She becomes a fan of one actor in particular, Paul Ahn, and follows him on social media.
So she is thrilled when she receives aFacebook messagefrom someone claiming to be Paul.
They exchange messages, and the relationship quickly becomesromantic.
[00:00:03] Nancy Newcomber: I was just liking the posts on Facebook.
“Thank you for being a fan of mine.
I would like to have a private chat.”
I thought, oh my goodness, a celebrity is actually talking to me.
This is so cool, you know, I never had anybody do this before, you know.
(MUSIC SEGUE)
[00:00:29] Bob: Welcome back to The Perfect Scam.
I’m your host, Bob Sullivan.
Or it can also be a scam.
This is the challenging atmosphere that many victims face when they fall in love online.
Someone famous, at least to you.
But it’s easy to pretend to be a celebrity online.
And these impostors can do a lot of damage.
She cares for very sick older patients, many near death.
[00:02:06] Bob: That’s a tough job.
[00:02:07] Nancy Newcomber: It is extremely tough, it’s mentally tough.
[00:02:14] Nancy Newcomber: Yes.
And it’s, my, my client that I have now is like that.
She’s getting towards the end and then it, it’s going to be really hard.
[00:02:34] Bob: Hmm.
[00:02:34] Nancy Newcomber: Yeah.
Nancy’s roommate introduced her to the quirky shows a few years ago.
She was hooked almost immediately.
[00:02:58] Nancy Newcomber: They’re very good actors and actresses.
They have, they’re like love, romance, some are funny.
So that’s kind of tiring on my eyes.
(laugh)
[00:03:12] Bob: Yeah, of course.
[00:03:23] Nancy Newcomber: But I never even heard of them before I even came here.
And, and in here.
I was like, Korean shows?
What are you talking about?
[00:03:29] Bob: (laugh) Is there something, are they different from US sitcoms?
You have your plot and your love story and it’s basically the same thing.
It’s just in Korean.
[00:03:51] Nancy Newcomber: Yeah, yeah.
[00:03:53] Bob: Pretty quickly, Nancy alights on her favorite Korean actor.
Tell, tell me why.
[00:04:14] Nancy Newcomber: He was so cute.
(giggles)
[00:04:15] Bob: (laughs) That’s a good reason.
[00:04:17] Nancy Newcomber: Yeah, and he was a very good actor.
I really enjoyed that show, and I think that’s what hooked me on him.
[00:04:31] Bob: So what was Business Proposal about?
You know, it’s just the whole pro–, process of the whole thing.
It was, it was cute.
[00:05:09] Bob: And, and he was funny, he was charming.
[00:05:12] Nancy Newcomber: Yeah.
[00:05:12] Bob: Well what kind of, yeah, yeah.
[00:05:13] Nancy Newcomber: Yeah.
Fan pages, discussion groups, you know how this works.
You’ve probably had it happen to you.
[00:05:38] Nancy Newcomber: Yes, yes.
I don’t even know how that friend stuff got on my, on my media.
Um, but somehow it does.
[00:05:59] Bob: And then one day something really, really, really exciting happens.
I’m thinking, what is this?
“Thank you for being a fan of mine.
I would like to have a private chat.”
And I said, “Oh, okay, cool.”
[00:06:25] Bob: Paul Ahn wants to chat with her?
Nancy can’t believe her good fortune, and they strike up a conversation right away.
[00:06:35] Nancy Newcomber: So we chatted a little bit right there on, on Facebook.
And then he said, “I don’t care for, for Messenger.
Can you move to a different app?”
And I said, “I don’t know any other apps.”
So he said, “Go to Skype.”
[00:06:56] Bob: And at the end of their Skype chat, something even more exciting happens.
He says he wants to stay in touch with her.
It’s really fun.
This is so cool, you know, I never had anybody do this before, you know.
I was a little kid in a store.
(laughs)
[00:07:27] Bob: Of course, of course.
And, uh but go ahead.
I mean who wouldn’t, you know, from a celebrity?
[00:07:37] Bob: Of course, of course.
[00:07:37] Nancy Newcomber: Yeah.
[00:07:47] Nancy Newcomber: Oh yeah, yeah.
Yeah, this year is 7 years that I’ve been divorced, so yeah.
Yeah, so it did feel good.
Um, which took me back, ‘cause I wasn’t ready for that, you know.
[00:08:24] Bob: What kinds of things would he say?
How do you love me?
I mean I’ve never met you before.
And when he went on vacation, he wanted me to come up to meet his family.
Well that really threw me for a hoop right there.
I thought, my God, this guy is already asking me to come up to Canada.
So all that went down.
[00:09:02] Bob: Wow.
[00:09:04] Nancy Newcomber: Yeah, it was crazy.
It just was like a rollercoaster.
