The Perfect Scam

Wall Street Journal reporter Robert McMillan and FBI agent Joe Hooper recount the story of Christina Chapman, a Minnesota woman who is drawn into the world of laptop farming. She is struggling to make ends meet, living in a trailer without running water, and a job offer to be the US representative for an international company is a godsend. Laptop farms gained popularity in 2020 with the rise in remote work, allowing North Korean workers to evade sanctions, infiltrate American companies, and funnel money directly into North Korea’s weapons programs. They hire people, like Christina, to run dozens of computers from their homes using software that allows remote access. The hiring companies, many of which are high-profile, are unknowingly giving North Korea money and access to sensitive data.

In part 2, victims of a nationwide fraud scheme join forces on a Facebook group and share their stories with investigative journalist Lou Raguse of KARE in Minneapolis. Someone is selling water purification devices to entrepreneurs, who think they are getting in on the ground floor of a great opportunity, but then fails to deliver the promised gadgets. Lou discovers the criminal’s identity is Charles Fields, a suburban Minneapolis father who uses a host of aliases to pull off the scheme. Lou and the victims’ dedication, along with the discovery of key evidence in an unusual place, help law enforcement successfully bring Fields to justice.

Job seekers all over the country answer ads for sales positions at a water filtration company. The offer is promising, and the contracts look professional. The only catch is the initial $5000 investment in a water purification unit. However, when the prepaid units never arrive, people begin to realize they are victims of a scam. They form a Facebook group, band together, and convince investigative journalist Lou Raguse to take up their cause. Will they get justice?

Online criminals love cryptocurrency for many reasons – it’s anonymous, can’t be traced, and payments are irreversible. So when Paul discovers he has been targeted by a crypto scam and the thieves have stolen $450,000, he is resigned to the fact that he may never see that money again. That is, until an online search leads him to Wisconsin police detective Scott Simons. Following the trail of the stolen money, Detective Simons traces it to a private crypto wallet and eventually recovers $80,000 of Paul’s money. Detective Simons works with the non-profit Operation Shamrock to offer hope to scam victims and fight transnational organized crime.

A tech support scam leads to criminals stealing one woman’s life savings in gold bars. Gold bar scams have exploded in popularity as gold prices hit all-time highs. In this episode, Bob talks with a gold store dealer and a detective who are sounding the alarm about this trend. Hear how they are using gold bar sting operations to nab the criminals.