The Perfect Scam

A Hawaii News Icon and a Sweepstakes Scam

Linda Coble is retired from a storied career as Hawaii's first female news anchor, but she stays active in her community through charity work. So when she receives a phone call informing her that she has won a $5 million prize from Publishers Clearing House, she immediately starts dreaming of the good she can do with the money. Coble is told she must make tax payments in order to release the prize, but as the fees add up, she begins to worry that it is all a scam. An employee at her bank confirms her suspicions. With $60,000 of her savings gone and her whole life changed in a matter of weeks, Coble returns to the airwaves to tell her story.

Scam Targets AT&T Customers to Steal Cellphones

After a long day as a school bus driver, Nate checks his voicemail and finds a message from "AT&T" offering a discounted rate and a new phone. He has been a loyal customer and is looking for ways to lower his expenses, so he calls them back. The agent already knows all of Nate's information and walks him through the process of picking out his new phone on the AT&T app. When the phone arrives, Nate calls back to set it up, but there is a problem: The phone's serial number doesn't match, and he'll have to send it back. They send him a prepaid shipping label and tell him to pick out a new iPad and phone for his troubles. When the new items arrive, and again there is a problem, Nate becomes suspicious that he is entangled in a reshipping fraud scheme.

A Pilot's Stolen Identity Leaves a Trail of Broken Hearts, Part 2

In part 2, nearly a decade after Pat received the first phone call from a woman believing to be in a relationship with him, he continues to receive regular cards, gifts, calls and visits from scam victims. Criminals have hijacked the pilot's identity to facilitate hundreds of romance scams, turning Pat's life upside down in the process. Around this time, a police detective in South Carolina begins investigating a crime in his town. A woman sends $600,000 to a man she thinks she is dating. The police detective uncovers dozens of victims of scams using Pat's identity. Detective Gillespie and TV reporter Lisa Fletcher attempt to warn victims and stop ongoing scams.

A Pilot's Stolen Identity Leaves a Trail of Broken Hearts, Part 1

When Pam decides it's time to find love again, she signs up for a dating site and soon meets "Pat." He's charming and very kind; they hit it off right away. "Pat" works overseas and can't tell Pam much about his high-security job, but when he needs help getting back into the country, she lends him $20,000. This all sounds very suspicious to Pam's son-in-law, who does some digging and tracks down a man with the same name and face as the man Pam's been talking to nearly every day for several months. The legitimate Pat explains to Pam how a scammer is impersonating him in order to steal money from her. It turns out that Pam is one of many victims who've reached out to the real Pat.

Archive Episode: Million Dollar Movie Ponzi Scheme, Part 2

Beloved Vermont children's entertainer-turned-filmmaker Mac Parker has been raising funds for his film Birth of Innocence for nearly a decade. The film has yet to be completed, and what investors were promised — a three-year, $1 million project — has ballooned in both time and cost. When the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation steps in to investigate irregularities in Mac's fundraising practices, they discover he's operating a $28 million Ponzi scheme. They dig deeper and find Mac has a silent partner named Lou Soteriou, a chiropractor in Connecticut who is being purposefully hidden from investors. Over the years, Lou has received more than $4 million in payments from Mac. Realizing the scope of the case, Vermont investigators call in the FBI. As federal agents unravel this enormous Ponzi scheme, it becomes clear that the relationship between Mac and Lou is a complicated one. The investigators are left wondering, who really is the mastermind behind this crime?