[00:09:08] Bob: Of course, of course.
[00:09:16] Nancy Newcomber: I did, and I never had one, I never needed one.
But then, this famous man asks her to do something else.
And I thought that can’t be.
And I thought, oh Lord, what can it be?
[00:10:32] Bob: Wow!
That’s a lot of money, and Nancy doesn’t have that kind of money.
[00:10:49] Nancy Newcomber: Oh wow!
I was like, what?
I’m thinking $500 and 18,000, that’s a big difference there.
[00:11:02] Nancy Newcomber: Yeah, and I said, “Why is it so much?”
That was $18,500.
And I’m thinking where on God’s green earth am I going to find that kind of money.
[00:11:31] Bob: Where on God’s green earth?
[00:11:45] Nancy Newcomber: Yeah.
I wired it, transferred from my bank.
I wired that over.
And they even sent the um, the flight itinerary, everything.
[00:12:22] Nancy Newcomber: Oh my God.
Pocketbook, you name it.
I even bought that; I even bought him gifts to take along with me.
[00:12:44] Bob: What did you, what did you buy him?
[00:12:46] Nancy Newcomber: Just little momentum punch in things, just you know, little things.
It wasn’t that much, but it was just something to remember, you know.
[00:12:55] Bob: But as the date approaches for their meeting, his trip gets postponed.
And then postponed a second time.
And then the manager has another request to make.
[00:13:09] Nancy Newcomber: Okay, now that’s just for the reservation.
Just for you to meet him.
Now we need $39,299.
[00:13:20] Bob: Oh my God!
She starts to feel guilty for turning him down at this point.
And when that money gets there, well, the manager says there’s something else.
[00:13:57] Nancy Newcomber: Now we have to cancel it, why?
‘Cause now, lo and behold, now he wants $64,800.
[00:14:05] Bob: Oh my God.
Well that makes Nancy snap.
[00:14:22] Nancy Newcomber: I said, “We’re done here.
There will not be another penny.”
And he said, “Come on.
He said, “Then I’m blocking you.”
[00:14:44] Bob: Oh my God.
[00:14:47] Nancy Newcomber: That was it.
He wanted that $64,000.
Yeah, so did I.
[00:14:53] Bob: Nancy says no, and her TV star boyfriend suddenly blocks her.
And then Nancy realizes she was never speaking to her hero, Paul Ahn.
She was speaking to a celebrity impostor.
[00:15:24] Nancy Newcomber: Oh my God, I cried.
I felt like my life came to an end.
So I, I was very down.
I was extremely depressed.
I lost 40 pounds.
[00:15:55] Bob: Nancy spirals hard, blames herself, and then goes to a dark place.
Everybody was telling me, why didn’t I see this?
It’s, I could have saved myself all that heartache and all that money.
[00:16:16] Bob: Oh, that is so painful.
[00:16:17] Nancy Newcomber: It’s extremely painful.
And so um, he came over to see to it that I was okay.
I said I’m, I’m, I’m not going to take my life, believe me.
Ain’t nobody worth that to me.
But I felt, you know, so down and like I had hit rock bottom.
[00:16:48] Nancy Newcomber: Uh, yeah.
My roommate never know, I never said anything to her.
[00:17:30] Nancy Newcomber: Yes.
And my job now has gracefully enough has gotten a GoFundMe for me to help out.
[00:17:37] Bob: Oh wow.
[00:17:37] Nancy Newcomber: Yeah.
So I’m hopeful.
[00:17:40] Bob: Remember, Nancy job is very stressful and emotionally draining.
She spends her days caring for people, getting attached to people who might not live much longer.
[00:18:01] Nancy Newcomber: Yeah.
And he got me.
[00:18:15] Bob: You know that’s kind of what I was getting at with your job.
[00:18:22] Nancy Newcomber: Yeah, yeah.
It’s, I’m not going to let him put that bitterness inside of me.
[00:18:39] Bob: Good for you, that’s great.
[00:18:43] Nancy Newcomber: Oh yeah.
I could have been real bitter.
So, yeah, I’m, I’m kinda leery on doing too much of anything.
But it’ll come around to me.
I’ll get it back.
[00:19:05] Bob: How are you doing otherwise?
I mean I know this is a, an immense burden for you financially.
[00:19:09] Nancy Newcomber: Yes.
Uh, paycheck to paycheck, man.
[00:19:13] Bob: And all, and all your retirement money is gone, right?
[00:19:15] Nancy Newcomber: I have nothing to fall back on.
And he stole that, so now I have nothing to give to my, my daughter.
[00:19:33] Nancy Newcomber: Oh my God, I’d be in jail.
I, I just, I guess my first thing would be, why?
Why would you do some–, why, how can you be so cruel?
