[00:00:03] He cleaned out my credit card and my bank account completely.
And then took my car.
[00:00:29] Michelle: Welcome back to AARP’sThe Perfect Scam.
I’m Michelle Kosinski.
Well, as you might have guessed, this guy was anything but trustworthy.
A long, rocky trail of lies was more his thing.
This is a chance to hear one of our stories you might have missed.
From deep in The Perfect Scam archives, episodes 20 and 21, hosted by Will Johnson.
[00:01:23] For AARP - The Perfect Scam, I’m Will Johnson.
I’m joined, as always, once again by my cohost, Frank Abagnale.
[00:01:30] Frank Abagnale Hey, great to be here.
[00:01:31] Will Johnson: Nice to have you here again, Frank.
A lot of security concerns going on there.
[00:01:43] Will Johnson: Yeah, very scary.
It works on voice.
They come to me basically to say we’ve developed this; how would you beat it?
[00:03:00] Frank Abagnale: No.
[00:03:17] Frank Abagnale: Yes.
[00:03:18] Will Johnson: Oh my.
[00:03:35] Frank Abagnale: It is.
It’s a little scary.
It’s a little bit too much technology.
[00:03:38] Will Johnson: It is, no, it’s way too much.
The article is written by Brendan Borrell.
He first came across the story on a website calledMountain Project.
[00:04:47] Will Johnson: Will: But all that comes much later.
The story begins when Melissa comes across Jeff Caldwell’s profile on a dating site.
She wasn’t super outdoorsy, but she liked that he was outdoorsy.
[00:05:29] Melissa’s in her 40s.
She’s been divorced for five years, lives in Colorado Springs with her two daughters.
She isn’t brand new to dating sites, and she liked Jeff right away.
[00:06:12] Will: Wow, like in one conversation?
[00:06:21] Will: All right, so that’s a clear indication there are some sparks.
So there was something going on.
[00:06:25] Melissa Trent: Yeah, yeah.
[00:06:56] Brendan Borrell: That’s right.
[00:08:10] Brendan Borrell: Yeah.
I mean he, he, he did sort of puff himself up as having all these amazing adventures.
[00:08:46] Melissa Trent: During that first meeting there were no big red flags.
And this all happened extremely fast.
And I was like, why?
And I was like, that’s amazing.
I mean he was; it was just amazing.
He was like, “This is the third time this has happened.
And I said, sure.
[00:12:50] Will Johnson: These are various areas around where you live.
[00:12:53] Melissa Trent: Yes, yes, around the, the Colorado Springs area.
And um, Cripple Creek is a big gambling spot for people.
It’s about maybe 20, 30 miles away.
And I had never been.
And I was like oh, okay.
So I was like, okay.
And so we did that.
We, we stayed in that casino for about 10 hours.
And I’m like, “What’s the problem?”
And he said that the Colorado branch of his bank would not issue him a new debit card.
He was going to have to go to Denver to get the debit card.
And he was like, “Can I use your car to go to Denver?”
And I was like, “Ah, I don’t know.
I mean like how long is, how long are you going to take?”
I should be back by noon.”
And Jeff made a comment about his mom and he said, “My mom is Inuit.”
I would have said she WAS Inuit.
But I thought to myself, well, that’s odd.
That, but that was the only red flag that I had.
[00:15:20] Melissa Trent: He said that he needed gas for the car to go to Denver.
So he asked me if he could use one of the credit cards in my car to get gas.
And I said, “What credit card?”
And he was like, “There’s two credit cards here.”
And I was like, “How are those in the car?”
And he’s like, “I don’t know.
They’re just here.”
[00:15:47] Melissa Trent: Yes, he’s going off to Denver.
I just got here."
And I was like, “Okay, well hurry up and get back.
I need my car.”
And he’s like, “No problem.”
And then I didn’t hear from him again.
I’m in the parking lot."
And I was like, “What parking lot?”
And he said, “The bank parking lot.”
And I was like, “In Denver?”
And he said, “Yes.”
And I said, “I need my car and I need my car right now.”
[00:16:32] Melissa Trent: And then that was the last thing I heard from him.
And so finally at about 8 o’clock that night I called the police, and I reported it.
[00:16:47] Melissa Trent: Yes, because he was so aggressive.
He was just like, “Chill” I mean I had never seen that side of him.
He was like, “Chill out!”
And he was like, “I’m in the parking lot.”
And then, you know, no communication after that.
And that was so weird because he had always been…
I mean this guy’s obviously not up to good.
They were like, “Ma’am, you gave him the keys.”
