[00:00:03] The whole first stage of this was just get the victim to fall in love.
[00:00:12] They actually stole men’s pictures and then cut and pasted them onto these fake websites.
[00:00:19] Will: Welcome back to AARP - The Perfect Scam.
I’m your host, Will Johnson.
[00:00:30] Frank Abagnale: Thank you, Will.
Thanks for having me.
[00:00:36] Frank Abagnale: Yes.
[00:00:37] Will: You were played by Leonardo DiCaprio.
You have since then been in the FBI for 41 years now, is that right?
[00:00:42] Frank Abagnale: 43.
[00:00:43] Will: 43.
I’ve lost track of time.
What have you been up to?
You’ve been traveling the world it sounds like, going overseas?
[00:01:25] Will: And Frank, what’s percolating in the world of scams?
What are the bad guys doing with technology?
[00:01:29] Frank Abagnale: So take a look around your home.
There are devices on our laptop that have a camera on it.
Those are the kind of things we need to ask.
[00:02:57] Frank Abagnale: Inservice training, so I’ll be up in Maryland this week.
[00:03:10] Will: What is Inservice training, if I might ask?
[00:03:22] Will: Your focus is on scams and fraud.
Can you talk about that?
You know so it covers everybody.
[00:04:26] Will: Let’s talk about romance scams before we get into today’s story.
First of all, a few stats I’m going to throw at you.
Stop me if any of these sound crazy to you or you don’t believe them.
[00:04:55] Frank Abagnale: Yeah, and that’s why we’ve seen such a big jump.
That doesn’t surprise me because of the internet.
Now you have all of these people who meet people online.
[00:05:04] Will: All right, Frank, standby.
We’ll be back with you to talk more about romance scams.
(MUSIC SEGUE)
[00:05:21] Will: Romance scams are everywhere.
And there’s no limit to what scammers will do to rip off victims.
We’re talking about romance scams.
[00:05:36] Romance scams, criminals hook people searching for love online.
[00:05:40] Cybercriminals also prey on lonely hearts and they call it romance scams.
Sara’s family owned car lots around their hometown in Southern Illinois.
Her family was well known and successful.
That probably made her a perfect target for a scammer.
You’re also going to hear about other women looking for love online but ending up without a penny.
In 2008, Sara was looking for someone.
Recently divorced and the mother of a 13-year-old daughter, she started looking through profiles on My Space.
It was actually her daughter who urged her mom to try it out.
And that’s how it all started.
So then I started commuting–, communicating with people that I didn’t know.
She wasn’t who she used to be before the attack.
[00:07:27] Will: It happened on New Years Eve, 1998.
Her parents owned a booming business, six used car lots around her hometown of Fairmount City, Illinois.
It was a family business that her parents opened in 1971.
And we had all the business that we could handle.
When they returned, they found flashing lights, police cars, yellow crime scene tape.
Their lives and Sara’s would never be the same.
[00:08:22] Will: In an instant a violent crime turned Sara’s life upside-down.
[00:08:26] Sara: I know that I’m different than I used to be.
Her memory, her moods, her vision, the list goes on and on.
[00:09:06] Will: Sara lives close to her mom now.
He dad passed away.
She did get married after the attack but later divorced.
[00:09:19] Sara: I was just thinking, you know of my age and stuff like that.
[00:09:35] Will: Sara was a survivor.
She’d been on the brink of death and came back.
She knew she deserved love just like anyone else.
So was it to meet someone romantically or was it just more about meeting people in general?
[00:09:48] Sara: Mostly meeting, most of the people that I actually talked to were men.
[00:10:01] Will: Sara found someone she likes the look of.
She doesn’t really remember if she reached out to him first or the other way around.
Was there a photo attached to his profile or did you see what he looked like?
[00:10:12] Sara: There was a picture of him and there were several different pictures of him.
[00:10:16] Will: He looked good.
[00:10:17] Sara: Yeah, somebody that I would find attractive.
Or how did it start?
Um, he said that he was a major in the US Army.
He told me that he was 40 years old.
[00:11:36] Will: Sara’s mother remembers her daughter telling her about her new online friend.
At first, I was real happy for her and I thought what can it hurt over the phone?
It was all possible.
[00:12:22] Sara: Yeah, he was very, very caring at the beginning.
Um, seems like an overall good guy.
And what did you guys talk about?
Just sort of anything and everything?
[00:13:31] Will: Sara says Elias speaks English with an accent.
Did you ask him about that?
He convinces her to get a webcam and helps her get is set up.
So then you could do what a lot of people do who have met online.
[00:14:31] Will: Adam Latham works with the US postal service, specializing in mail fraud.
He also knows a heck of a lot about romance scams and what makes them work so well.
They wanted to be in love again.
The invisible scammers pulling out all the stops to make a connection with her.
[00:15:14] Sara: He had sent me two dozen roses and he was sending me cards.
He was sending me chocolate and bathing like kind of pampering stuff like that.
[00:15:28] Will: Romantic gifts.
He seemed like a really pretty great guy.
[00:15:31] Sara: Yeah.
[00:15:33] Will: He even tells her to buy a book.
[00:15:34] Sara: He said it’s a really good book and it reminds me of us.
And it was called “Soulmates.”
[00:15:40] Will: Would you talk to him daily?