How do you sleep at night?
That you do this to another human being and you wrecked her whole world.
[00:20:04] Bob: Then you must feel pretty angry.
[00:20:04] Nancy Newcomber: Oh, yeah, that, livid.
He’ll get it.
So I just laid it down, and that’s it.
[00:20:20] Bob: Nancy just laid it down, and that’s that.
But she’s actually doing more than that.
She’s working hard to help other people who might end up in the same situation as her.
She’s talking to us, for example, and she’s doing even more.
What would you say to that person?
[00:20:47] Nancy Newcomber: And I have.
Do not, by any means, get on chat with them.
Block them and report them immediately.”
[00:21:13] Bob: So you actually reach out to other people proactively and say, avoid this.
[00:21:16] Nancy Newcomber: Absolutely.
[00:21:18] Bob: Wow.
[00:21:20] Nancy Newcomber: Hmm?
[00:21:30] Bob: You’re kidding!
[00:21:31] Nancy Newcomber: Nope, that’s just one actor.
But they are so professional, they are in and out so fast.
[00:22:26] Bob: Oh my God.
Who else would do something like this?
Well, a doctor’s a whole lot smarter than I am.
So, I don’t care what your business is, they can get you.
[00:22:42] Bob: That’s the truth.
All of us are vulnerable or will become vulnerable at some point.
Debbie Deem knows all about this.
She’s seen it all.
[00:23:53] Bob: The most invisible victims like Nancy.
When we shared Nancy’s story with Debbie, it hit hard.
It sounded awfully familiar.
I wanted to reach out to her, and say you, you’re doing good.
You’re doing good.
[00:24:51] Bob: Celebrity impostor scams are incredibly common now, Debbie says.
Hauser, another one I needed to look up.
He was a PBS sou–, uh, cellist.
But it, it’s, it’s quite a list actually.
[00:25:43] Debbie Deem: Um, I would say most of them are, yes.
[00:26:03] Bob: What is it about celebrities that, that is alluring?
Why does the celebrity impostor crime work so well?
[00:26:23] Bob: Who doesn’t want to feel special?
[00:26:25] Debbie Deem: Exactly.
And it’s her job to venture to persuade the victim to stop interacting with the criminal.
But that can be very difficult.
And that is so powerful, those words.”
[00:27:06] Bob: That is so powerful, those words.
Here’s another reason celebrity impostor scams work so well that might surprise you.
Potential victims can be easier to find nowadays because criminals can spot them on social media posts.
Debbie gave us a specific example.
I’m his manager.
I could put you in touch."
And it went on from there.
[00:28:06] Debbie Deem: Yes, yes.
Why don’t we chat some more, right?
[00:28:12] Debbie Deem: Exactly.
That’s exactly the way that it’s done.
[00:28:29] Debbie Deem: We’ll say, we’ll pretend it’s Ringo.
And so it was interesting.
He is not speaking to you.
Leave this site as its purpose is to steal money or financial information from you."
[00:29:26] Bob: That’s what Debbie does in her free time.
She outs celebrity impostors and then gets banned.
A single conversation will almost certainly not be enough.
It’s got to be very ongoing.
[00:30:32] Debbie Deem: They do.
You know what do you find to replace that?
And they get ongoing reminders not to reengage with their impostors.
Debbie’s also got plenty of good advice for people to avoid scams.
[00:31:39] Debbie Deem: Listen to your family and friends.
If the bank has given you warnings, pay attention to those.
I see boredom as a big issue.
So I think there’s a boredom factor, and that emotional factor, and then loneliness.
[00:33:32] Bob: Finding community could be a big help with both boredom and loneliness.
I’m really fond of the ASK questions technique she talks about here.
And as is the “I told you so’s.”
I wonder why he can’t make that?"
Um, so finding ways, you know, especially talking about AI.
[00:36:44] Debbie Deem: Exactly, yes.
Why would he want that from you?"
[00:38:53] Bob: And also, don’t suffer in silence.
double-check you tell law enforcement authorities what happened.
Um, you might want to get copies of your credit reports.
[00:40:41] Debbie Deem: This doesn’t have to define who you are.
You were manipulated by basically organized crime through these transnational crime rings.
This wasn’t just one person doing this to you.
There is help available.
Um look for some of the support groups.
It’s at scamsurvivorhealing.com.
Free videos that you might look at.
[00:41:42] Bob: The crime doesn’t have to define you.
For The Perfect Scam, I’m Bob Sullivan.
Call the AARP Fraud Watch data pipe Helpline at 877-908-3360.
Their trained fraud specialists can provide you with free support and guidance on what to do next.
That address again is: theperfectscampodcast@aarp.org.
Be sure to find us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
For AARP’s The Perfect Scam, I’m Bob Sullivan.
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