Like, you know, that’s not a stolen car.
I’ve already told her that I’ll be back tomorrow.
I’ve just got to stay here to get this card.
If you’re sitting in that bank, take a picture."
And he was like, “Are you out of your mind?
If I take a picture, I could get arrested.
it’s possible for you to’t take a picture in a bank.”
And I said, “Then walk outside and take a picture.”
And he blew up at me, like “Are you questioning me?
Do you not believe me?”
And all this stuff, and I was like, “No, I don’t believe you.
[00:19:18] Melissa Trent: Yes.
[00:19:24] Melissa Trent: Yes.
And remember those bank cards he borrowed?
[00:20:43] Melissa Trent: He cleaned out my credit card and my bank account completely.
Yeah, he took everything.
And then took my car.
[00:21:01] Melissa Trent: Who he was, yes, they knew who he was.
‘Cause he had given me a fake name.
That’s why, when I googled first, nothing nefarious came up about him.
Um, but they found the real, he, he told me his name was Jeff Cantwell.
[00:21:18] Will Johnson: And I’m back with Frank Abagnale.
I guess that doesn’t always, it’s not always the litmus test we need.
I said, “Tomorrow,” and then I kept it for six months.
And he spoke great English.
I said, “Yeah,” so I started talking to him.
He said, “Where are you going?”
I said, “I’m going to Stockholm.”
I said, “Well how will your parents feel about that?”
“Oh no, they’re, they’d be fine, they’d love to have you.”
So the next day I asked him, um, “Do you know any car dealerships?”
So I said, “Well I might have to get a new car.”
I think when you do those things it’s all about one day to another day.
I didn’t really steal anything from them.
On the contrary, I gave them a lot of things.
[00:25:23] Will Johnson: Welcome back toThe Perfect Scamand part two of our Thru-Hiker Scam story.
I’m your host, Will Johnson, joined, once again by my cohost, Frank Abagnale.
Frank, thanks for being here.
[00:25:30] Frank Abagnale: Hi, Will, great to be with you.
[00:25:50] Frank Abagnale: Yes.
There’s nothing you’re free to’t find out today about someone.
“Well, no.”
“Did you ever call their home phone?”
“Did you ever call them at work?”
“Well, no, it was always just their cell phone.”
Are they really who they say they are?
Did they really graduate from this university, whatever it is the story they gave you?
And again, there’s nothing wrong with being skeptical.
It’s, it’s actually an asset.
There’s nothing wrong with that.
Can you just pay for me to have a, a good hotel room tonight?”
And I said, “I can’t do that.”
[00:27:57] Will Johnson: Oh my gosh.
[00:28:26] Will Johnson: Brendan’s not the only one communicating with Jeff.
[00:28:41] Melissa Trent: Yes.
We stayed in contact for about two weeks.
[00:28:44] Will Johnson: Wow.
And what was that like?
[00:28:53] Melissa Trent: Yes.
[00:29:16] Melissa Trent: Yes.
[00:29:36] Will Johnson: And did you do that?
[00:29:36] Melissa Trent: And I kept… no.
And I said, “Why?”
He was like, “Just do what I say.
You have to send it Western Union.”
And I called the Walmart that I had been at, and their machine was down.
Had you, were you scared, were you worried?
Did you think about what you would say if you saw him?
[00:31:27] Melissa Trent: No, I was, I mean I didn’t tell the police.
That was the plan.
And I was like, “You’re right I never sent you money.
I’ll never send you another dime.”
And it kind of came to a head.
And that was the last time we ever talked was that day.
[00:32:44] Melissa Trent: As soon as he got out, he told them the truth.
[00:32:52] Will Johnson: And he is arrested and eventually brought back to Colorado Springs?
[00:33:02] Will Johnson: And you got your car back, I assume?
[00:33:04] Melissa Trent: Yes.
It was in bad shape.
[00:33:21] Will Johnson: For yourself.
[00:33:22] Melissa Trent: He thought he was talking to another girl.
[00:33:23] Will Johnson: Oh my goodness.
So you, okay, all right.
[00:33:42] Melissa Trent: Yes, exactly.
[00:33:44] Will Johnson: And he responded to that?
[00:33:52] Will Johnson: And, and that was true?
He was really, he went on a craft beer tour.
[00:34:10] Melissa Trent: Yes, exactly.
[00:34:12] Will Johnson: Oh my goodness.
[00:34:15] Melissa Trent: Yes.
Yes, we have, it’s a big thing here in Colorado.