[00:15:42] Sara: Oh yeah.
Numerous times a day.
[00:15:44] Will: For hours.
[00:15:45] Sara: Yes.
[00:15:46] Will: I’m guessing.
[00:15:47] Sara: Yeah.
[00:15:48] Will: Falling deeper into the romance Sara reciprocates.
[00:16:20] Will: So you were exchanging gifts at that point.
No one was asking for anything in particular.
[00:16:24] Sara: No, he wasn’t asking for anything on that part.
I mean in a way he was, but not in a way, you know what I mean?
[00:16:51] Sara: Yeah.
[00:16:56] Will: But this romantic exchange of gifts doesn’t last.
He’s got Sara where he wants her.
[00:17:01] Sara: He said that he was staying in a hotel there.
[00:17:24] Will: He made up lies to convince you that, to send him something.
[00:16:51] Will: He got, it sounds like more demanding.
[00:17:48] Sara: Very demanding.
[00:17:50] Will: This has been only over the course of weeks, from November to December.
He starts talking about marriage and as Sara is noticing his tone is changing.
She’s on a fixed income, and she doesn’t drive.
[00:18:34] Will: So what did you do?
[00:18:50] Will: Did they find out that you were sending money?
[00:18:52] Sara: At one point they did.
[00:18:54] Will: Did he ask for electronics, am I right on that?
Or laptops or something like that eventually?
[00:19:21] Will: But not with you.
You couldn’t even see that there was a person or anything there.
It was just like staticky looking.
Another woman in Southern Illinois is getting dragged into a similar financial hole.
She meets with investigators in a sparse conference room in St. Louis and proceeds to tell all.
[00:20:01] Adam Latham: She was an educated woman.
She was a principal at a school in southern Illinois.
Yeah, she was a highly respected woman.
[00:20:07] Will: Nathan Stump is an Assistant US Attorney in the Southern District of Illinois.
He was a member of the legal team brought into the case.
It was his first time investigating a romance scam like this.
Sort of poking around seeing what else might be out there for her.
[00:20:28] Adam Latham: What she told us was just amazing.
I think she sat with us for probably maybe two or two and a half hours.
[00:21:07] Will: Adam Latham listened and took notes.
So it definitely goes vastly unreported due to mainly because of the embarrassment factor associated with it.
They needed to find out if there were other victims, how many and how much money was involved.
They subpoena Western Union and MoneyGram to see if other Americans were sending money to the same person.
The work pays off.
They find dozens and dozens of names.
Latham learns pretty quickly that Sunmola’s scam is sophisticated and he’s probably not acting alone.
It was also sophisticated because of the use of these wire transfers.
[00:22:48] Will: Investigators dig into the details of exactly how the scammers went about their business.
So that’s the goal.
He sent her flowers.
[00:24:33] Will: Elias, or Sunmola finally makes his move.
I’m afraid I’m going to be put out on the street, so I need your help.
[00:25:00] Will: The process is all too familiar for Sara.
He’s getting more demanding.
Sara’s watchful mom is getting suspicious.
She realizes that her daughter is basically borrowing money she doesn’t have to send money overseas.
She’s getting cash advances on her only credit card.
And he said, “Yes, we did.”
And I said that envelope you just got from the bank, you give it to your dad now.
[00:25:38] Will: Sara’s mom is now highly suspicious of what’s going on.
[00:25:41] So little by little this stuff started adding up in my head.
Um, that this wasn’t right.
[00:25:51] Will: The man named Elias told her that he was from a nearby town.
He even gave an address.
So Sara and her mom decided to take a drive.
[00:25:59] We drove by the house and it was for sale.
And she said, “Well, he’s not home, Mom.
He don’t need it.”
[00:26:23] I have people that’s watching your house.
They got cameras on you and everything.
[00:26:45] Will: And I’m back with AARP Fraud Watch internet Ambassador, Frank Abagnale.
Frank, sadly this story probably sounds familiar.
[00:27:09] Will: As we mentioned in the story, this guy’s using the playbook.
They have notes they’ve taken about these other women, and they’re working these all the time.
They have all these notes.
Who’s the mayor.
[00:29:19] Frank Abagnale: The best advice is to do some simple research.
You dont have to hire a private investigator.
You know he said he was a major in the Army.
You actually could call the Army.
So he was covering that possibility by saying, well no, I do undercover work.
It is 877-908-3360 or Google the Fraud Watch internet or go to AARP.org/fraudwatchnetwork.
Lots of ways to find that important resource.
Or you’re free to call and talk to actual people about what’s going on.
You don’t have to be an AARP member.
You have to be a senior.
And people can also call Frank directly, right?
If we can have your personal…
[00:31:23] Frank Abagnale: I get enough calls already.
[00:31:24] Will: All right, don’t call Frank.
All right, Frank.
As always, thanks to my team of scambusters, producers Julie Getz and Brook Ellis.
Our audio engineer Julio Gonzales.
And of course, my cohost, Frank Abagnale.
Be sure to find us on Apple podcast or wherever you listen to podcasts.
For The Perfect Scam, I’m Will Johnson.
END OF TRANSCRIPT
Sara thought she knew everything about the Army major and single father she met online.
After months talking she found herself falling for him.
For instance, if you are looking for a job you are more vulnerable to a work-at-home scam.
