[00:00:02] Brian Denny: Well I don’t think anybody ever expected a lot in retirement.
Never in a million years, uh, did I think that would happen.
[00:00:24] Will: All right, welcome back to AARP - The Perfect Scam.
[00:00:33] Frank Abagnale: Good to be with you, Will.
[00:00:53] Frank Abagnale: Absolutely.
[00:01:18] Will: All right, well let’s get into today’s story.
We’ll talk a lot more about social media and advice and tips you might pass along.
(MUSIC SEGUE)
[00:01:31] Will: Our story starts with Sharon.
She’s single, retired, and spending some time connecting with people online.
She meets a handsome man in the military.
Overtime, he expresses the same feelings for Sharon and the relationship blossoms.
It’s not long before there’s talk of marriage, a house, a new life together.
Her name is Kathy.
Sharon tells Kathy all about this new love interest, her future husband.
His name is Ross Newton.
She’s clearly excited, looking forward to a future together with a new love.
It really just feels right.
[00:02:35] Will: Kathy works fulltime and has twin 13-year-old girls.
She’s a busy woman.
[00:02:43] Kathy: He um, was getting ready to retire.
And so um, she had even put half a down payment on a house.
[00:02:59] Will: Sharon’s not just having an online relationship.
She’s making real plans with him.
She gave me the name of Ross Newton.
[00:03:24] Will: Kathy’s not sure what to do.
She starts to wonder more about the man in the profile photo, Ross Newton.
She feels like she needs to do something.
She decides to start with that name, Denny.
[00:03:46] Kathy: I didn’t mention anything to her.
This man is Brian Denny, that’s the name on the man’s shirt.
All of it starts to cast a shadow over Sharon’s story.
Service is engrained in everything he does.
So in June 2016, he’s doing what a lot of us would do.
He starts looking on LinkedIn, looking for opportunities and making connections.
[00:05:31] Brian Denny: She said, “I’d really like to talk.
Here’s my number.”
And I’m like, okay, I’m calling.
And uh, and that’s kind of how it started.
[00:05:55] Will: As you could tell, the message comes from out of the blue.
Women who had given money and gifts and romantic intentions, not to Brian, but scammers.
Scammers who were using Brian’s image and name to create fake accounts and lure victims.
And even trying to help clear that air with victims takes on its own challenges.
[00:08:13] Brian Denny: Yeah, it’s a fulltime job.
[00:08:25] Will: And ultimately, it’s not just Brian who’s impacted by the scams.
[00:08:28] Brian Denny: Yeah, it’s been tough.
[00:08:47] Brian Denny: Yeah, you don’t know what you’ve lost really.
[00:09:29] Brian Denny: Yeah, that, that’s it.
[00:09:56] Will: And for Brian, it’s not just the impact on his life.
[00:10:43] Will: So back to Kathy.
I said, “Well this guy’s under Ross Newton.”
He said, “Yeah, look up Mike Denny, Steve Denny.”
So I did, and I found numerous accounts of, with Brian’s picture.
I don’t know if it’s the same person or not.
At that time we had no idea.
Um, so she was pretty shocked and of course upset.
[00:12:20] Will: And how much money had, had she sent to him?
[00:12:22] Kathy: Um, she sent about thir–, between 32 and 35,000 dollars total.
[00:12:28] Will: Okay.
Money that he was saying he needed for one thing or another overseas, I’m guessing.
[00:12:47] Kathy: That was the first place we started looking.
[00:12:54] Will: Brian Denny’s clearly not alone when it comes to scams like this one.
Christopher Gray is Director of Public Affairs for US Army Criminal Investigation Command based in Quantico, Virginia.
He says most of the victims are women, between 40 and 80 years old.
Um, they have a steady income, a steady paycheck.
Um, I don’t have a computer, can you send me money for a laptop computer?
[00:14:48] Will: Scams have become a big concern for the military.
He’s seen firsthand the devastating impact it can have on victims.
She just talked to on the phone.
They, they really, the money was a, was a second afterthought for them.
Uh, we just kind of looked for them.
I had about a 30% um, a 30% success rate of getting them removed.
[00:16:32] Will: It’s like Whack-a-Mole at this point.
One profile goes up, they get it removed, and another one goes up.
[00:16:58] Will: But Kathy’s not satisfied with her progress.
[00:17:13] Will: After work, weekends, whenever she finds the time, Kathy investigates.
She researches and she starts to understand more and more about how the scams work.
The women don’t usually come and approach them.
So they’ll approach them.
She starts untangling the flow of money, where it comes from and where it’s going.
[00:18:01] Kathy: It’s never usually just one scammer working this.
The third party people, a lot of them are victims themselves.
[00:18:29] Will: I gotcha.
So there’s a lot of different scenarios that can, that can go into that.
[00:18:41] Will: Kathy spends a lot of time talking and working with Brian.
She learns a lot about the impact it’s had on his life.
It’s a lot more than that.
I mean it’s just, there’s a lot more to it than just a picture being stolen.
Never in a million years uh did I think that would happen.
[00:20:03] Will: But Brian finds a true ally in Kathy.
Who would be a scammer like that?
Because they, they don’t realize that it’s some other person behind the pictures.
So yeah, Kathy’s been phenomenal.
Now I may get the signed receipts from them, but are they laying their eyes on it?
I don’t know.
Maybe not Zuckerberg and Sandberg, but others.
[00:21:40] Kathy: Right.
And Brian fought for his country for 26 years.
Um, they’re so far detached from the problem set.
And the other thing is, you know, the, the military medical system is really good.
That’s part of your main benefit as a service member.
Every mem–, every military member across the United States has an email account.
Every single person in the military.
And that account ends with dot mil.
M-i-l. Short for military.
And nothing following that.
[00:26:23] Frank Abagnale: Absolutely.
It’s Frank Abagnale.
[00:26:56] Will: And you are not officially on Twitter.
[00:26:58] Frank Abagnale: I’m not on any social media.
[00:26:59] Will: You’re not on social media.
[00:27:00] Frank Abagnale: Whatsoever.
[00:27:01] Will: That’s not surprising.
[00:27:02] Frank Abagnale: Right.
[00:27:02] Will: And there’s no other Frank Abagnales out there that youre aware of?
You know, I have three sons and five grandchildren; they like social media.
They’re on Facebook.
[00:27:58] Will: All right, Frank, thanks once again for talking about social media.
We’ll talk to you next week .
[00:28:07] Frank Abagnale: Thanks Will.
For AARP - The Perfect Scam, I’m Will Johnson.
Theyre coming from women around the world who claim to be in online relationships with him.
But Bryan isnt on any dating sites.
Meanwhile Kathy Waters is learning about the online boyfriend of her friend Sharon.
She heads to Facebook, and what she finds is shocking.
Thats when Kathy knows she needs to track down the real Bryan Denny.
Disgusted by what theyve found, Kathy and Bryan decide to fight back against these scammers.
For instance, if you are looking for a job you are more vulnerable to a work-at-home scam.
