couple of months since Matt and Adrian suddenly lost their father.

Matt, Scam Victim’s Son: “Our father was the grand optimist — always . . . and they extinguished that for him.”

I meet them at Adrian’s home in northern Virginia — where their father’s ashes have yet to be buried.

Dennis Jones was an avid photographer, guitarist and loving grandfather.

But last summer, Dennis started withdrawing from the family . . . instead talking daily to a “woman” he met on Facebook.

Journalist: “The profile’s name here is “Jessie Shoe”. Do you think this person exists?”

Adrian, Daughter of Scam Victim: “NO.”

Over time, “Jessie” convinced Dennis to invest in Cryptocurrency.

He pumped more and more money in until — it suddenly disappeared.

Text messages show that Dennis was desperate.

And yet his children say, he still trusted his friend named Jessie.

Adrian, Daughter of Scam Victim: “I do believe he loved the person he believed was behind the profile.”

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Carina who works in biotech in northern California is also a victim of an online cryptocurrency scam.

Journalist: “Were you in love?”
Carina, Scam Victim: “I was . . . Yeah, I really felt like I trusted this person.”

She said she first met the scammer on the dating app, Bumble.

Journalist: “How much money did you lose?”
Carina, Scam Victim: “In the end, I ultimately lost $150,000.

I went into a depression: I was depressed…ashamed…embarrassed that I had done all this without telling anybody.”

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Erin West, Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney: “I had been a prosecutor for over twenty-five years. I spent nine years in sexual assault. And I’ve never seen the absolute decimation of people as I have seen as a result of pig butchering.

Erin West is a Deputy District Attorney in northern California, specializing in online crypto scams she calls “pig butchering”.

Erin West, Deputy District Attorney: “We’ve got over five billion dollars in losses . . .”
Journalist: “In 2023.”
Erin West, Deputy District Attorney: “In 2023 . . . and that’s up 38% over last year. And when crime is up 38%, that’s something you had better keep your eyes on.”

Using fake social media profiles, scammers spend months, gaining the confidence of their victims before convincing them to invest in cryptocurrency through fake websites.

These platforms claim HUGE profits until . . . the money suddenly disappears . . . into the pockets of criminal gangs, mostly based out of Southeast Asia.

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A 2023 CNN investigation revealed many scammers are actually themselves victims of human trafficking, like this Indian man named Rakesh, imprisoned in this armed compound in Myanmar, he was forced to work — pretending to be a Russian woman targeting Americans online.

Rakesh, Trafficked Scammer: “They provided profiles for us. I got a Russian girl. Using the Russian girl fake profile, I need to scam people.

Investigators warn of a mass transfer of wealth — stealing billions of dollars from ordinary Americans. And this year, they predict it will only get worse.

Jeff Rosen, District Attorney, Santa Clara County: “Many of these perpetrators are beyond my reach. And in order to establish deterrence, we need to prosecute individuals who are running these operations in Southeast Asia.”

US law enforcement say they have yet to arrest a single scammer, though the US Secret Service has had better luck in recouping some of the lost money.

Shawn Bradstreet, Special Agent of the Secret Service: “We’ve been able to claw back millions. But it’s still a small percentage compared to how much is going overseas.”

Journalist: “Which is billions.”
Shawn Bradstreet, Special Agent: “Which is billions.”

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Scammers flood social media sites to ensnare victims.

Tech groups like Meta, Matchgroup and Coinbase say they are trying to spread awareness about the threat, but Deputy District Attorney Erin West says that’s not enough.

Erin West, Deputy District Attorney: “An enemy has declared war on the rest of the world . . . without really telling any of us that we are at war.

And we’re not fighting back.”

Carina says she spent hours every day exchanging romantic texts with the person she thought she loved.

Carina, Scam Victim: “It’s heartbreaking for me to see the state that I was in.”

By the time she had realized that she had been defrauded, Carina said she took out high-interest loans, borrowed money from loved ones . . . and had to move back in with her mother.

Journalist: “What is the timeline for paying your debts now?”
Carina, Scam Victim: “Probably ten years.”

After Dennis Jones took his own life, his adult children were left piecing together what had happened, by looking through his Facebook messages.

Dennis Jones, Scam Victim’s Son: “He’s saying these are basically evil people; I did not know such people existed.

And he ends it here with, ‘The ultimate pain is that I have betrayed my family’s trust. This is unbearable.’”

In early March, Matt, Adrian and their sister Laura, planned to have a meeting to help out their father; the plan was for him to move in with Adrian here in Virginia.

Adrian, Daughter of Scam Victim: “Unfortunately, the day we were supposed to have the meeting, is the day we found out that he had died.

He had died embarrassed, ashamed . . . financially devastated . . . heartbroken . . .

And if sharing our story helps another person or another family, then it’s worth it.”

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Questions

 

Fraud, Cheat. Did Dennis Jones pass away from a heart attack, cancer, or stroke?

Steal, Theft. Carina was defrauded because she saw an infomercial video on YouTube. Is this correct or incorrect?

Lie, Deceive. Do romance scams result in thousands of dollars of loses?

Dishonest. How do romance scammers operate? What are their strategies and tactics? Are organized scamming operations mostly based in India and Nigeria?

Treachery. All the scammer are diabolical. Is this right or wrong?

Underhanded. Did Rakesh, the trafficked scammer from India, pretend to be the CEO of a tech firm?

Swindle, Rip Off. “Many of these perpetrators are beyond my reach.” What does this mean? Have all scam victims lost everything?

Con, Con Artist. Money is the only thing victims have lost; they will eventually recover and move on with their lives. Is this entirely true, mostly true, partially true, largely false, completely false, yes and no, in the middle, it depends?
 
 
 
Slick, Manipulate. Have you received fake or suspicious emails, texts, unsolicited calls or invites?

Fine Print. Do you hear a lot about scams and online scams on the news and social media?

Honest, Trustworthy. What do your friends and colleagues say?

Clear, Transparent. Who commits cybercrimes, online and phone scams? What drives or motivates them?

Open, Clear. What has been the trend in cybercrimes, online and phone scams, and cybersecurity?

Reputable. What might happen in the future?

Integrity, Probity. What could or should people, tech companies and authorities do?