[00:34:18] Will Johnson: Right, right, right.
Um, and then he also had like his toiletries up there.
And then the middle section, the back seat, that was where he slept.
He could have almost like stayed in your house for a few more nights.
[00:35:14] Melissa Trent: I think that he was just tired.
I hate living this way.
That’s what I think.
[00:36:10] Brendan Borrell: You know I was; I was warned about this.
[00:37:16] Melissa Trent: Yes.
What were you, what were you feeling?
[00:37:40] Melissa Trent: I was very, very angry.
It sounds like an emotional roller coaster for anyone.
Is it harder for you to trust people in general or meet new people?
So I’ve learned a lot from it.
And really, I feel sorry for Jeff.
And something happened to him that, that made him take this path.
[00:38:26] Will Johnson: Jeff was sentenced in June of this year.
He plea-bargained and is now living in a halfway house in Colorado.
His sentence is for six years.
[00:38:35] Will Johnson: What would you say to Jeff?
And, you know, he didn’t have to do what he did.
It, you know, it certainly did not have to come to that at all.
But Jeff’s crimes were always relatively minor.
The question for him remains, why lead such a life for so little payoff?
He never went beyond just the, the quid pro quo of what can you do for me?
Um, I’ll be nice to you if you give me something.
[00:40:46] Will Johnson: And I’m back with Frank Abagnale.
I wouldn’t recommend anybody necessarily do that.
Um, and, and it’s a really fascinating dynamic.
But there was this odd relationship.
They like touring breweries, so he went to look at breweries.
I mean…
[00:43:00] Will Johnson: Life is normal.
Thanks to you, Frank Abagnale.
[00:43:14] Frank Abagnale: Thank you.
[00:43:17] Will Johnson: All right, well up next, we are joined by Kathy Stokes.
She heads up The Fraud Watch web link here at AARP.
Nice to see you.
[00:43:24] Kathy Stokes: Thanks for having me, Will.
There’s a, a current scam involving the AARP and we hate to hear that.
[00:43:32] Kathy Stokes: Yeah, yeah.
[00:43:32] Will Johnson: We don’t like it at all.
[00:43:51] Will Johnson: All right, classic.
[00:43:52] Kathy Stokes: Classic.
[00:43:53] Will Johnson: A bunch of red flags.
[00:43:53] Kathy Stokes: A bunch of red flags.
[00:43:58] Kathy Stokes: It’s a phone call, it can be an email as well.
[00:44:01] Will Johnson: Okay.
So tell us more.
How much have they won, supposedly?
[00:45:06] Kathy Stokes: We actually um, foiled one recently.
[00:45:09] Will Johnson: Wow.
[00:45:53] Kathy Stokes: To get his prize.
And she said, “I think that’s a scam.”
And she started talking about what she had heard in the presentation, and he absolutely refused.
He said, “Nope, this is my money.”
She had to get a manager involved.
[00:46:07] Kathy Stokes: …that it was a scam.
[00:46:09] Will Johnson: The frontlines, that’s where it happens.
[00:46:11] Kathy Stokes: The frontlines.
[00:46:11] Will Johnson: And she heard it from an AARP seminar, in the bank.
[00:46:13] Kathy Stokes: In the bank.
[00:46:17] Kathy Stokes: Yeah.
[00:46:22] Kathy Stokes: Yes, that is a BIG red flag.
[00:46:29] Kathy Stokes: Well, AARP does run sweepstakes.
But we do it in a much different way.
If you have entered one and won, you will notified.
You will have a specific person to follow-up with to uh to claim your prize.
[00:46:48] Will Johnson: Okay.
[00:46:58] Kathy Stokes: Right, and we’ll never ask you to keep it confidential.
[00:47:01] Will Johnson: Right.
[00:47:02] Kathy Stokes: Yeah.
[00:47:02] Will Johnson: All right.
[00:47:36] Will Johnson: All right, well really important that you mentioned this one.
Thanks for bringing it to our attention and hey keep us posted on anything else you might hear about.
[00:47:42] Kathy Stokes: Will do.
[00:47:42] Will Johnson: All right, Kathy Stokes with The Fraud Watch internet here at AARP.
For AARP -The Perfect Scam, I’m Will Johnson.
It remains to be seen if his next path in life is the straight and narrow.
We will see you then.
END OF TRANSCRIPT
This 2018 episode tells the story of Jeff Caldwell.
Jeff has lived for decades as a couch-surfing con man preying on the kindness of the outdoors community.
But after meeting Melissa on an dating site, Jeffs lies finally catch up with him.
